"Do you want another one?"

I was so excited to hear that I only had 16 kids at the beginning of the year. It has been great. I find myself counting them all the time to see who is missing, and then they are all there. I know it's crazy, but 16 is a huge difference from 18 (how many I had last year). Well at the end of the day on Friday my principal comes in and asks if I would like another student. I wanted to say "Not really....I am quite content with my 16 THANKS!" However I put a smile on my face and said "sure." I got to meet the little girl and she came into the classroom to meet everyone and get a feel for it. I found out that she comes from a Montessori school where there were only 3 K kids in her class. Her mom said she decided to move her when the child said "Mom, who are my friends?" and the mom had to answer "me and your daddy with tears in her eyes." I called all of the little girls over and introduced her and automatically my students embraced her and took her by the hand to show her around. To my surprise...mom was crying in the background, in relief that her little girl would now have some friends her own age. She seems sweet as does mom and so, I am just fine with adding another one. I hope that our classroom is just where she needs to be: filled with love and friends. So, 17 kids now. Hopefully she is so well behaved, that it still feels like 16. We shall see.