The Player

I admit that I asked for this photo. I virtually begged to take this photo.

See, starting in 4th grade, I was a band girl. I played the flute. I was never particularly gifted or talented or even motivated. Frankly, I was never very good at it. But I loved it because it provided me with an instant social circle and a sense of belonging that I wouldn't otherwise have had.

Nowadays, at least in our school district, kids don't get to pick an instrument until 5th grade. That means it was Smunch's turn. Late last Spring, the 4th graders got to try out all the instruments to see which one they might like. I couldn't have been more surprised when Smunch came home and said he thought he might like to try the cello.

The cello?

There's no precedent in my family for playing the cello. I played flute, my sister played clarinet, my dad played piano and flute. My mom played the radio, sometimes. I'm not aware of anyone on the other side of Smunch's family having a musical bone in their body. But cello? My baseball kid wants to learn how to play the cello? O.K. I've always liked the cello. Strings just weren't an option when I was in elementary school.

Over the summer and as recently as last week, he waffled a little on the cello. He thought maybe he'd forgo instrumental music altogether and join the chorus. I felt like he was about to chicken out, but he didn't. On Friday, he announced that he was officially going to play the cello.

So, last weekend, I called around and secured my little boy his very first 1/2-sized cello. I'm so thrilled and so proud of him for sticking to his guns on this one. I don't really care if he sticks with it long term. I'm just thrilled that he already loves it...even though he can't play a thing!

First Day 2012

It's hard to believe she's in third grade all of a sudden. And even harder yet to imagine that he's a fifth grader. Where has the time gone?

I don't know why I ask because I know exactly where much of it goes. The last weeks of summer were full of trips to nature camp for Mam, including her first overnight. Smunch and I played a full 36 holes of mini-golf in her absence...capped by Smunch successfully shooting for a free game (with my ball after shanking it with his own)at the 19th (which was really our 37th) hole.

And I took them both to the water slides in San Jose where we spent the better part of the day having a whole lot of fun and never visiting those towels that were saving us a space on the lawn.

We went for frozen yogurt...several times...we spent time with friends, we cleaned out the studio, which is now unrecognizable after the disaster the kids and their cousins made out there last month. I sold several outgrown kid toys...a sand and water table, a train table, the kiddie pool... I patched two punctured bike tires, replaced the entire innards of the master bathroom toilet, cut down the branches that were knocking down the back fence, and hemmed two pair of baseball pants that were a good six inches too long, but were required for Smunch's travel team. I bought a new vacuum cleaner...an event far more exciting to me than I really want to admit.

And now, the kids are back in school and their limited time at home is filled with homework, soccer practice, baseball practice, orthodontist appointments (now for both), speech therapy and the race to get finished with dinner before bedtime.

What does that mean? It means this year will be over before I know it and that a few minutes from now, I'll be sending Smunch off to his last year of elementary school (which is 6th grade in our district).

When my kids were little and people told me, "Oh, they grown so fast!" I knew what they meant, but I still felt like days moved by so terribly slowly.

It's only now that I'm really beginning to understand.