CED 2008 ~ Playing Preschool Teacher

For today's CED excercise, I got to play "Preschool Teacher." Our dear grand-daughter, Alexxis McKenzie is 23 months old now and we're learning. Alexxis attention span is short, so its a challenge to incorporate learning with play but we're managing quite nicely. We're learning our colors: red, yellow, green, and blue; our shapes: circles, triangles, and squares; our numbers: 1-5; and practicing our A, B, C's, along with Animals and their sounds. We also play "Peek-A-Boo" and sing the A, B, C song on the Fisher Price website. Today, we printed off coloring book pages to color to re-inforce our learning of the number 1 {one}, the color red, and the circle. To work on our animals, we choose one cat! Alexxis wasn't into coloring her cat, so grandma taught her about the one cat and that baby cats are called kittens and both of them make a "meow" sound. We also learned that cat is singular, meaning one cat; while "cats" means "two or more". Alexxis mimics the sounds and repeats "kitty-kitty". She is so adorable and fun!

We had breakfast, learned our ABC's; watched a bit of Franklin on Noggin; then had a 15 min. excercise routine where we dance to her musical rabbit. After another lesson, we just play with toys for a little while before it's soon time for lunch. After lunch, we rest for a bit to let our food digest a little bit, and then it's time for another short lesson. We end with hanging the results of our efforts on grandma's freezer which is our make-shift art gallery. We clap hands and tell each other good job!

When Daddy arrives from his business meeting, Alexxis has to show him our gallery; her little face just beams. It is so much fun watching her play, laugh, grow, and learn ; but that smile and the sense of confidence she's gaining with each and every effort makes the time we spend working all worthwhile!

Some of her favorite songs are "If your happy and you know it: clap it your hands!", "Patty cake", and "Ring Around the Rosy". We sing, dance, and simply have fun. My dd, Amber recently complimented me about working with Alexxis. After watching her within their home, Alexxis and I were caught playing "Ring Around the Rosy" when Amber arrived. Amber sat her purse down on the dining room table, look at me and said, "Mom, I'm so glad your so fun! Alexxis loves you." She had tears in her eyes as she spoke and then, as she reached for my hand, she said, "I want to play, too." So, Alexxis, Amber, and I held hands, walked in a circle, and sang until, "We all fell down." Later, I told Amber that I secretly love playing with Alexxis. It allows me to act like a child, without looking stupid doing it. LOL! Being a grandmother for the first time is truly a blessing! I cannot think of anything more precious, well perhaps the birth of a child, but a grandchild is truly a dream come true!