March Stuff We've Been Up To

(I know it's May. This post is my attempt to catch up.)

Jessica charms us everyday, but March 31 almost made me cry I was so pleased. We were sitting at the dinner table, all eating hot buttery carrots out of the same bowl. I told Jessica: "These are carrots. Bunny Foo Foo eats carrots" and in the next second I thought 'I'm wasting my breath--she won't remember that connection.' 

And all of the sudden she hummed 6 perfect notes in a high voice: "huh, hu-huh, hu-huuuh, huuuh" and Dave and I both looked at each other shocked and said "Did she just sing 'Little Bunny Foo Foo'?" It was the first time I heard her sing, without help, a recognizable song, and the happy glow of that memory is going to last me a long time.

She is also learning to climb into the tub and up the furniture,

learned to crawl out the cat door (which she only accomplished once, not being a skinny minnie):

opens the cabinet to her toys, takes the lids off markers just to put them back on, pinches her nose, puts anything on her wrists like bracelets, including my sandals, and puts things on her head. She made Dave laugh really hard one day when she put a kitchen towel over her head, and started crawling blind, smack into our wooden chest.

And about the time she turned one she started eating all her meals with a fork:

 I saw the last launch of the space shuttle Discovery from my front porch, being only a 3-hour drive south of Cape Canaveral. The picture only shows the smoke trail, but I could also see the bright fire of the rockets.

I have about a dozen piano students, and this spring is busy with concerts and progress tests. I'm bribing them with music CDs for extra practice, but made them buy CDs from me if they didn't practice enough. I teach Tuesday and Wednesday nights, thanks to Dave who is glad to have a mac and cheese night.

I also entered a local tennis tournament and enjoyed seeing this second place finish in the next newsletter:

Palm Tennis Singles Winter 2011 Winners

North Palm Beach County Ladies Night 3.5

Champion: Mary Donovan * Lake Park Tennis Center

Finalist: Elizabeth Robertson * Carlin Park

Dave has been woodworking on our porch making storage cubes for our DVDs. He likes his new clerking job, and spent hours with the other clerks cleaning out enough old records to make a good bonfire.

We watched some BYU basketball, impressed by Jimmer Fredette. Smokey has needed a lot of medical attention, but I think he's better now. Dave chose Arsenic and Old Lace to watch thinking I would like the love story, but I have to warn you: I think it's better for Halloween, FYI. I rearranged all the pictures in our front room, and hung our newly framed, first family picture on the wall. I just listened to a fabulous book on tape: The Help, and started another funny book about adoption and family: No Biking in the House Without a Helmet.


That's mostly all. April 20-30, we're flying to Utah for the BYU graduation of Dave's siblings, Easter, and I'm going to attend BYU Women's Conference.

Piano Recital and Baby Shower

One thing Dave and I learned about childlessness: don't put your life on hold, or you're going to be very bored and anxious waiting for kids. While we waited to get pregnant our first year, I did a lot of reading about human reproduction. (It's a great irony/weakness-becoming-a-strength when you can't have kids but you know way more about it than people who can replicate themselves.)

While Dave earned his Masters in Austin, TX, and we didn't have money for fertility treatments, Dave enjoyed woodworking and Scouts, and I scrapbooked and studied HTML and Spanish.

When we moved to Florida and started fertility treatments, we still bought a house, a second car, cell phones, furniture, and a piano; Dave and I led the church youth group; I decorated the house and learned everything I could about Florida climate; and after several requests, I started teaching piano lessons.

I had taught lessons in high school, but I still felt unqualified. So I started reading about piano pedagogy, met other teachers, and gained experience. The parents were patient with me as I experimented on their kids, as I was patient with students and parents who weren't always stellar. (Hey, I was that kid who wouldn't practice! I have a soft spot for that. Sometimes.)

I soon realized that if students don't have people to impress and deadlines (a.k.a. recitals) frequently, then piano study seems like endless torment. So I started themed recitals every 3-6 months, and field trips to keep the kids' interest. We've been to a piano repair shop, a 5 Browns concert, a piano festival, had a piano family home evening, and a military jazz band. It's been an awesome creative outlet for me. The recitals at my house & teaching units I've done so far are:

Country Gardens Duets at a piano store on a $100,000 piano
Christmas concert at a student's home
Movie Music/John Williams (Star Wars, Jaws, etc.)
Beethoven
Accompanying Singers (great for learning music doesn't stop for mistakes)
How to Practice (unit)
Minor Keys/Halloween (twice; kids love doing recitals in Halloween costumes)
Carnival of the Animals
Rhythms/World Music (church classroom)
Music Money/STOMP party for high earners (unit)
Musical Hats/Eras & Genres (grand piano at my church chapel)

After teaching for 4 years, I've had 34 students from age 5 to adult, and I currently have 14 students. But because of spring break, illness, scheduling confusion, and because I don't make the adult students perform, about 1/3 of us featured music from every time period and genre. The recital was SO MUCH FUN, especially with 6 months of preparation and so much variety.

I bought hats to represent different kinds of music to show the students there is always some kind of music you like. The hats were a crown: Renaissance; wig: Baroque; tri-cornered hat: Classical; top hat & specs: Romantic; space helmet: 21st Century classical; Viking helmet: opera; director's cap: movies; straw hat or bonnet: folk music; fedora: jazz/blues; and peace headband & crazy glasses: rock & roll. I spent hours finding a video clip to show on my laptop every week, and a new piece of music to match. I learned a great deal of musicology, but I'm glad this time-consuming unit is done. On to composing!

Bonnie Higgins (in the tiara) is one of my piano parents and a violin teacher. She played also, since I invite parents to perform in recitals. Most importantly, she volunteered to help organize refreshments (what a lifesaver) and turned it into an impromptu baby shower for us (what a sweetie!)

People were very generous, and we passed around the little angel, (who attempted to sing during the recital, and during refreshments performed in her diaper.) Everyone was excited to see her, and we were only too happy to show her off.

Drew and Julie, part of the ubercreative Deboskey family, who have been putting up with my teaching for a few years now.

My friend Meghan spotted our husbands holding their new babies in the hallway. Yay for new dads!