The Budding Pianist.

The other day Bud came to his dad, who was holding Sweetpea at the time, and asked if DH could please bring the baby into Bud’s bedroom.  He wanted to play her a lullaby on his toy upright piano.

DH obliged him. .  DH and the baby settled in on the floor of the boys’ bedroom for the concert.  I was listening in while cleaning up after dinner and I expected to hear the usual composition of random piano-key pushing.

Instead I very clearly heard Bud play the melody from Brahms’ Waltz no. 15, Lullaby.  Surely that was just my imagination.  He played it again.  And again.  No, it was definitely Brahms’ Lullaby I was hearing.

I went to the boys room and asked DH if he could hear it, too.  I even managed to “sing” the melody while Bud played.  DH said he could hear it but didn’t think Bud was actually intending to play it.  I dropped it and went about my business, enjoying the music provided by my four year-old piano “genius” (what mother doesn’t think her child is a genius, after all?)

A few days later I heard Bud back in his room, playing the same tune over and over.  I was determined to find out for sure what song he was playing.  I told him how much I liked his song and asked him where he had heard it.

“It’s number 17 on my [Baby Einstein] Lullaby CD, ” he calmly replied. 

I looked at the CD in his closet (he hadn’t listened to it in at least a couple months!).  Sure enough- #17 is Waltz No. 15, Lullaby, Brahms.

“Who taught you to play that lullaby, Bud?” I asked.

“The Music taught me.  Can I listen to my CD now?”

Ummm… okay.

I put the CD in and he set it to #17.  He tried to play along with the song but couldn’t really keep up with the tempo.  He pulled out the little song book that came with his piano and told me he would play Twinkle, Twinkle instead.  He started naming the notes as he touched keys. 

(Don’t ask me how he knows the names of the notes and which keys they are- the keys aren’t labelled.  The song book does have the music, and the notes on the page are labelled, but I can’t figure out how he knows which key is the right note.)

So my four year-old taught himself how to play his little piano by ear.  Now he’s teaching himself how to read music.  I am going to have a proud mommy moment.

Oh, nevermind.  I hear him beating on his little brother now.

*moment ended*

 

Bud’s Accident.

I want to talk to you a minute about my oldest son.  Bud is 4 years old- smart, silly, and loves music.  He also whines a lot, but whatever; he’s four.  Bud is also a bit…. accident prone.  When talking about it to my Pretty Nana I was told that one of my uncles had more than his fair share of childhood injuries.  Maybe it’s genetic?

When Bud was just-turned-two, he feel from a pile of couch cushions he was jumping on and smashed his eyebrow into the corner of a coffeetable.  Trip to the emergency room and two stitches that time.  Just after his third birthday he decided to take his little friend’s kid-sized ATV for a ride- right over a 2 foot retaining wall and into the side of a pick-up.  Luckily he only split his chin open.  Another ER visit and three stitches that night.  He feel down every flight of stairs at least once as a baby, despite all my best efforts to keep him safe.  He is just that type of kid.

So it’d been awhile since he’d had any even semi-serious injury and I was beginning to think maybe he’d grown out of his accident prone-ness.  Ha ha ha. 

Thursday late afternoon he decided to imitate a friend (the same one who owned the ATV mentioned in the paragraph above) and ride a toy car down a hill.  His friend did it just fine- but Bud ended up with the car with the broken front wheel.  So instead of going forward and riding down the hill when he pushed off with his feet, his car just flipped forward and started rolling down the hill.  Bud was pitched back and then forward, smashing his face on an edge of the car’s top. 

He managed to rip the little flap of skin that runs between your top lip and your gums right off, rip both top and bottom lips open with his teeth, and bruise his cheek.  His top lip immediately swelled up as big as my thumb, and a blood blister started to form on the underside of it.  The amount of blood was amazing, but not quite as bad as when he split his chin open.  After a thorough investigation of the injuries, it was decided we could opt out of the emergency room this time.  We’re pros by now, anyway.   

