The Return of Miss Mary

You may recall our love affair with Miss Mary. When we moved, we assumed we'd have to check out of her class forever, and went in search of another Music Together class in a neighboring suburb.

Well, I should have known that it's not "The Program" that makes Music Together a successful program (though it's certainly a contributing factor), it's the teacher. Duh. Needless to say, we were less than impressed with our new version of Miss Mary.

We decided to return to music class in the city, which is conveniently located around the corner from Brad's office, so we used that opportunity (only once so far) to hook up with him for lunch after class. It's a great excuse to get back into the city once a week, and to remind ourselves why we left in the first place (traffic, for one). :o)

Miss Mary has enjoyed watching The Munchkin grow up. She met him at seven months of age and watched him learn to crawl, walk, talk, and experienced his temper-tantrum phase (the first of many, I'm sure). Now he actually enjoys participating with me, as opposed to across the room from me, which has been a nice transition for me, too.

Part of the Music Together curriculum includes encouraging parents and kids to listen to recordings of the music used in class, because the MT gurus know repetition is the key to learning. Often, the songs will culminate with a short echo exercise, either rhythmic or melodic. This encourages kids to repeat vocal patterns and practice matching pitch. The Munchkin usually ignores those little practice sessions....until now.

One of the patterns starts with a man making a horse clip-clop sound with his tongue. After four beats, another musician says a pattern (ba, ba, bababa ba), which the listener is supposed to repeat. Watch what happens now:


Hee hee!

Our Budding Musician

Old Footage

I think I edited this footage together almost two months ago, so it's a little out-of-date now, and (probably) not very interesting. BUT, I think it's unfair that I get to spend all day with this awesome kid and you don't, so here's a little slice of life.

HAIR

No kidding, my 20 month old recently got his SEVENTH professional haircut. One, because his hair grows faster than our lawn, and two, because his mom doesn't trust herself with scissors. (I probably need one of my aunts to give me a tutorial one of these days.)

Our current fave place for kids' cuts is the little kiddie salon in our mall, which we can visit after Gymboree. The boy loves it because he can sit in the train seat, eat crackers and watch T.V. (And then he walks around for the rest of the day repeating, "Sit? Choo-Choo? Sit. Choo-choo. Hair? Sit? Choo-choo. Hair. Sit choo-choo. Hairsitchoochoo." Etc.)

Before:
(By the way, this is how he holds ALL objects when he has several to handle. Tucked up under his chin. It's precious.)

After:

(With hair gel. Her idea, not mine.)

Life

That's a very adequate title to describe our recent trip to Scottsdale, to visit The Munch's Grandpa and Grammie.

The desert is teeming with life, especially new life, in April. Woodpeckers set up camp inside cacti and birds all around are guarding their eggs or their young. The hummingbirds zip around and around...some seem to have a death wish when they practically dive bomb the people in the face. Rattlesnakes cross the road, providing a new punchline to the old chicken joke. The monkeys in the zoo screech with excitement and who knows what else. Bobcats are "doing it" in the backyard. And we get a visit from a dog who starts to melt the ice surrounding my heart.

All in all, we had a wonderful trip, though I'm sad I won't get to watch those baby woodpeckers learn to fly.

Some photos for your perusal:
http://gallery.me.com/hannahrae#100486