"who loves ya, milla?"

"wana does!" 

wanda was miller's preschool teacher this year. she is from new york and is a die hard mets fan so we had planned this picture since fall when we started school. so, the day after opening day, a preschool day, miller proudly wore his yankees hat for "wana" as he calls her. 

now, about wanda, i have to tell you . . . she was a blessing to our family! working at the preschool, i knew who wanda was, but carter did not have her when she was in the ones. she had another set of wonderful teachers who we love (and one who we miss dearly as she and her family including one of carter's first friends, libbi, have moved away!) and, honestly, i really wanted miller to have the same teacher/room/etc. but God knew better. He placed miller in ms.wanda's room. (side note: we team teach at hope. each class has 2 co-teachers. wanda's co-teacher had to leave after christmas and another teacher joined her. we love them both too, but miller has a special relationship with "wana".) so, let me tell you about wanda, she is loud and crazy and miller loves every second of it! everyday she asks the kids, "who loves ya?" and then teaches them "wanda does!" they shout it back and forth and it is adorable. 

working in the same environment as my children attend preschool has been a blessing from day one. i knew the second carter had a high fever, saw the first time she dressed up and adamantly wore the sequined top all day, knew the second miller had an allergic reaction, nursed miller through mastitis, evaluated carter's "first" haircut by a little boy in her class, and on and on. knowing my children are loved by who takes care of them is more important to me than believing in the preschool's play based curriculum, loving teaching in my own classroom, loving the people i work with, etc. it just so happens i have all those things too, so like i said hope has been the place for us since we started three years ago!

but back to wanda, oh how we love her! so, if you get the blessing of a loud new yorker shouting "who loves ya?" to your child, consider it just that-a blessing! we love you too, wanda!