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Jeffrey is at that beautiful age when school is still a fun place ruled over by a teacher he adores. First grade is promising to be wonderful, so far — we managed to have the good fortune to be assigned to the teacher that everyone in the neighborhood says is the best.
We’ve finally retired the “Barack Obama” lunchbox — a Spider-Man lunchbox that managed to be plastered with election stickers during the Democratic primaries in Pittsburgh — which is kind of a sad rite of passage, but Jeffrey is exceedingly pleased with the new Star Wars lunchbox we found to replace it.
Jeffrey is very glad to be back in school; he missed having lots of playmates this summer and would often become bored in the afternoons when I ran out of ideas for what to do. The afternoon after his first day, I found him standing on one of the kitchen counters, reaching up to move the hands of our wall clock around.
When I asked what he was doing, he replied that he was trying to change the clock so that it would be school time again. Cute boy — if only time worked that way!
For those of you who are curious, Jeffrey is indeed still slogging away with piano.
Yes, I was truly upset about his teacher’s recommendation that we take some time off, but after consulting my mother-in-law (who not only is generously funding the lessons, but has also put six children through lessons herself) I’ve decided to just keep slogging on through.
The last thing I want is to give my kid the message that two so-so weeks of lessons grants him the right to quit.
So: we’re slogging. The biggest obstacles Jeffrey faces, other than the usual attention-span problems, is learning the notes on the keyboard and proper fingering. Kim, his teacher, has therefore issued flash cards and a finger exercise known as “tabletop tapping.” We’re also reviewing many of the songs he already knows, teaching him to look at the music instead of his hands, and to hold his fingers the right way and play instead of pounding the keyboard.
After nearly two months of flashcards and table-tapping, Jeffrey has improved enough to focus on directly identifying keys on the keyboard and working on playing his review songs properly. Every now and then I see him make a small leap, a connection — hey, when the notes on the page move upwards, it means the notes are higher! — and he’s really starting to make an effort in making a sound that is “smooth like ice cream.”
And the bribes rewards? Those don’t hurt, either. Jeffrey has only two or so more days until he gets enough stickers on his chart for an R2-D2 toy. Woot.
In other music-related news, a few weeks ago I found a bag of plastic busts of composers’ heads for $1 at the thrift store. They’re kind of dated (Edward MacDowell is the lone representative of American music) but I thought they made for goofy fun. Look — I can juggle them in the air and say they’re too hot to Handel!
Jeffrey on the other hand, was fascinated and spent a great deal of time making this on top of the piano:
He gathered the boxes, the flowers, and ribbon all by himself, and dubbed it the “Piano Temple.” In case you can’t tell (it’s kind of blurry) Beethoven is at the top (the only composer Jeffrey knows). I think the Maestro would approve. And what is up with Bach’s friggin’ enormous head?!? (He’s just below Beethoven on the right.)
Two weeks ago we returned from our first big vacation as a family that didn’t involve visiting relatives.
Really, this was one of our chief reasons for moving back to Utah — so we could go somewhere else for a change. This year we decided to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, staying at a campground between the two parks (in a rented trailer! With heat!).
I’ve decided to be bold and experiment with technology. Here’s my first stab at creating a slide show via YouTube. With subtitles! (No music, however.)
Here are the vital stats:
Number of Junior Ranger patches earned: 2 (Jeffrey wore a jacket proudly displaying all of his ranger patches. He has four of them now.)
Number of Tourists Jeffrey Personally Warned about the Dangers of Geothermal Features: 4
Bears Sighted: 1 (a grizzly, he’s in the slide show)
Moose Sighted: 5
Wolves Sighted: 0, alas
Coyote Sighted Whom Many Tourists Thought Were Wolves: 3
Eagles Sighted: 2 (one of them was an immature bald eagle, and lifted out of a meadow just as we walked by)
Elk Sighted: oh, who cares?
Bison Sighted: dozens and dozens and dozens
Books Read Out Loud While Driving: 3 (A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson, The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead)
U.S. State lisence plates sighted: 48 (we couldn’t get Delaware or West Virginia, although we did see Hawaii, Maine, and Rhode Island).
Marshmallows Toasted by Wimmy: 6
Marshmallows Wimmy managed to take off his toasting fork and eat: 0
Miles hiked: Um . . . perhaps something like twenty, over the course of the week
Times Eleanor complained that her legs hurt: too many to mention
Ice Cream Cones Consumed by Family: 20? 25? I lost track after the third day.
Minutes Eleanor lasted in boring ranger-led lecture about Native American Art: 10
Minutes Jeffrey lasted: 45
Minutes William lasted: 0
Number of four-year-old girls we met on the trail who are also named Eleanor: 1 She and my Eleanor became friends, and held hands for much of our hike, how cute!
Toy moose that William stripped of antlers and fuzzy fur, rendering them into creepy shriveled lumps of pink plastic: 2
Parents who had a great time and are a little sad to be home, although happy to have a comfortable bed once more: 2
