Teacher's Pet

Once a week Grace and I take a music class together, where we spend an hour singing and dancing around with a dozen other mom's and their precious little ones. I am sure it would cause many of you to laugh if you saw me. Well, it is fun and Grace love's the time with the other kids. To get her ready for class or school as I call it, I tell her, " we are going to school and you are going to see the kids!" She gets SOOO excited. I think it's just the word kids that she hears that gets her so pumped up.

Grace is well known in the class by the other mom's as an outgoing and silly kid. She always walks around the room greeting each child with much enthusiasm. It includes lots of talking and hand waiving. However, sometimes it can get crazy - she has been known to pull hair and hug a little too hard. Nonetheless, it is a very sincere form of excitement and affection!

Well, today the teacher coined her the "mother hen" of the class and here I always thought of her as "Chicken Little." Anyhow, she was given this nickname today because she made it a point to check out each child and even greet the newcomer by kneeling down and smiling at him. She runs around the class clapping and making herself known! I know my Gracie and her passionate and sincere appreciation for other kids - I know she is just thrilled to be around other's her age, especially since it includes singing and dancing!

After the teacher's observation this afternoon, it dawned on me that she does have this quality. If she is drinking her milk and one of her dolls is in eyesight she always pretends to feed them and share her drink. Or each morning when I greet her in the crib she usually hands me her beloved Ralphie (a stuffed giraffe) to kiss first. Sometimes I have to do this before she let's me pick her up. She is the little mother hen . It warms my heart and makes me excited to one day give her a little sister or brother that she can bring under her little wing or probably just boss them around!

Let's face it a mother hen is great quality to have but it also can be mistaken for other things like bossy, nosy, stubborn and even quirky...hey wait that sounds like how our loved one's would describe Mike and me in some aspect or another....hmmm, and we wonder where she get's it from!