Yesterday was a very special day for Gwendolyn. Her miniature horse buddy, Little Star, made a special guest appearance at her preschool. And Gwendolyn got to show him off and introduce him to all of her classmates! She was in heaven — and that's a HUGE understatement!
I told her about the special plans in the morning when I was getting her ready for school that day. She was immediately excited and I could tell that the wheels were burning rubber in her head and that she couldn't wait to get to school and see Little Star. We talked about it on the way to school and I asked her if she was excited to see him — “GAH!” (yes!). Then I asked her if she was excited to share him with her friends. She looked away and thought for a minute. Then she turned back and said — “Gah.” She can be pretty protective of her relationship with Little Star so we weren't sure how this would all go, but we told her she could be the first to greet him and that she could stand next to him the whole time to introduce her classmates and show them the ropes. She loved that idea!
When we arrived at school her classmates were busy making special bead clippies to clip on Little Star's mane. It was so cute to see them all getting so excited about the prospect of a real-live-horse coming to their school and I don't think they knew exactly what to expect when we were telling them it was a miniature horse — the size of a large dog. Gwendolyn was working on her clippie — purple and pink of course — when Diane, Little Star's owner, arrived with Little Star in his adorable mint green Volkswagon bus (aka “Little Mint”). Gwendolyn knows the distinctive sound of that bus and when she heard it pull through the parking lot she wanted to get right out and greet him.
Gwendolyn spent a few minutes with Little Star on her own and proudly clipped her clippie on his mane. Then her classmates came out in groups of 3 or 4 to meet Little Star on the front grass and clip their clippies on his mane. They all did great! And Gwendolyn did great! She was so proud to share Little Star with her friends and she was so interactive and “chatty” during the whole visit. When children would ask questions about Little Star and Diane would answer, Gwendolyn would roll her eyes up, up, up to confirm the answer — you could tell she was so proud to have her classmates be so excited about her friend.
Today was an awesome day! Huge thank you to Gwendolyn's preschool for allowing Little Star to visit and also to Diane Hall of Little Star Pony Foundation for continuing to be so supportive of Gwendolyn through her work with Little Star. Gwendolyn lights up when she spends time with him and they truly have a special bond.