"Teacher Susan," our fun and energetic librarian, gathers the children's attention with bubbles - their eyes suddenly diverted upward as their arms extend, reaching for the floating iridescent balls.
"Hello bubbles, hello bubbles, come and land, come and land. Right in the middle, right in the middle, of my hand, of my hand," we sing together.
"Hello bubbles, hello bubbles, come and land, come and land. Right in the middle, right in the middle, of my hand, of my hand," we sing together.
Susan does a great job of keeping all of our attention, swiftly moving from one song to another and alternating between activities that require thinking, to being silly, noticing colors, and bouncing our children on our laps.
Then there are the more physical games, like ring-around-the-rosie and the hokey pokey. The kids just have a ball, and so do the moms and dads who are playing with them (and we all get a work-out at the same time, huffing and puffing as we hold our near-toddlers on our hips).
During the last ten minutes Susan brings out the toy box.
There is a mad rush to the favorites, and a "No! Mine!" every time. Ella has gotten pushed out of the way, toys taken from her, as well as shared with her. Toy time is one of my favorites because I like to see the interaction between the other children and Ella, especially because she doesn't have any siblings (yet).
"Goodbye bubbles, goodbye bubbles, time to go, time to go. I will help you with a blow..."
I enjoy these mornings so much and have realized how important it is for moms and their babies to get together. It's awesome to be in a room full of mothers of all ages, ethnicities and lifestyles who have one major thing in common: we love our babies so much.
Amongst all the divisive and contentious blogs entries, this is a beautiful thing. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIts so very true and with all the competitiveness between mothers everyone seems to forget tat we do all have that one key factor in common!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant Post!