Brooke Helps Dad

Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 by AJ

Brooke got a new table and chairs for her room this past weekend and she was a big help to Dad in putting it together.

Brooke’s First Day of Preschool

Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 by AJ

Today Brooke went to her first day of preschool which she will attend once a week for 3.5 hours every Tuesday morning. We got her all dressed and ready for school with her name tag so all the other children would know who she is. She was super excited and when we got to the classroom she ran right in, grabbed two bouncy balls, and started playing. Laura and I tentatively waved goodbye from the door but she was already having a blast. When we picked her up the teacher said she did great, but that she wanted to play outside the whole time and got upset when she had to come inside. I suppose we have been spoiling her with nonstop playground time at the park.

Who gets their 15 month old a recorder?

Posted on Saturday, September 7, 2013 by Laura

Upon seeing my recent purchase AJ joked ‘Who gets their 15 month old a recorder? Laura does.’ He was not privy to my master plan of having Brooke play her recorder so Mom can play her clarinet. Brooke loves when I practice but only if she gets to push the keys to make different sounds. This is a lot of fun but as your can imagine does not allow for purposeful practicing. So I bought her a little version of the clarinet for herself to be just like Mom. It was $5 on Amazon and I was impressed when I got it because it is actually a real and nice instrument (not a toy- though I am going to let her use it as one).

I played it for her then handed it to her and she is so smart she started playing all on her own. I didn’t need to put it in her mouth or show her which way to hold it. I quickly stopped practicing and grabbed some quick shots. She enjoyed making sounds on the recorder and it was easy for her to play. While it did not keep her away from my keys as long as I would have hoped, I am hopeful that she will play with it in the future to allow me to practice a bit more with her around. I could easily practice when she is away from home with AJ on a walk (which would certainly allow me to get more work done) but I also want this to be an exposure for her to music in her own home.

The day after labor day we were rained out at Virginia Symphony Orchestra concert in the park. Brooke loved listening to the orchestra play before we had to leave. She was a ‘music baby’ from the start so now she has her own instrument.

Mommy’s Little Hiking Buddy

Posted on Thursday, August 29, 2013 by Laura

Last week I took Brooke with me hiking a short 1.6mi nature trail at Stumpy Lake while AJ was working. The fun part about hiking with Brooke this time was it was the first time that she has gone hiking with me and could walk on her own. After about a half mile of carrying her on my back I let her down to explore the woods. She was nervous at first but then had fun picking up sticks and actually said the word ‘trees’ though it sounded like ‘teees’.