mrs. cristoff

e had her spring performance today at school. we were worried about her because she didn't quite make it through the winter one. somewhere between song 3 and 5 she started loosing her grip and burst into tears. as it turned out, the babe had to go potty and didn't know how she was going to get herself there. a tear down the cheek did wonders and sent her daddy flying to her side to rescue her (momma had her arms full of newborn d).

but that was a few months ago and months in the life of a toddler can make all the difference. today, my little muffin sang her heart out for most of the songs, and yawned through a few she didn't care for. she had a little solo of sorts and did her momma proud. the theme for the show was weather. they sang songs about clouds, rainbows, picnics, and ducks. it was quite a show! i sat in my little toddler chair watching the performance thinking about the process of getting it all together. e's teacher and the classroom assistant are amazing. i'd love to be a fly on the wall during the weeks that lead up to the performance.

at the end of the show we learned some sad news. our highly regarded mrs. cristoff, first ever teacher of e, is retiring after 35 years of teaching. e and i have grown to love this woman. she is old school and has a heart of gold. almost weekly she tells me just how much she loves ellie and that ellie is such a special gift to her classroom. my heart melts every time she tells me that and little e gets a grin from ear to ear. it does wonders for both of us.

at the end of the day, scott and i were chatting. we started thinking about this beautiful teacher and realized that she has been teaching long enough to have been OUR preschool teacher! that is a REALLY long time in the classroom and that is a lot of lucky little toddlers along the way. i can imagine that this woman makes all of her student's parents feel the way she makes me feel.