Beds & Violins

Big day today! The boys moved in together! Yowsa! Sam hadn't climbed out of his crib on his own, but we wanted to give him plenty of time to get used to the idea before his sister arrives. Ted is psyched to have him in there. We put them to bed at 7 and there have been 2 loud outbursts, including a thunder clap, and Ted got up to poop, but now, at 7:55 they are up but quiet and giggly. Ted is in Sam's bed with him because "I love him." Wish us luck!!

Ted had his first violin lesson today with Miss Vari. It was SO CUTE!!!!!

First she sat him down on his mat (carpet square) with his violin (box) next to him and asked him questions like "How old are you? Who else lives in your house? What do you like to do?" (he said, violin, lol) and stuff like that.

Then she had him stand up and she traced his feet in 'rest position.' Then they practiced rest position and bowing with the violin (1-2-3-up-smile).

Then they worked on 2 rhythms, saying them and then saying them with hands patting thighs (that he couldn't do.). Mississippi Stop Stop then Down Ditty Up Ditty.

Then she showed him "This is your Violin Hand (L). This is your Bow Hand (R)". And did cute things like "Where's your Violin Ear? Your Bow Foot?" etc.

Then she tried to get him to sing "A" on pitch but that didn't happen, LOL.

They ended with a bow. Then the Suzuki thing where the student says "Thank you for teaching me." SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!

Then I got to do the whole thing, faster of course. Next week I'm to have a special bag of "violin toys" to keep him busy during 'my' lesson. I also got a head start on 2 new rhythms he'll learn soon (Colorado Colorado...16th notes and Popcorn Sniff! Eat...8ths, rest on 3rd beat).

Sweetest of all was his total adoration of her and complete attention. It was about 15 minutes I think, total, of him and her interaction. That will gradually lengthen as he ages and gets more used to it/her. The 45 minute slot will be divided between us, with him getting more and more time as we progress.

We 'practiced' for Daddy after work today, basically repeating the lesson. He's not as attentive to me, of course, but we got through it and he was having fun. He is NOT happy that he doesn't get a real violin yet but that will come.

Did I mention this was SO CUTE?!?!?!?!