Final Day of Preschool

All too quickly Hannah’s year at preschool has drawn to a close.  *sigh!*

She started as a little girl who knew how to sing her A, B, C’s ~ kinda.  What child really knows how to sing the ‘elemeno’ part?  She could only print a few letters and those were all upper case.  She did not know any lower case letters nor could she print any of her numbers.  She now recognizes all of her letters (upper and lower case) and can write almost all of them from memory. 

One funny thing though is that she still does not write her name correctly consistently.  It’s not unusual for her N’s to be backwards and the final H is often left off, or mixed up with extra A’s.   And, when she says her letters out loud when writing her name she calls the H and the A both ‘A’.   Heh…precious memories to capture!

Hannah can count to 29 but then says 20-10 and 20-‘eleben’.  Hee!  I change it up to 30 and she’s off…until she gets to 30-10 and 30-eleben!

There was one thing that surprised (and if I were honest, saddened) me that I noticed at preschool.   She was normally one of the last kids dropped off each day.  There were 16 kiddos in her class so when we arrived many of the activity stations would already have children at them.  For the first number of months (probably until sometime in late April or early May) I would watch her glance around the room and then purposely choose a station where nobody else was.  That surprised me as she is a social little girl with many friends.  As she walked into the class it was not unusual for 2 or 3 of her classmates to run up and say ‘Hi Hannah.’  She’d sometimes respond (something else we’re working on) but then find a place to play alone.  It was hard to watch. 

I distinctly remember the day I dropped her off and she ran into a tent where a few other kids were playing.  I was shocked and it immediately warmed my heart!   I mentioned it to her teachers who were standing nearby and they both said they’d noticed her interacting with her classmates a lot more lately.  I was so thankful!  I noticed the same thing a couple of weeks ago at family day and have also noticed it when I drop her off at Sunday School.  I’m so glad she is feeling more comfortable playing with her peers.  Another way that preschool was a wonderful opportunity for her.

Before school this morning we took a few photos (surprise, surprise!) of her holding a picture taken last September on her first day of school.

My baby is growing up!

Final drop off and yes, Hannah was fine and Mommy was a MESS!

I have dreamed of Hannah attending this preschool at our church since before she was born.  It’s hard to believe this wonderful time has come and gone.  She learned so much but even more her amazing teachers helped her fall deeper in love with Jesus!  They gave her a wonderful first experience at school and taught her so, so much!  Thank you Mrs. Devitt

and Mrs. Hebert! We cannot express our gratitude to you!

I was able to slip away from work in the morning and surprise Hannah at pick up time.  I love her reaction!!!

I was holding it together okay until I saw this!  Yup…the tears started again.  SO precious!!!

Hannah and her little friend Mya.  First day of preschool

and then today.  Sweet little friends!

Hannah!  Mommy is so proud of you!  You have flourished at preschool and learned so much.  Your education has just begun but it’s begun in such a wonderful way! 

Tomorrow night is your graduation and sweetie I just need to warn you  - Mommy will try to keep it together but I’m not making any promises!