My Piano Man...I Mean Men

Karl has taken piano for the past three years now. This week he has been putting in extra practice time because he had a piano guild performance. Mike and I are not real sure what a guild is exactly but we were proud of Karl for working so hard preparing for it - he was ready. He looked sharp too - ever since Karl was little he enjoyed dressing well; Karl likes neck ties and nice shoes and when he is wearing all of those things he walks a little taller...it is awesome to watch.

What else is awesome to watch is my other piano man pounding on the piano. When I say pound, I do mean pound. Sam LOVES the piano. When Karl or Abby are practicing, he will crawl up to the piano, stand up, and stretch with all his might to reach the keys. Both kids get a kick out of this and often pick him up, sit him on the bench, and let him pound away. He plays, laughs, plays some more, laughs again, and just goes and goes. When you take him down off the bench he lets out a blood-curling-don't-even-think-about-taking-me-away-from-my-favorite-thing scream that just makes you take notice and is so intense it kind of makes you laugh at its extremety.

Regardless of the noise the piano causes - music, laughter, or screams - I am thrilled we have one and love to watch the kids use it any and every way they can. Mike wants to leave it here when we move (whenever that is) and well, that's just not going to happen...unless he wants to buy us a new one ;)


Results are in - Karl got a perfect score on his guild!! Wow! Way to go Karl!

Hair today...gone tomorrow

We have been pestering Karl for weeks now about his hair. He decided to grow his hair out because he was afraid he was going bald. Like his dad, he has colics on each side of his forehead and hair doesn't grow there so great. He thought his forehead was too high and he looked bald so he grew his hair out to cover it up. It didn't take long for him to see that growing his hair out only made to bigger, empty spots on his head - see, he had one long center bang and then two long sides growing well past his ears. After letting go of his stubbornness concerning the matter, he took a good look at his hair, started laughing and agreed that it showed the colics and bald spots worse this way and allowed his dad to cut his hair.

Everyone gathered in our small bathroom to watch the hair go. It was impressive how much hair fell to the ground - and it is amazing how different our little man looks without his locks.

iPod craze

For Christmas this past year my parents bought me an iPod.  I knew they were getting me one because my husband didn't buy me one and he promised if they didn't get me one that he would.  I was so excited to get it and I listen to it all the time.  I just love it.  Well, Karl, my nine-year-old loves it too.  A few weekends ago he had a basketball tournament that just he and I went to, well Sam went too but he isn't much of a conversationalist, anyhow, the entire hour + that we were in the car, Karl listened to my iPod.  Then, as soon as we got in the car on the way back he had it out again.  Then just this past weekend he was at a friend's house and discovered that his friend's dad created a playlist on his iPod with all his son's favorite songs...needless to say, Karl was so excited about this possibility.  I told him that would be fine with me if he picked a handful of songs to have in his own play list - so for three/four days he has been asking Mike and me to help him create this.  Well, today was a snowday so there was no school so Karl and I tried to figure out iTunes and iStore and all these other iHaveNoIdeaHowToUse type sites.  Finally I threw up my hands and told him he would have to wait for his dad.  I could get the songs on my computer, but couldn't get them on to my iPod so I was no help to Karl.  While he waited for his dad, he sat patiently on the floor with the lap top on his lap (what better place could there be for a laptop) a notepad and pen by his side and he browsed the iTunes store for songs.  He wrote down all the titles and artists and by the time he was done he had a dozen songs.  I looked at the list and saw KISS, Alice Cooper, Smashing Pumpkins, and Willie Nelson.  Now Willie I can understand, he has been a country fan his entire life, but the rest...?  Then it dawned on me - he had basically created a Guitar Hero soundtrack.  Ahh yes, guitar hero - we play it all the time.  Karl is wonderfully impressive, I am not too bad, and much to the annoyance of Mike, he is lagging behind (but he practices when we are gone and thinks he is sneaky - which he is not - but he is getting better).  Anyhow, I wasn't sure how I felt about the list.  All the songs were appropriate(no swearing, sex, or other stuff - just rock) but I really am not fired up about creating a future hard rocker.  The fact that Karl gets down to "Paint it Black," Abby loves to shake her hips/butt to any music and likes "I like big butts" and knows the words... and Aine gets fired up to White Zombie and "rocker music" makes me a little nervous.  Bring back the VeggieTales, The Wiggles, play me some Peter, Paul, and Mary - kids love Puff the Magic Dragon...right?  Not quite...

