Marlee Matlin Shares What She Loves Most About Being a First-Time Grandma (Exclusive)

Marlee Matlin is settling into her newest role — grandma!

Attending the Media Access Awards in Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, the actress, 59, shared what it's been like as she's transitioned to being a grandma to her daughter Sarah Rose Grandalski's daughter Brooklyn Rose, whom she welcomed in late April.

"I love it. The thing I think I love the most is being able to just give her oodles of kisses every day and then just give her back to her mother and not have to worry about everything like when I was a mom," Matlin shares with PEOPLE.

"I can't wait to teach her, to show her everything about life and to be able to sign with her, which is what I'm doing now. Not teach sign language, but just to communicate in sign language," she adds.

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In late April, Matlin became a first-time grandmother after her oldest daughter Sarah welcomed her first baby.

"There's no way to describe the feeling of becoming a grandparent for the first time," Matlin told PEOPLE of granddaughter Brooklyn. "The love for the child truly overwhelms you in the best way."

This past December, the Oscar-winner announced that her daughter was pregnant with a baby girl in a cute Instagram video.

In the post, Matlin's older daughter walked past her, and then the actress took her daughter’s wrist and pulled her closer, rubbing her growing belly. She then signed "It's a girl" in American Sign Language.

"We've been promoted to GRANDPARENTS!" she captioned the video.

Matlin and her husband, retired Burbank police officer Kevin Grandalski, married in 1993 at the home of Matlin's longtime pal Henry Winkler. She and Grandalski first met on the set of the police drama Reasonable Doubts. They share four children together: Brandon Joseph Grandalski, 24, Tyler Daniel Grandalski, 22, Isabelle Jane Grandalski, 20, and Sarah.