Halloween at Preschool

Karina goes to preschool twice a week now, as some of you may remember.  I love her preschool and I am so happy we decided to put her in.  She is becoming more social, learning lots of things, and most importantly having a lot of fun.  She's really shy (like I actually am) and didn't seem to have a clue how to play with other kids, so having her in school a few hours twice a week has been helping.  She is very proud of herself for going to preschool.

They do lots of neat things there, like painting and craft projects.  She's always bringing home something cute and clever.  The school is accredited, so everything they do has a learning basis, although that is not primarily why we enrolled her in preschool.  Still it's good to know they are thinking about the projects and not just playing around. 

It's so hard to leave her still, even though she loves it and goes right in without even saying goodbye to me most days.  I used to hug her and tell her I'd see her after the Teddy Bear song, but now I don't even get to do that!  She's ready to go.  She has a friend from church who also is in her class and they have become closer since being in class together.  When M sees her at church or Musikgarten, she wants to hold Karina's hand and hang out with her.  I love it.  Karina is still adjusting to it I think, but she definitely enjoys M's company and told me one day that M was her best friend.  Very cute.

This past week the Tuesday/Thursday classes had their costume parade.  All the kids dressed up in their costumes and paraded around the outside of the playground fence for parents and other classes to see them.  Karina's class went on Thursday.  She and M were both Cinderella, although I don't think they conspired in it at all.  M was planning to be Cinderella for a long time, and I don't know what brought on Karina's desire to be a princess in the first place.  Way back when I was giving her suggestions and ideas, I really thought she'd want to be a ladybug or a car, but she said princess and stuck to it.  Then one day it wasn't just any princess, it had to be Cinderella.  I searched for a Cinderella dress but they all seemed kind of cheap or expensive, or cheap AND expensive, until one day I was in Toys R Us and went through their regular dress-up section.  I found the most beautiful dress--blue and silver, like Cinderella, with flowing sleeves and some details on it.  And it was cheaper than most of the Halloween dresses!  Score!  I had Karina try it on and she loved it!  Then she informed me that she needed glass slippers.  Got some cheap ones at KMart and she wore them to Grandma's house the first day I showed them to her!

I have pictures of the parade to share with you, but of course, they are on my desktop and I am in bed on my laptop writing this.  But I promise I will put them in a new post tomorrow or Monday for you all to see. 

I just have to say another good word about her teachers.  She has a teacher and an assistant, and we call them both her teachers.  There is also always a parent helper in the classroom, so 3 adults with a maximum of 10 kids is good.  Anyway, Tuesday the kids were all going to the little pumpkin patch there at the church that's connected to the preschool, but Karina had woken up with this bad cough and I couldn't be sure she wasn't sick.  I thought it was probably allergies or the remnants of the cold she'd been fighting all weekend, but I figured if I sent her, she'd end up being sick and miss Thursday, the parade, and of course if I kept her home she'd be fine (which she was, but that's okay).  Anyway, she missed the pumpkin patch.  I figured they might pick out a pumpkin for her and have it on Thursday but no--they took her over there during playground time and let her pick her own!  I just thought that was so thoughtful and kind of them, and I just love her teachers.  Mrs. W and Mrs. C, you rock!!!