Roots of Empathy Slideshow Below!

Every 3 weeks, we take Summer to the kindergarten classroom for the Roots of Empathy Program. It's a program where a baby and mother visit a classroom every 3 weeks so the class can observe the baby, what he/she can do, how much baby has grown, and the instructor leads a themed discussion each week. The program is believed to help the kids learn the different ways a mom cares for a baby, and this inturn helps them develop empathy toward others, because we're all people and we all have needs
One week we talked about babies crying, another week we talked about what to pack when we take baby out....this week we talked about Summer's emotions; what makes her sad, mad, upset, angry.
When we first come into the classroom, I walk Summer around the circle and the kids get to touch only her toes. And they sing a welcome song when we come in. Then Summer goes on the middle of the blanket, toys are given to her and the kids observe and see what she can do.
Whenever Summer does something that deserves applause, the kids do a quiet fingerclap so the loud noise doesn't scare her. Those kindergarteners can clap pretty loud if they get into it.
This week, the kids were excited to see Summer roll over so many times and so easily. Also, they got to see her use her knees to push herself up a bit, helping her to "shimmy", not crawl yet. I told the kids that she's trying to clap now but we tried to get her to clap but she wouldn't.....until we put two balls in front of her. She grabbed one in each hand and started clapping them together as the rest of the kids joined in. She liked it because she could hear the balls making noise when they touched.
They were also excited when I would roll the ball to Summer and she'd reach out and catch the ball....it was almost perfect timing everytime, like she knew when to reach out and catch it.
Anyways, it was a pretty fun day....the other times we went weren't that eventful, so I'm glad Summer had a bit of energy at least to show off for the kids. The other times, she was like a bump on a log and didn't do a whole lot. It's fun watching her become more mobile. I'm sure I'll be saying that when she's getting into EVERYTHING!