One Smart Cookie

Addie loves to paint, draw and of course whenever the house is quiet, 90% of the time she is looking through her books. But I haven't been able to work with her as much on her letters lately and I've started thinking about what I would do with her this summer. So the other night we started talking and playing (a.k.a. "informal assessment" in teacher terms), and I realized she recognizes all lower and upper case letters and most of their sounds! I knew she was getting exposure but had no idea the power of Sesame Street, Word World, and various iPod apps! Wow!

While we were playing, I also decided to try her skills out on more focused drawing (a.k.a. "fine motor skills" Hee! Hee!). I had her trace over letters and draw lines to match baby letters with big letters, when out-of-the-blue she drew me a picture of a jack-o-lantern. I was so impressed, that I had to take a picture for keepsake to put on the blog! It even has arms and she colored in the eyes!

 

Watching her grow and learn is such an emotional experience for me. I know it's to be expected and all kids grow and learn in their own way and time and perhaps I'm just another proud, doting mother, but this week it seems as though it's been hitting me harder than normal. Besides discovering all the great things she knows, we also checked out a preschool on Thursday. Tears started streaming down my face as we entered the classroom. (I was humiliated and hoped the teachers didn't notice.) It reminded me of my own classroom and all of the joy I had witnessing other people's kids learn. It was completely surreal to think there I was on the other side with my very own child.

On a lighter note, here is a clip of her calling for her daddy so he'll come make her into a "cheesy roll-up" (Kevin wraps her in our comforter and takes her on a ride out into our living room). Kevin and I are around the corner giggling at her. We missed catching video of her hollering "KEVIN!" She alternates that with "HONEY!" and of course "DAD!" or "DADDY!"