friends

M's friend in the neighborhood is awesome.  When we're out and about she is always open to meeting and including other kids.  Her mom told me that when she was in 1st grade a little girl claimed her as best friend and tried to keep her from playing with other kids.  So PF spoke up for herself from a young age and said she was happy to be friends but was still going to have other friends.

I am so impressed by this because it is so healthy to be open to other friends.  It is also very kind to include everyone in your friendship.  There are times in life for monogamy and keeping confidences.  Friendship should be about including.

We've been able to bring a girl to the Wednesday night activities the last two weeks.  I tell M and lP that their job is to include and help with communication.  This girl can be a great friend, if they try. 

I'm so glad when my children include others.  I want for them to understand that they are in a position of privilege, being able to hear, sign, read, walk, have an intact family, and they have the gospel.  When they focus on including others, they will hopefully not have time to feel like nobody is including them.  It's their job! 

You can only control yourself and if you want to have friends, be a friend.

$1.00 Hymns

M is off for the summer from piano lessons.  Her teacher is on vacation for a month, then we are on vacation for a month.  The teacher handles lessons in a business like manner.  For the summer you can buy 4 or 8 lessons.  I felt like there wasn't enough time to make good use of 4 lessons because of camps, and travel.  I love that the teacher handles her studio in such a businesslike manner.  It is a business and she provides a service for a clearly defined cost.  I hope M will pick up these business skills as well as the piano and pedagogy skills.  She's advanced enough that the teacher talks openly to her about how she will use these resources when she teaches piano.  The teacher understands the value of what she is teaching.  It's great.

So while M was off formal lessons I agreed to pay her $1.00 for each hymn she learned.  M is very motivated to earn money to get a Polaroid camera.  She's had this goal for a long time and done some extra work to earn money.  Today we looked at different options to get an idea for how close she was.  Ebay may be the answer. 

M asked if I would pay her for past hymns she had learned, as they are written, not simplified.  I told her that I would pay her for those 3-4 hymns when she reaches 10 new hymns.  We talked about carrots and motivation. 

Having M able to play hymns has been our main goal in having her play the piano.  I'm excited that she's reaching the skill level to be able to do that.  Her teacher said she is good enough to play hymns now and that learning simplified versions is actually frustrating because the muscle memory has to be re-learned.  I'm glad to have admonition to go forth and do the work!

Brave

2 years ago we were super into Sarah Barellies "Brave".  We sang it and listened to it in the car all the time.  I got a piano arrangement for M and it was all we could do to sort of play it between the both of us.  M now has the skill and I'm really excited for her to start busting out with that.  Yay!

friends and fun

M is blessed to have an abundance of friendships.  Her neighborhood friend is lovely and they spend hours together each week.  They go to choir then jujitzu together on Tuesday.  Sometimes she goes out to eat with her friend.  It's a wonderful time for her.

Today at the recital for her new teacher M was able to see a lot of other kids her age and older doing really challenging pieces.  I think M did a great job on her piece that she learned with Miss A.  She's had such a fun the last 2 months with the new teacher.  But she has an awesome foundation and technique thanks to Miss A. 

Singing in the choir has been very fun for M this year.  She's got friends in the choir and today they had a party at Adventure Landing.  I'm so grateful for this group and the music and group skills M is learning.