First Parents As Teachers Meeting

Leah and I had her first Parents and Teachers meeting yesterday. P.A.T.'s is a program funded by the government through the public school system. All cities have this program. City of STL, Crestwood, Afton, St. Peters, etc. It costs us nothing, and is funded through government through public schools. Anyway, these people are trained and pretty much the program is there for parents and children to further educate themselves on the development of their child and how to keep them on the right track with the right timeframe developmental milestones. Little did I know this program can start for parents as early as before the baby is born when mom is pregnant and goes until the child is like 5 yrs old.
They visit 4 times a year.
Our lady's name is Pam. Yesterday Pam, and I sat on the floor with Leah, talked about “tummy time”, “floor time”, the current development for a 5 ½ -8 month old. She pulled out age appropriate toys. Talked about the things we can do to help her with development, both mental, and physical. She pulled out a large like 1 liter empty water bottle with some things that make noise in it and some colorful paper for her to see. Leah liked that toy a lot. It enhances her visual learning, motor skills, and cause and effect learning, (when I shake the bottle, it makes noise). It was really neat to see how interested Leah was with an empty plastic water bottle and household items inside.
So typical.
Just like buying a gift for a child and having them play in the cardboard box instead of the expensive toy within. It became clear to me that we need some baby books. Like the fabric ones, or the vinyl ones. I have had a hard time finding those in the stores. Poor girl…so deprived!
I also learned Mommy and Daddy need to start reading more to her.
I tried a few months ago but she was not into it. The P.A.T. lady read 3 books to her while she was over and Leah seemed to really enjoy them. Of course, we had to “plug her up”, because all she wanted to do was put them in her mouth. But it was neat to see her hold the books in her hand and reach toward the pictures on the pages. I would say Leah’s 6 month birthday, which was yesterday, is a GREAT time to start this healthy routine of READING all the time.