The right kind of Suzuki mom

Today I told our violin teacher I was not being a good Suzuki mom. I've felt guilty about how fast time flies and that I don't ever get in the practice time every day. I mean, good grief, he's just asking us to spend 4 minutes a day playing games with the violin. He, as he always does, said just the right thing to get me back on track and let go of the guilt. After our lesson, I chatted a bit with the next mother, who has been taking lessons with her 12 year old son for a year and a half. I really want to get to know her better. She has great energy about her. I told her we really enjoyed her recital last week and found it very inspring (she has great stage presence and kind of reminds me of Natalie Merchant). After a bit more talk she told me her son had started Suzuki lessons at age 5 but dropped after 6 months and that the teacher they were with at the time just wasn't the right fit. She told me they are unschoolers and Mr. Cook has been really understanding and flexible with their style and that has made all the difference. I see that as our opportunity as well. I hope to get to know her better.

So I relaxed on myself because I know that I want Will to find his own love of the violin (or not) and for music. I want to expose him to it, not force it. I know that. So what if he doesn't want to practice every day. I will play the Twinkle CD, and practice myself. He will absorb it. He is.

Tonight he showed Grandma and Grandpa Voss his violin, and stood, rest position, bowed, zipped and stepped and placed the violin to jaw, with A PERFECT BOW HOLD (we were not seeing this) and played Mississipi Hot Dog on strings A and E. I could not believe it. He did not learn this because I had been telling him over and over how to hold the bow (he kept holding it wrong and it was a bit maddening to me). He just absorbs it. He's been feeling pressure from me, even though I jump to my defense and say I am not pressuring him (but there is that nagging in my head saying he NEEDS to learn the importance of practice and feels this I am sure.)

I am not doing this to teach my child violin.

"I just want to create loving, sensitive human beings with beautiful hearts." ----Shinichi Suzuki

Today I Shall..

Continue to get ready for the boys' birthday party tomorrow. We'll have 20 people here in the afternoon for dinner.
Get the house somewhat organized for Mark's parents arrival tonight.

Get turkey meat cooked for tacos tomorrow.
Cook mexican rice tonight.
Get tonight's dinner in oven.
Wash windows.
Fold a zillion loads of laundry.
Not stress over my unorganized house and the fact my super organized MIL will be here in 4 hours.
Not stress over the fact that Mark is sick as a dog.

Memories I'll never forget...

Watching Will ride his 2 wheel bike down the cul-de-sac with Daddy and Grandpa running behind him and cheering him on. Classic.

Watching Jack carry his own potty down the sidewalk and to the car after spending the day at Grandma's house.

Watching my naked little boys in the backyard chase their new big Bluey dog at evening twilight.

Watching Will perform his VERY FIRST violin recital and seeing the huge smile on his face. He is not actually playing yet, but performed his bow hold excercise and his violin hold excercise. (Up Like A Rocket, and then holding the violin to his jaw for the entire Twinkle Twinkle song. He said he sang really loud "in his head" but the people couldn't hear him.

Watching Will announce that Tonight he is sleeping with his cousins (who stayed the night) in the guest room and that He Doesn't Even Need To Touch Daddy's Back to get to sleep. He did it!

Watching Will be so brave while in the ER room getting two stitches in his chin.

Hearing Jack say he wants to Wear His Tighty Whiteys!

So many milestones lately.

A Quote for Now, For Me

Calendar of the Soul

[May 13, 2007 - May 19, 2007]

Sixth Week

There has arisen from its narrow limits
My self and finds itself
As revelation of all worlds
Within the sway of time and space;
The world, as archetype divine,
Displays to me at every turn
The truth of my own likeness.

...and tomorrow I will work on....

keeping this quote in mind:

"FORGIVE THE NEGATIVITY FROM THE PAINS OF YOUR PAST"


For me this means the negativity I felt minutes ago over whatever or negativity I feel when thinking years back over painful memories.

Family Milestones

This weekend we brought home a dog from Wayside Waifs. Her name is Bluey and she is a lab/pointer/cattle dog mix something something. She is black with white hari peppered throughout and is between 1 and 2 years old and is BIG! She fits us and already feels like family. The kids are thrilled.

In addition, earlier this week Will's training wheels broke on his bike and he decided he wanted to try riding with only 2 whieels. With a lot of help from Daddy he did fantastic and I bet sometime this summer he'll be officially a 2-wheel bike rider.

Will is telling everybody, "We got a dog this weekend and I am riding on 2 wheels now!"

Now that is good stuff.

Food.

This year:

We are growing a few veggies in our garden this year, including:

Carrots
Lettuce
Radishes
Onions
Beets (lots of them so I can make my friend's most amazing Beet Soup).
Tomatoes (a small crop as we're trying to keep tomatoe eating at a rational level around here).
Basil
Potatoes
Pole Beans
Zuchinni

More stuff too.
A new herb/flower garden is in the process:
Chives
Echinacea
Calendula
Lots of sunflowers
A butterfly graden mix!

We have 2 raspberry bushes, not looking so great. I need to learn about these.

I think that is it. Half is planted.


We are signing up again for the CSA - organic local produce delivered 2 minutes from our house. I will also pick up our eggs at the same placee (the chiropractors office), and I've ordered 5 chickens.

Goat milk. I was really looking forward to getting this but we visited the farm last week and learned the farmer had a rough year and lost a couple goats and will have less milk than anticipated. We are on a waiting list.

Food co-op. Bulk food purchases here, but will probably mainly get my dairy from here - cheese, yogurt. Darn, I was gung ho on making all that with my goat milk!

I grocery shop mostly at Nature's Pantry and take advantage of my member discount and the fact that they have really excellent coupons/specials. Also, I can often buy some stuff organic there (like potatoes, or carrots) that are actually cheaper than regular Price Chopper stuff!

Occassional trips to WHole Foods for their produce or ground turkey, and their 365 Rice Milk. I buy it in a case and love having it always on hand. We drink everything at this point - rice, cow or goat milk. We are not picky. Its used mainly for baking, smoothies or occassional cold cereal. However, I have to say ice cold rice milk and a brownie make me happy.

THIS MONTH"S GOAL FOR BLOGGER:
Track my grocery spending. This will include non-food grocery items. This could be scary.

May 5: $278, Nature's Pantry.