The Princess on her throne.

Her throne being, of course, her daddy’s lap.

Here she is, a month old; she’s chubbier and cuter than ever.  That’s even a trace of an actual smile you see gracing her royal lips.

I can’t believe how fast this month has gone.  Wait, yes I can, because I look at her big brothers and wonder where the last 2 and 4 years have gone.  Now I know how fast those baby days fly by and pretty soon they are an independent 2 year old or curious 4 year old.   When I start thinking about it,  I go kiss her soft, chubby cheeks, rub my face on her hair, and smell her sweet, milky breath.  Soon they will be gone.

An update of sorts.

I have been having blogging-block lately, probably due to lack of sleep and being really busy caring for three children, a house, and a husband.  But here is a general update on our lives:

Sweetpea is 2 weeks old, still sleeps and eats great and is still adored by all.

We got a Wii and Wii Fit.  Technically they are DH’s Father’s Day/Anniversary present, but after Bud blew my Mother’s Day surprise I figured we’d better just give it to him before he found out from someone else what it was.  We also got two racing games: Mario Kart and Cars.  DH and I aptly call the Wii “blackmail”.  The boys’ room has never been so clean.

DH and I got to go on a date this weekend to see Indiana Jones and eat Mexican food.  Sweetpea accompanied us.  The food was good, the movie was good (defintely didn’t compare with the original IJ movies, though!), and the company was good.

Monkey started running a random high fever Saturday night.  I think whatever it was is gone now, though.

I do lots of laundry and clean the house all the time.  That part is pretty boring, but oh well.

We got our new homeschooling materials for next year.  I LOVE them.  I should blog more about them later.

Oh Happy (Indiana Jones) Day!

So… I have a confession to make.  Only my closest family and friends know this about me.  Actually, only DH knows the full extent of it (which he luckily just finds amusing and not disturbing).

I am addicted to Indiana Jones.

I started watching the movies at a young age.  I can’t even remember how old I was the first time I saw them, other than I have watched them every time I went to Texas to visit my grandparents for as long as I can remember.  It was a tradition of sorts for me- they had all three on VHS and I would watch one after the other during the hot parts of the day when we couldn’t play outside.

While most other girls were off playing princesses, I was imagining myself as Indiana Jones’ daughter and sidekick, going with him on adventures and helping find precious artifacts for museums.  Mostly this meant I climbed a lot of trees and jumped around a lot.  It’s funny, I never imagined myself as a leading lady or love interest- that grossed me out.  Really, he was old enough to be my dad, so that’s what I pretended he was.

When I was in high school (yes, I said high school- 16 to be exact) I found a fedora like Indiana Jones’ at Goodwill and had to have it.  My friend bought it for me as a birthday gift.  Yes, I even actually wore it.  We have pictures of me with my family at the Grand Canyon that summer wearing that fedora. 

The year after DH and I were married the trilogy came out on DVD.  Guess what my darling new husband knew he better get me for my birthday?  You guessed it.  I got the boxed set, which we promptly watched. 

So….. I am addicted to Indiana Jones.  My love for the movies led to my discovery of other great Harrison Ford movies like Star Wars.   Indiana Jones has helped me to become who I am (okay, so maybe that is a bit overly dramatic).

You can guess where I will be this weekend- DH is taking me to see the new movie.  I have never been old enough to see an Indiana Jones movie in the theater and I am completely excited. 

I have shivers.  Ooooooooooohhhh.

She’s here!

Sweetpea arrived at 8:56 PM on Monday, May 12, 2008.  She was 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 3/4 inches long.

More later…. right now, sleeeeeeeep.

I guess they don’t call it labor for nothing…

Last night around 1 AM I went into labor.  At least, I thought it was labor.  Contractions every 3-5 minutes, lasting about a minute.  I called the midwives and we got the bedroom set up for delivery.  We timed the contractions for about an hour before my first midwife made it.  She got all her equiptment in to the bedroom and set up.  After checking me, she confirmed early labor- 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  Since I have a history of quick labors (last time she didn’t even get her stuff set up before I delivered), both my first and second midwives came and were ready for me to suddenly pop the baby out.

