September 10, 2005 - Saturday
I got back home today after a short business trip and, among other things, asked Harry about his first drum lesson of the semester (that was Thursday and we did talk about it briefly on the phone) and a percussion ensemble concert he had gone to last night featuring his drum teacher, Abe. A lot of times when kids answer questions like that there's an immediate disconnect because they almost always just talk without offering any solid frame of reference. They seem to jump right into the middle of a conversation expecting you already know of what they are speaking and you need to catch up quickly if you want to participate. In this case, Harry's response to "how was the concert?" was "good, I played the biggest cowbell." Apparently there was audience participation at one point and Harry and others, I assume, went up on stage and played along.

So, I tried to get him to explain about what happened and what it was like, but what came out was probably more interesting in the big picture. "I wasn't nervous at all playing for mommy." It was a clear reference to our conversation from a week ago about nerves and performing. As a parent I find it just amazing when things like that come out and show that, yes, they were listening. Mommy confirmed that there was a fair sized audience, probably similar to that at his recital.

The more discouraging news from while I was away was that Jeremy's new cello teacher apparently quit before she even started and he had no cello lesson this morning. Amazingly enough, he'd gotten his cello out on his own accord three or four times over the last few weeks and, I really believe, was truly looking forward to new lessons.

One more thing, due to a mix -up with registration, the boys showed up for swimming only to find they were registered at a different pool. Poor Jeremy hadn't had a good couple of days.


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