A really long time ago I wrote about my son drawing on one of my guitars (my classical guitar to be precise) and, as a result, busting some of the strings on the instrument. This wasn’t a problem. I wasn’t angry. The strings were getting old and needed to be replaced anyway. I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. This would, I thought, force my hand. Alas, time and situation and circumstances out of my control left that job undone until this past week. We’ve changed states, homes, jobs, seasons, etc… and now the new strings are finally on … Continue reading →

Last time I talked about my wife creating a wonderful painting for our son’s room (and it really is wonderful). It was a painting of a guitar and our son really enjoyed it. He’s always been a fan of music. Both Mom and Dad have a love for the arts. We’ve both dabbled in each of them more than a little, and I’ve gone through lots of schooling in the arts (theatre in particular). We play guitar and piano and tin whistle while grandpa plays drums. The one thing our son hadn’t yet gotten into was painting. Mom made sure … Continue reading →

I’ve talked about my son being interested in music before. He’s constantly surrounded by guitars, drums, pianos and other instruments on account of having musically inclined and interested parents, as well as an extended family interested in music of all forms. He’s been listening to music since he was a very young boy (in the womb, in fact) and it’s always been important to him. He dances and wiggles his pointer fingers when he hears anything resembling a beat (I can’t adequately describe how cute this dance actually is) and is always the life of the party (he had a … Continue reading →

My family and I have completed a big cross-country move. It was a trial — that’s for sure — but we made it. As we’ve relocated much nearer our families, we’ve had the opportunity to see our son around them (something that was very few and far-between over the past five years we spent away). There is, strangely, a difference between him with family members and him with near-total strangers and non-relatives. While he was known as “the happy baby” during his short stint in daycare, and has constantly been referred to as “the happiest baby ever” by anyone who … Continue reading →

Our son is a little dancer. He loves dancing to any type of music that might be playing. Popular radio stations, classical music, and even country music (a rarity in our home) — all of this makes him dance and dance and dance. He puts two of his fingers in the air and twirls them about while bouncing up and down and wiggling his hips. If popular video sharing websites are any indication, then he’s in the majority of babies who love to dance. We enjoy his dancing so much that we encourage it. We truly love dancing with him. … Continue reading →

During the past week I’ve been excited by my favorite band releasing a new album. It was a wonderful surprise and I couldn’t have been happier. Their last album was over three years ago and music is a powerful thing. They’ve been a part of my life for well over a decade. Strangely enough, they have a part in the story of our son’s life too. When our son was in utero and breech we were given a variety of things to try in order to coax him into the right position. For a while my wife spent time upside … Continue reading →

Over the past couple of months our son has started to really enjoy the sounds of musical instruments. What started out as an interest in the big guitars leaned up against the wall (that at the time were off limits) and the piano keys that he couldn’t reach has slowly turned into a genuine enjoyment of sound itself. Even if he’s listening to one of those crazy battery-powered jingles coming from a plastic toy shaped like a home appliance he instantly stops when he hears the sound of a live instrument. One strum of the guitar and he gets up … Continue reading →