Pretty as a Preschool Princess!!!

My preschooler...sigh! She is precious, adorable, charming! I am quite certain that there has never been a cuter preschooler than Little Miss Veronica:)

The decision for Veronica to start preschool was a struggle for me, just as it was with Isabella. Bryan was adament that she would go, but I debated if she really 'needed' too. Or at least maybe she could wait until next year and than do just one year of preschool.

But ultimately, I listened to my little lady and thought about her perspective. About a year ago, the endless question of "When do I get to go to stool?" began and never really stopped. By the way...Miss V can't pronounce her c's so well:)
I also thought about the fact that Veronica is used to having her big sister around her. Having Isabella in full day kindergarten was not only going to be a big change for Momma, but for the little sister as well!
Plus, the benefits of Isabella's preschool experience were many! It was a great opportunity to learn and to see faith practiced and taught somewhere outside of the home and church.

After a lot of thought, prayer, and many discussions, we opted to have Veronica enroll in Sacred Heart Preschool. The preschool teacher, Mrs. Hammond, has a legendary reputation in this town and we had several friends who highly recommended the program. We met with Mr. Andrys, the principal and got to see Mrs Hammond in action in the classroom. We had a great, open and honest conversation with Mr. Andrys about our family's faith stance and felt that the school would be a good fit for us on all levels and we enrolled Veronica in the afternoon session of the Little Angels that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

For many weeks after our visit last spring, Veronica begged and whined pitifully to go to school! She was very annoyed with the whole summer season that delayed her getting to start:)

A week before classes started, there was an open house for the Little Angels (V's group). We got there right away when it was quiet and were excited to have some good quality time with Mrs. Hammond and her helper, Teacher Lynda! Veronica found her locker in the hallway and we were excited to see that our neighbor, Will Zavoral would be the student from the morning session of Little Angels to use the locker! Will and Veronica were born a few days apart and we are good friends with his parents! Veronica went into the classroom and Mrs. Hammond invited her to find her cubby mailbox and we found her letter V on alphabet puzzles and the alphabet rug. Veronica really enjoyed chekcing out all the toys...so did Mom! What a fun room with many fun things to play with and try out!

In the days before the start of preschool, Veronica started to ask us, "Mommy, Daddy, was you a little nervous before you went to stool?". And she would say things like:
"I just feeling a little nervous about stool"
"But what if nobody wants to be my friend"
"What if Mrs. Hammond don't like me"
"But I don't want to go to school, Mama, I want to stay at home with you" (this was a direct quote from the Berenstain Bears episode of Sister going to school!!!!).

The night before her first day, Veronica told me, "But Mom I can't go to stool tomorrow, I too busy".
I asked her what she had to do and here is our conversation:
V - I need to play with my dolls
Me - You can do that before school
V - But I was going to play with my sister
Me - you can do that before school
V - But I was just going to do some puzzles
Me - you can do that before school
V - I was going to eat lunch
Me - you can do that before school
V - But I was going to color
ETC....
She was smiling during this exchange and really hamming it up. Oh that little girl, too cute for her own good!

The next day came and she was excited for school!!!! She work her Cinderella dress wit the ruffly skirt that she had picked out on a special shopping trip with Mommy to pick out her backpack and first day of school outfit. She let me curl her little ponytail and she was ADORABLE TO THE MAX!!!!
Veronica put her back pack on and oh boy, you could see how proud she was! Finally she was going to school like the big kids! She had an even bigger bounce to her step if that was possible!!!!

Yep, I choked up as we pulled up to the school...had the really contorted ugly cry face as I worked hard to push back the tears before V saw them:) The drop off happened pretty quickly. We entered the room and Teacher Lynda invited her to come over and play something. I was all prepared to hang out and watch but than Mrs. Hammond said, "Don't forget to give Mom and Dad hugs before you go play Veronica"...WHAT???????? We were going to leave already??????:) So we hugged our little lady and went out and watched her for a second from the viewing window...got a little teary...and off we went!

I arrived back early to peek on the classroom action. They were having free play and I just fell in love with Little Miss V, watching her sitting in her puffy pink dress playing so nicely! Than the clean-up song started and I don't think I've ever seen Veronica clean up so quickly before...it was adorable...she definitely wanted to please Mrs Hammond! She cleaned her toys up and scooted over to the rug and sat down and just looked precious! I could have watched her all day! When the kids went to get their backpacks from their lockers, I could hear Veronica saying, "Teacher, I can't get it open" and of course Mrs. Hammond helped:)

When she came out the door to me, her first words were, "Mom, I didn't even have an accident"!!!! Hilarious! Apparently our reminders to tell her teachers if she had to go potty had made some sort of impression:)
Than she told me that she didn't paint today or have recess because it was raining.
She showed me how Mrs. Hammond had them pray before snack, with their hands folded under their chin...CUTE! And she told me about the little boy that got made because he had to stop playing trains and clean up and the little girl who cried because she missed her mommy:)
She also told me, "And I didn't even touch my bun Mom":) Hilarious...apparently my reminders for her not to touch her hair before I got pictures of her had made an impression:)

Veronica's first few days as a Little Angel have been great! She was very excited the day she came home with a picture they had painted! She was very proud the day she told me, "And I was a good girl and handed out the straws for the milk at snack, Mom"! She proudly told me about how they all walk on the golden line with their hands behind their back when they go in or outside (I got to see this in action - amazing - 14 little ones following along). She loves handing me her school papers and will tell me, "This is the sheet I did with Mrs. Hammond and this is the sheet I did with Teacher Lynda".
She also sang the 'Goodbye Song' to us which was CUTE CUTE CUTE! "Goodbye little children, I will see you in 5 sleeps"...there's more to it, I can't remember it right now...again CUTE CUTE CUTE!

Veronica has really taken to a little girl in her class named Izzy (Izabella). I am Izzy's dance teacher and when I found out she was in Veronica's class, I predicted they would be fast friends. And I was right. When I ask V who she played with at school, she almost always answers Izzy. This weekend she told me, "Izzy is my best friend, Izzy said let's be best friends". Izzy is in her dance class too which she loves! Today when I dropped V off, I stayed and watched through the viewing window and saw her and Izzy playing...HOLY CUTENESS...BEYOND CUTE! Again, could have watched this for hours!

When I pick up V, I have already picked up Isabella and our buddy Bryn. You can tell that V gets a big kick out of them seeing her at her school and being just like them. As we headed out the doors today, she said, "What did you guys do at school today?". When I asked her what she did, she said, "Weeeeeelllllllllllllll, I put the apple up on the calendar and we did two art projects Mom"...the weeeeeeellllllll was hilarious.

I am so thankful for what a positive experience this has been so far! And I am so thankful for Mrs. Hammond! Isabella had such an amazing teacher in Mrs. Voeller during her preschool years and we know the same will be true for Veronica! Mrs. Hammond has a very calming presence about her and the second she speaks to Veronica, you can just feel the love and care in her voice! How blessed we are to have her spending time with such a strong woman of faith and love!

I think it's best to close out this entry with a quote from Isabella on Veronica's first day of preschool, "Oh my little preschooler, my little preschooler, I love you so much"!