Shut Up, Mom! :-)

I am back teaching piano now on Wednesdays and am now up to 8 students (hooray!). I am also fortunate in that my new sitter wants to take lessons so we are able to work out an exchange.

Anyway. A couple of my students are still fairly new and when they come to lessons, they are coming with no other siblings, so the parents get to sit in on a lesson. I think it's awesome to be able to sit in on a private lesson, of any kind, and I welcome my parents to do this. It becomes a benefit to both and the parents are involved, which I love. However, week after week now these same parents are sitting in and are just not the type of people who can observe without interjecting a little too much for my liking. Like I KNOW it would be hard not to correct my child if she didn't speak properly or if she weren't just generally behaving the way I'd like her to, so I am taking this into consideration.

It's just when the parent is also trying to explain things to the child, and the child is being then distracted by the parent (MUCH more engaged with me when they are not paying attention to the parent beside/slightly behind them), I kind of feel that it's sort of taking away from the teacher/student relationship...or rather the pace of the lesson. I had a mom yesterday that just wouldn't stop interjecting and explaining things to her daughter, when I KNOW that if it were just the student and I, I could have further explained things and also had a better understanding of the child's perception. I also think the mother was nervous (this was their second lesson) because her daughter was tired and was saying she didn't feel like coming. Granted, she really hasn't been able to get into the routine of coming yet and these things take time.

The daughter was SO interested in what I was saying and then the flow of things was so derailed when the mom would say things, that it was apparent to me that I had to say something. Luckily, the student went to the restroom and in that time we discussed her behavior and perceptions. I OH SO GENTLY told the mom that I think if she would move her chair back a little, that her daughter seemed more engaged and would respond better. I added (twice) that it was nothing personal and that I think her daughter was feeling OK now.

I haven't really laid out the ground rules for parents to be in the room and I guess I should. I certainly like to speak directly to the parents to ask them small questions and give them extra instructions about the assignments, but I really try to not let their presence be as participants, simply because that is not the kind of lessons I offer. Plus, I think if I guide the parents to sit in the chair behind me, instead of the one on the other side of the student, they won't be so close to their child and won't be so tempted to be such a presence in the room. I think if you observe any lesson, you have to put your type-A personality on the back burner and be just that. An observer.

On another related note, I've met so many of the dads this week too and I find it SO funny how the dads are all laid back and the moms are so anal and uptight. It has made me really ponder if motherhood accentuated these traits in the moms and if it's true that opposites attract. It just seems that every Dad that I know is the laid back one and the mom is the responsible, more "uptight" one. I know it's that way in our family!! Like the devil and the angel on the shoulder sometimes!! What the heck?? Maybe that's also why our children are so OPPOSITE in their personalities.

Thoughts anyone?

Sneak in Your Dinners

We are trying more to have the children fed and down earlier for bed so that we can have a quiet dinner just for the two of us. It's hard to plan...but it's SUCH a nice thing to do. It's super relaxing and we can simply just EAT without helping anyone else with their dinners. It's also nice to not have to hire a sitter or spend the money on dining out. Plus, we'll lower the lights, put the candles on, nice music, wine....and we don't even have to wait for a table!


I stumbled upon a motivator this week though. I bought this summer package from OmahaSteaks (my first time to try them) that was a great deal in my eyes. When I was checking out the packages, I realized that all of them are individually frozen in vacuum bags. Like we can ONLY use the sole fish for the two of us...SO...that means we must have another dinner night together!


Just something to think about when you're buying in bulk and splitting and freezing. You might sneak out TWO of those steaks and freeze together, so that you HAVE to have dinner alone! :-)


(Incidentally, the OmahaSteaks package came in dry ice, so we even got to use that as a science learning project. We spent at least 30 minutes playing with it (of course, not touching it) and there was even a good portion still there when Daddy got home to enjoy with them as well!) A pretty good experience, indeed!

Slipping Out of My Grasp

I had a dream last night. Pretty vivid. One of those that stick with you and sneak back in when you're still long enough to remember it.

I dreamt that I was in a two-seater contraption that was floating in the air, hanging below a big balloon-type thingy. The dream didn't start with any planning or getting into it, as they usually don't. I was just in it, floating over the world, showing my little four month old son everything that was small below. We were in two seats facing each other in four-point harnesses, then I noticed his seat wasn't a bucket, like it should have been. It was just a tiny regular seat so I reached out to hold onto him and just then, he slid out the side and fell below - FAR below. Because I'd just reached over to him with one hand, I was able to feel him slip through my grip and his tiny, soft arm went through my hand. Then I only had his itty bitty wrist in my hand and he was hanging below. I was terrified and was wondering WHY I'd had him up in this thing in the first place. That if I'd only thought it through, I would've been able to protect him better. At the same time, I was starting to pull him up and he was NOT going to fall. He was going to be all right and I was determined to get him back up. Then that was the end of the dream. I don't know if I woke up or what.


I keep thinking about this dream and how it applies to every day in this job or in my life or whatever. I often have dreams about my children growing up (the other day I had one that he was STANDING at the refrigerator with the door open, but he was still only 4 months! I've also had some where he's talking to us at the same age! heh.). Like, I am actually terrified of them killing themselves somehow, severely injuring themselves, or someone else contributing to their demise. It doesn't matter how, just that they're hurt or killed. It's a parental aging aid, I guess. I SO now don't know how my parents dealt with it, having five of us!

Anyway, maybe it's the hype of the swine flu or my husband who has me thinking about the possibility of the worst scenario (he tends to be a worrier)....Maybe because he's most likely our last child, I am thinking about his childhood slipping by. I don't know. But I did want to say a few words about my little boy, before he's too old for me to remember.

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He is only a tiny one, but he is SO smart. He's been watching us since the day he was born - silently. NOTHING gets past him. He's a little jokester, and yet he's a solemn, serious one. He lets you know very much when he doesn't like something (i.e. his CAR SEAT). The expression on his face when he's wanting to play is priceless! Those eyebrows all up and his eyes all alert and round. He's a baby who LOVES to be carried around, since he can't walk himself, to see everything there is to see. He is totally bored with his play mat already and he'll cry to be picked up from his bassinet if he's bored with that toy too! He prefers you to STAND and hold him, not sit and when you sit, he'll honk at you to get up and MOVE IT! LOL.

His tiny toothless mouth gives me wide, slobbery kisses and his whole body SPRINGS into action, when you put a little toy in front of him. When he nurses now, he'll look up at me and just grin. It totally melts me.... The best smile of the whole day is in the morning, when he's laying in bed and has a full tummy. He is refreshed and ready to go!!!

His little legs are so soft and still sort of astronaut-like. He's gaining muscle though, as standing up is his favorite past-time. He's also not a baby who likes to face the back when you hold him (only if he's got a tummy ache) - UH UH. He's got the face the room to see what's going on. Stupid us didn't figure that out until he was 2 1/2 months old!

He is my precious, precious sweet boy and I can only wonder what kind of little person he's going to express himself to be....