Category: Willa
Christmas in August
Willa and I were invited to attend a private party at Radio City Music Hall to kick off this season of The Christmas Spectacular staring the Rockettes.
We had so much fun. There’s something almost magical about the Rockettes, and Willa is mesmerized by them.
Willa was not shy about showing the Rockettes her moves, and I’m so thankful that this event was the day before Willa broke her ankle. (That’s a long story. Maybe I’ll write a post about it.)
Then, we got to see the Rockettes perform. Always so amazing.
*Thanks to the people at MSG who hosted this event. You guys are great hosts.
Recovering
I’d love to tell you all about the Blogher 10 conference I attended, but I am EXHAUSTED.
I went to bed at 3am the first night and 2am the second night. I am obviously too old for that.
So, until I recover, I will leave you with this picture I took of Willa and her Daddy in Central Park yesterday:
Virtuoso
Violin
So, remember this?
Well, after many phone calls back and forth, and an in person visit to the school, Willa is finally taking violin lessons.
They usually don’t give lessons to kids until they are four years old, but when they heard that Willa has been asking us to play the violin every day for almost a year, that her father and her grandfather are accomplished musicians, and that she can pick out the violin when she hears music, they were willing to give her a trial lesson.
One day a couple of weeks ago, we met with the teacher for her first lesson. I thought she would say Willa wasn’t ready, to come back in a year or two, but she didn’t. She told us Willa was ready, and that I should rent a violin too, so that I could work with her at practicing at home.
I never had a desire to play the violin. I played drums in junior high, but that’s the only instrument I’ve ever played. I’ve always wanted to play the guitar (see #1 on my Life List), but suddenly I’m really excited about learning to play the violin. To be honest, I’m just excited to be doing SOMETHING- my life has been pretty boring lately.
So, we are currently renting a regular size violin for me and a teeny-tiny violin for Willa (so cute!). I’m really looking forward to learning something new, and to sharing it with my kid.
The cuteness, it hurts
Taken with the IPhone.
Embracing The Pink
When Willa was a baby I had control over what she was wearing, so she was usually covered in blue.
There are two reasons for this 1) It’s my favorite color and 2) I never wanted to “force” gender specific things on her. I cringe when I see tiny baby girls with bows stuck to their heads.
I’m not saying I never put her in a dress, or anything pink, but I gravitated towards overalls, and blues and brown.
This combined with her lack of hair caused her to be mistaken for a boy until she was about two and her hair started coming in.
This also happened to be about the time that Willa started to really show an interest in “girly” things- necklaces, skirts, hats, party shoes, etc.
I still had some control though, until recently.
Now, Willa only wants to wear skirts, dresses, and party shoes when I would rather her wear jeans and sneakers. She wants everything to be pink and purple. At first I fought her sometimes, but then I remembered my parenting mantra- pick your battles. Why do I care so much if she is covered in pink? It makes her happy. It’s how she expresses herself. That’s all that matters. It’s one of the many situations where my kid is different from me, and that’s ok. I need to let go, and let her be her own person.
So, I’ve started buying some more pink and purple clothes. And when she outgrew her green rain boots, I let Willa pick out pink polka-dot ones to replace them.
I’m embracing the pink, and making my kid happy in the process.
Bubbles
Willa and I were in the backyard one day playing with bubbles, and I took some pictures. It was really hard to blow the bubbles, and then get the camera in position before the bubbles popped or blew away, but I managed to get a couple of cool shots.
Summer
Is there anything that says Summer more than playing in a sprinkler?
Skinny Dipping
I just read my friend Rachel’s post about potty training her daughter. It got me thinking about how insanely uptight this country is about nudity. I feel like most of us spend the majority of our lives not happy with our bodies. I make a point of never saying anything negative about my body in front of Willa. I love how happy she is with her body, and how comfortable she is naked.
Late last summer, we were visiting my mom in the Pocono Mountains and we let Willa skinny dip in a stream. I took several of what I think are the best photos I’ve ever taken, and then I was afraid to post them. Not because I was worried about perverts looking at my kid, but because I was worried about what the internet trolls would say. Today I realized that I didn’t care anymore what the trolls had to say. I’m proud of these pictures, and I think they are perfectly appropriate, and that’s all that matters.
Advice
Every single day Willa says “I want to play the violin!” Every day.
We say “what about the piano, or the guitar?” and she says “NO! The violin!”
She loves music. The husband is a classically trained guitarist and bass player. His father is a folk singer. When I was pregnant the husband used to play guitar next to my belly. When Willa was about six months old we put a guitar on the floor and let her experiment with it. She often plays with guitars or pianos, but still asks to play a violin. When we listen to classical music she says “I hear violin!”
Willa has music in her blood.
We never wanted to be those parents who forced their kid to take music lessons, but it’s what Willa wants. So, we’ve come to the conclusion that we should get Willa a violin.
The question is, should we buy one or rent one?
I’d love to hear about your experiences with your children taking music lessons.