Another hour passed, and another.  And another… and another….

And then, the contractions stopped.

After another check, I was still 3 cm.  So, the midwives left. 

Here I am, 15 hours after “going into labor”.  Stuck.  No progress and very little sleep.

I think I want to go cry. 

Typical girl.  Making us wait like this.  My mom keeps reminding me that she was in labor with her  first daughter (me) for 48 hours.  AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

New Additions.

No… I haven’t had the baby yet.  I would love to be telling you the whole birth story and posting pictures of our new baby, but it hasn’t happened.  I am thinking it never will.

DH and I decided that today was going to be the day for Sweetpea to come.  I was treated out to my favorite fatty breakfast at a diner in town then taken to a nice shoe store to get a new pair of sandals.  Nice, blue leather sandals with high arch supports for my poor pregnant feet.   I am in love with them.

Then we took the boys to the zoo and had a nice walk.  After that DH took me to a plant nursery and let me get all sorts of beautiful flowers for my garden.  I love that he indulges my need to grow things and get dirty.  I always get too many flowers, but he doesn’t seem to mind.  He even picked up a fern for himself.  Which he  is in love with.  He is very protective of that fern.

After that he bought me an iced cappacino and we chatted on the way home.  In the quiet car (the kids dozed off after all that plant excitement.  I can’t blame them, really.)

We got home and let the kids keep dozing in the car while DH and I continued our efforts to put me into labor with a massive gardening session.  I quickly grabbed the shovel and started digging holes.  DH, being the man he is, asked if he could dig all those holes for me.  Then, being the good and patient man that he is, didn’t wrestle the shovel away from me when I very grumpily replied, “NO!  I want to do it!  Can’t you see that I am trying to go into labor?!” 

He did plant his fern.  Then he got really mad when I tossed dirt on it.  I told you he is very protective of that fern.   He loves it more than he loves me.

So we got the gardens filled up and the flower boxes planted.  After everything was cleaned up we came in and had a quick dinner and everyone got showers. 

That’s where we are now.  Still no labor.

So that’s why I have no baby pictures for you.  Instead you’ll have to be happy with pictures of the newest additions to our family: flowers and shoes.  Oh, and the fern.

Bud’s Hero.

Now that Bud is four and trying to figure out what it means to be a boy and not a baby, his dad has suddenly become his hero.  Bud was a mommy’s little boy until sometime last year- before that he didn’t want much to do with Dad.  Now, it’s all changed.  Dad is better than anything.  Yesterday he told me that Dad is better than Superman.  That’s right…. my DH is better than a superhero.  Of course, I already knew this.

Bud seems to have picked up on what are “man jobs” and what are “woman jobs” (at least around here).  He likes to help me clean and cook, but he loves to help his dad cut the grass.   Because that’s what men do.  Because that’s what Dad does.

When DH pulls out the lawn mower, Bud is right there.  He wants to help.  He wants to ride the riding mower with dad (even though it puts him to sleep).  When DH pulls out the push mower to get all those little details on the lawn, Bud pulls out his bubble mower.  Then he will very seriously tell me, “I have to help Dad lawn the grass.”  (Yes, that’s what he actually says: “lawn the grass.”)

It’s like watching synchronized lawn mowing.:

(Look at my gardens!)

Now, the other side of the driveway:

By the way, good job on the lawn, honey.  We love you.  You’re better than Superman.

Overdue: Day 2

Well… no baby during LOST last night.  Or at any point during the night for that matter.

Man, though.  Wasn’t that an awesome show!?  And the previews for next week!?  I could do a happy jig for how excited I am over those previews. 

So God granted my prayer and let me watch my show in peace.  Now, He’s going to make me wait an extra week for making such a rediculous prayer and wasting His time.  Watch.  God likes to do things like this and laugh at me.  I like to think that I amuse Him.