Highlights
- Calan has a violin breakthrough
- The “Grands” come to visit for Christmas
December brought us music again just like it has in recent years. As usual we kicked off a few “family jams” where Mama and Dada get out Christmas books and play/sing songs. We also had Uncle Joe and his friend Patty over for some homemade nachos and to play some catchy tunes together in the living room. That’s always a fun part of the holiday season, and the kids especially love it.
We also got to witness some of mother nature’s work this month with one of the biggest wild fires in California history taking place nearby. The boys were curious, to say the least. We were relatively close to the fires as they swept through parts of Ventura and over the hills in Santa Paula. But the real effect for us was the smoke in the air for days on end. It was tough to be outside, and in fact, a couple of the Y football games were postponed until the end of the month. Even a YAC football week was canceled as it just didn’t make sense for anyone to be outside for any length of time. From a discovery point of view, Calan was particularly interested in learning about pirocumulous clouds that can result from large fires.
Gran and Grandpa came as usual for the holidays. We had lots of fun with them, continuing our traditions. I’m sure the kids will have long lasting memories of waiting at the top of the stairs with Mama, Gran and Grandpa while Dada goes down into the living room and confirms that Santa stopped by during the night. This year however, Evan slept in late for some reason, but Calan, as eager as he was, got a sneak peak at the tree before we carried out the aforementioned tradition. I guess older brothers have some perks.
Calan
One big thing we needed sorted out this month was Calan’s approach to learning violin. We’d been with Ms. Diana for some time now, and while she was a seasoned teacher, she never really seemed like a good fit for Calan. She wasn’t much for deviating from her system and the ways that she wanted Calan to learn. This included the pace he was going at and any freedom he had with playing anything other than what she assigned in his book. Additionally, there never seemed to be much of a connection between her and Calan.
It kind of came to a head in recent weeks as Calan increasingly expressed a disinterest and reluctance to practicing and playing more than he ever had before. But this did a 180 this month after we talked to Diana about giving him some freedom in his playing. We started a new music notebook for Calan and introduced some new notes. He took on a bit of ownership to his playing as we let him choose what he wanted to practice. This included some Christmas songs. He even taught himself how to play The First Noel.
Allowing him to have some control actually sparked more practice. In fact, there was a series of days where we woke up hearing a faint violin coming from downstairs. It was Calan, practicing completely on his own first thing to start his day. That’s something we’d never seen (or heard) before. We also had his holiday concert. He was able to play more in the concert (an extra song with the other kids) after showing Diana he was ready for the piece. Previously, she had suggested he not play it. In good spirit, Calan kind of showed her through his determination and rekindled interest in his instrument, and learned the song. Exploring and experimenting more, we amplified him with a microphone on the night Uncle Joe came to play music with us. He played a few songs with us, including Carol of the Bells that he had learned all by himself. He had fun, and it was great seeing him play “band” style in a way he hadn’t done before.
Calan also really got into writing music notation lately. He applied his skills at writing down musical notes by notating one of his songs that he wrote. Finally this little melody we’d heard him create and play for months was a real piece of music!
ROA classes finished up this month for the semester. He had fun in his Da Vinci class, constructing buildings with the other kids out of small supplies then subjecting them to things like earthquakes and strong winds. Calan also started a new book series, “How to Train Your Dragon.”
Notable quotes this month:
“I’m gonna be a grown up when I’m eight.”
After his first online class talking about inventors using patents, we asked Calan what do engineers and inventors get to protect their inventions? He replied “they get clear coat so their inventions are protected.”
Evan and Mama did another duo Long Beach trip together in the early part of the month. Evan continues to move along through his grains. During this visit, he challenged for rye but had some mild symptoms. He didn’t officially pass. Either way, we continued on with his rye doses. He did move further along with egg though, and was introduced to egg white.
As part of his music contribution this month, Evan took a liking to playing the drum set in the living room He would sit there and play a “song” he made up. He banged intentionally on the drums in a sort of methodical rhythm until it was over and he declared that the piece was finished. Each time he did this, he called out that the song was called “Bard Eagle”. This seems to be in homage of bald eagles, which he’d been learning about recently.
One thing we always notice about Evan is his “default state” seems to be that of happiness. Unless there is some external thing acting on him (like a tormenting big brother or getting hurt), he’s a pretty happy guy. It reminds us of when he was born. He came out not crying, but just being. (It was the nurse that made him cry by rubbing his back vigorously to make sure he was full alert and ready for the cruel world. Funny that we have to make a newborn cry to ensure they’re a-okay, despite already monitoring their heart rate and other vitals.) Anyway, we like our happy-state little man. And when he’s down or upset it’s easier to help him feel better because it just seems that’s where he should be.
On our music night with Joe and Patty, Evan was getting upset at one time because he wanted to keep playing with Patty’s phone and Calan’s camera. He was interested, but we didn’t quite trust that he could “take care” of those two items. During his tantrum, Dada held him close and said to go up to his room and get something of his, like a toy or book that belongs to him. He went up, and 10 minutes later after not returning, we found him sitting up in his chair all alone thumbing through books peacefully. Sometimes he’s really good at leaving a hard situation and figuring out how to calm himself down. If only they all went like this!
Notable quotes this month:
“If I were to eat bread I would exactly get sick and go to the hospital.”
“I need to be flat so I can be a spider.”
“When I was little, I just went in Mama’s belly instead of eating people.”
Referring to the office he said, “In the ‘desk room’ …”
“Dada, can you do me a favor? I want the house all cleaned up.”
Dada: What do you want to give Calan for Christmas?
Evan: Ummm, I wanna get him….uh… does he use computers?
Dada: Yes.
Evan: Ok, I wanna get him a computer.
Dada: Evan, why did you take all these out and leave them around your room?
Evan: Because, that’s what Evans do!