Triple Header

Tonight was Karl's last night of Machine League (baseball that involves a machine pitching to the players). It was the final night of play-offs. Karl's team had to beat the green team to play in the championship - which they did in a very close and exciting game with extra innings and an additional twenty minutes of playing time. Then, in order to win the championship they were going to have to play and beat the power house orange team not once - but twice. The games started at 6:30. Since the first one went over, the second did not start until almost 8pm. Karl's team won the second one by a landslide and then immediately had to begin playing the final game. The score was back and forth with the orange team gathering momentum and Karl's purple team losing steam. In the next to final inning, Karl's team pulled ahead by a run and then, in the final inning held the orange team to no runs, thereby winning the game.

The kids were cheering and so excited to collect their blue ribbons and walk of the field victorious. The parents were cheering and excited too (though perhaps more b/c they were happy to be going home after nearly 24 innings of 9-year-old's playing baseball). Any way you looked at it, for the purple team anyway, this was a great ending to a long night of baseball.

Karl - growing up way too fast...

Most days I find myself just looking at Karl in amazement. He is getting so tall, he has no signs of a baby face (unless he is pouting), his words and actions are usually quite sophisticated, and he wants to do more and more, and learn more and more, and have more and more freedom. I already find myself trying to pull on the strings rather than let them out and let him grow a bit more. There is a fine line between holding back and letting go too soon and sadly, I thought I had many more years to go before I had to deal with these issues.

Karl loves riding his bike to the store/park/school without mom or dad. He likes to have some freedom and that terrifies me. At the same time, I am so happy in some of the ways he is growing up. He WANTS to do big kid things and is so proud of himself when he does. Today in the car on the way home from my parents, Karl found a Soduko puzzle and wanted to know how to do it. He had seen Mom and Dad do it so he wanted to try. I was hesitant to show him because I didn't want him to frustrate himself, but he persisted and I relented. Once he got it - he really got it. After doing two mild puzzles he moved to the next level and spent well over an hour trying to solve it. He occasionally solicited the help of Mom or Dad but made it very clear he only wanted us to help him with one and did not want us to do it for him. Rather than get frustrated - he got more determined. When we told him to go to bed and it was not yet finished he was a bit upset; we told him to put the puzzle on his dresser and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning...he was content with that. The thing is - I was getting frustrated looking at it - it was hard for me and Mike (and Mike is really good at those). Point is, he is not a little baby boy anymore - which is tough because he always will be my little baby boy. I dread the day he doesn't want me to hold his hand or rub his back or cuddle, he is my cuddlebug after all. But seeing all the signs, I know I must begin to prepare myself for the inevitable, no matter how much I don't want to do so.

In fun Karl news, he was getting a bit jealous that our Sunday morning pancake routine did not include him. Aine poured the powder and water (nope - super mom does NOT make homemade pancakes), Abby mixes (and declares herself the "best mixer in the whole entire world") and mom always makes the pancakes. The kids love the pancakes because they can have either Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Shrek (thanks Dave and Shea) or heart pancakes (tricks I learned form my dad - thanks Dad for making me the cool mom without even realizing it but by just being a cool Dad). Depending on their mood they select their favorite and then sit with big smiles waiting for them at the dining room table. It has become quite the morning tradition (which is really sad for Mike because he isn't a big pancake eater) Anyhow, Karl didn't have a job and was usually quite bummed about this, plus, pancakes get delieverd by order of age (youngest to oldest) so he always has to wait. Then he asked if he could be the flipper. I was nervous about this (hmmmm...burns...) but figured with close supervision and repetitive warnings about the hot pan, my 8-year-old could tackle this. So he was now the official flipper. He was beyond nervous when the time came for his first flip - Mom was watching, the girls were watching, it was a big moment. He got the spatula like Mom showed him, took his time, and FLIP - it was flawless. The smile on his face was priceless. The girls cheered (without any prompting from Mom which was cool) and Karl was now (according to Abby) the "Best flipper in the whole entire world". Now, every Sunday everyone has a job (and Karl doesn't mind eating order b/c he is too busy cooking). Mom has been promoted to supervisor and dad remains strictly eater (which I think he is still trying to find a clever way to get out of-poor guy but a great sport)

Karl's latest request - scrambled eggs, and then one day-eggs like Grandma Stasko makes because Mom tries but they just aren't as good (thanks Karl-but you are right).