A Special Valentine's Day

Last Friday, Maya and I had a special invite to go to her preschool (that she will be attending in the fall) and spend the morning in the classroom. She was so excited to go and see other kids. Ever since we made our decision on where to send Maya; there has not been one week that has gone by that Miss Maya doesn't ask when she can go to preschool. It is so adorable! Here are some pictures of Maya playing and participating at her first Valentine's Day party at preschool.

The first thing Maya spotted in the classroom was the drinking fountain.

A little boy came over to her as she was standing in front of the drinking fountain and told her that there was a step stool against the wall that she could use to reach it. Maya looked at the boy and said, "I'm a big girl, I can reach it." The little boy looked at Maya and said, "me too." It was so darn cute.

During dress up time, Maya loved wearing this purple hat. She kept asking me, "mommy, how do I look?" Each time, I would say the same thing, "you look awesome."

Since Maya was a special guest, she got to wash her hands first for snack time. She loved the fact she could see herself in the mirror while washing her hands.

While waiting for her snack, she told teacher Heather that she was REALLY hungry. She then told teacher Heather that she needed her snack NOW.

Maya loved her snack... apple juice and a blueberry muffin.

During quiet time, Maya found a book to read. When I asked her if she wanted me to read it to her, she quietly said, "no mom, I can do it."

During open play, two girls asked Maya if she wanted to play with some farm animals and the barn. Maya looked at them and said, "ok, but Maya wants the mommy pig and the babies." Both girls said ok and the three of them played together.

For the Valentine's Party, each of the kids got to exchange valentine's cards with each other. The staff made some cards for Maya so that she would have cards to open too. She even got a piece of candy from teacher Heather. After the cards were opened, each child got a sugar cookie to decorate. Teacher Heather gave each child some frosting, some pieces of licorice, chocolate chips and a handful of jelly beans. Here was Maya decorating her cookie...

Maya placing a jelly bean on the frosting.

Carefully putting a chocolate chip on.

Now the licorice was a bit tricky! After a few tries, she finally figured out that she needed to push harder in order for the licorice to stand up.

Teacher Heather encouraged the kids to taste the frosting. When Maya tried it, she said, "this is yummy!"

Maya then saw some of her new buddies licking the frosting off of their knives and she thought she would try it too.

In the end, she cleaned off her knife.

As teacher Heather came over to wrap up her cookie and package up the extra candy, Maya looked at me and said, " Maya eat cookie and candy for dinner." I gave her a smile and said, "maybe after dinner?"

As the morning wrapped up and it was time to go, Maya went around the room and gave hugs to her new friends and teacher Heather. It was a great day. On the way home, Maya asked me if she could come back to preschool another day. I said, "of course you can."

It was really fun to see Maya interact with the other kids. She had a fabulous time and has already asked if tomorrow she can go to preschool!