"Ms. Marissa, what color is your car?"-I got the music in Me

After a 3 week summer break from piano lessons at the conservatory, Ms. Marissa wanted to start private summer lessons at her house.  Christian was super-excited to go to Ms. Marissa's and all week he was wondering the color of her car (yes, car-obsessed).  Ms. Marissa wanted to increase his lesson from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, which I was unsure about.  After practicing "pepperoni pizza" to the tune of twinkle, twinkle (1-4-5-4-3-2-1 fingering) one time, he stopped Ms. Marissa to ask her the color of her car.  I wanted to bust out laughing, but didn't want to distract him.  Christian can do all the fingering, but Ms. Marissa wants us to practice keeping the thumb finger bent when not in use to increase the flexibility of the other four fingers.  We also practiced "run mommy, run daddy" and "chocolate ice cream cone" rhythms on the piano.  I was really proud of Christian for being able to sit for the 30 minute lesson and stay focused.  I told Ms. Marissa that he will sit for her as long as she would like, but at home, I can not get him to sit to practice for more than 5 minutes daily.  Given this disconnect, I am amazed and happy about his progress.  

Christian continues to love music.  In the car, whenever he hears one of "mommy's songs" ("Unwritten" (Natasha Beddingfield), "Damaged"-Dannity Kane [hysterical to hear him singing 'so how you gonna fix it fix it fix it", "Realize" Kolby Kalay (sp?) [he calls it "relax"], "No Air"-Jordan Sparks [we call it "no bear"; tell me how to live with no bear [bear=Liam, we call Liam bear]], "Clumsy"-Fergie [hilarious to hear him singing 'trippin, stumblin'] he can typically recognize it within the first 20 seconds of hearing it on the radio.  I guess the repetition and pervasiveness of a pop song on the radio can really have an impact on you.

Liam also loves music and sometimes after eating, he will sit in his high chair and sing to himself.  Tonight, he was humming the tune to "Thomas and Friends" ["they're two they're four they're six they're eight".  He also likes humming a song from Baby and Me Music "See Saw Up and Down" and "Hickory Dickory Dock".

Bonjour Grandmama, Je t'aime

Grandmama and Grandpa arrived from Montreal on Tuesday, July 15th.  Christian had the biggest smile on his face as he gave both a hug when they arrived.  It was cute to see.  Mark told Christian the night before to say "bonjour grandmama, je t'aime" and when we reminded him that there was something special to tell her, he did.  Liam was not that forthcoming and seemed to be more interested in Grandpa than Grandmama (as was the case during Christmas), though Liam has now warmed up to Grandmama as well.  Liam says grandpa now ("bamp-pa"), but has not yet figured out how to say grandma.  Grandmama and Grandpa have been reading alot to the kids, which they love, and have also been playing outside with them too.  Liam also gets a kick out of sharing cars with Grandpa and Grandmama.

Yesterday, we had a freak hail storm.  There was so much hail, about 6 inches accumulated in front of our garage.  I've also noticed that the temperature this summer has been much cooler than last year at the same time (22 C vs. 26 C).  This global warming thing is scary.