Violin Recital or I Guess I Didn't Give Birth To The Next Mozart After All

Let me set the scene for you. About 10 kids standing in a row demonstrating their newly-acquired skills at playing the "violin" for all of the assembled parents. Since they have only had a couple weeks of lessons, they are first learning such critical skills as how to hold their bow (a wooden stick) and violin (a toilet paper roll), and how to move their bow to different rhythms. All of these lessons have clearly sailed right over Miriam's head at this point. Notice that she seems to think her bow is meant to be a plunger. And yes, in the second picture she is on the verge of biting her bow. But the video really just speaks for itself. I have no words to describe what a proud parent I was at the first recital a child of mine has taken part in!

I will say this for her though. In the 2 or 3 weeks since the recital, she has gotten a real violin and actually made vast progress. She now attempts to hold the bow correctly, does a decent job of holding the violin in place, and is close to being able to repeat rhythms. It has given me hope that she might actually be capable of playing the instrument one day. At least she is still very excited about playing her "biolin". And gosh if she isn't adorable doing it!

So for a while Jeff was operating under the assumption that he could turn his iphone sideways to take videos and it would work that way. He was wrong, and that is the reason this video is shot sideways. Remember the blame is all his.

Miriam's First Day of Preschool

Miriam has started going to pre-school two mornings a week at a local school. She really gets excited to go and has lots of fun playing. The school has a big playroom complete with a very fast slide and a little play kitchen area. She goes outside for PE class and has a math class as well. She is also getting violin lessons. I don't think she is actually learning much, but she enjoys being there with the other kids. Most of the rest of the kids are 4 or 5 years old, she is by far the youngest kid. She is supposed to be at least 3, but they are willing to let her in anyway. When I get it off the camera, I'll have to post pictures and video of her "violin recital" they had during a family day at the school. Most of the time at the end of the day when I ask her what she did in school, she is most excited to tell me what she ate for lunch. :) But I can tell a difference in her willingness to speak the local language even after just a couple of weeks of going. So here are a few pictures of her on her first day of preschool.