attention span expanding

It was only a few months ago that we last tried to take Peter to a movie theater.  Each time, with high hopes yet great trepidation, we left the theater early, or spent the time walking Peter around the lobby, or playing musical theater chairs.  Yesterday, something clicked… a LOUD click.  We went to the theater to see “Alvin & the Chipmunks“.  Peter knows the movie from our DVD copy, but he sat in his theater seat & watched, recited funny lines with the chipmunks, and genuinely had a great time.  I can’t wait to take him to more movies.

Lights… camera… ACTION!

musical mystery solved

A while ago, I blogged about two pieces of memorabilia I own; a Hank Aaron autographed baseball, and a baton that was used by Arturo Toscanini.  The baseball was bought in a card shop while I was on a concert tour of the South – no big mystery there.  The baton, however, was left to me by my musical mentor, Engelbert Brenner.  Brenner played 2nd oboe in the NYPO during Toscanini’s reign.  This rare piece of classical music history has a hand written date on the shaft: November 24th, 1932.

Recently, the New York Philharmonic has made an extensive, searchable database available to the public on their web site.  I have long wondered what pieces Maestro Toscanini conducted with MY baton.  I now know!

Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major

Intermission

Viotti Concerto No. 22 in A minor for Violin and Orchestra
Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b

Bruckner 4 under Toscanini…. WOW!

blueberries!

Last fall, I took the kids raspberry picking.  They had such a blast, we went apple picking a few weeks later.  Since they continued to talk about it all winter long, we have been waiting in the wings for mother nature to bring forth more pick-your-own crops.  Strawberries were in season a few weeks ago, so we all squished our way through the rain-soaked strawberry fields.  Yesterday was prime blueberry picking season, so off we went to the farm once again.  The blueberries were huge, and the ones allowed to reach full ripeness on the bush are amazingly sweet.

This morning we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast, Emma & Kathy baked banana blueberry bread, and the rest of the harvest was packed into a fabulous blueberry pie!  Blackberries are right around the corner… we’ll be there!

confidence

I attended our annual IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for Peter on Tuesday.  It was an excellent meeting between teachers, principal, specialists & parents. Peter’s progress is noticeable in every aspect of his school presence.  Rather than wait through the summer break, it was decided to let Peter spend more of his day in his mainstream kindergarten classroom for the remainder of this school year (under 3 weeks).  I was nervous about this decision, even though it is exactly what I was hoping would come out of this IEP.  I’m sure the school staff was just as nervous, but it was time to let Peter flourish deeper into new places & things.

Two days have now passed since this meeting.  On his first day post-IEP, Peter spent triple the amount of time in his kindergarten classroom, and yesterday it was quadrupled.  Peter proudly jumped off the school bus both afternoons  and gleefully told me that he had a great day.  Last night we ran to the mall to pick up a few items.  Peter walked next to me without holding hands very often, and I even caught him walking smartly with his hands in his hip pockets.  I’ve never seen this posturing before, and I have never seem him negotiate the world with such confidence.

It’s only been 2 days – and I know not every day will be perfect & strong, and there may even be days that I wish we hadn’t pushed him… but maybe not!

My pride in Peter & his newly found confidence is staggering.  My true hero doesn’t wear a baseball uniform or appear on TV or in the movies – he walks with his hands in his pockets by himself in the mall.

dragon joe

To a half million vets & Harley riders who participated in yesterday’s Rolling Thunder event, Joe Lozano is “Dragon Joe”.  Joe is a Viet Nam veteran, and travels these days from Georgia each May to participate in Rolling Thunder.  His wife, Mee owns & rides her own Harley Davidson motorcycle as well, and is a veteran of the US Army and of Rolling Thunder.

To us, Joe & Mee are also our former neighbors from our first apartment, and we try to see them each year after the Rolling Thunder events have wound down.  We met them and several of their military brothers at an old favorite restaurant – Magic Wok in Springfield, Va.  We even saw our original waiter from the 1990s there.  He remembered all of us.  It was a great reunion!

There are a half million brothers & sisters of Dragon & Mee in town, and we salute them all with gratitude.  Thank you for your service & sacrifice.

David, Mee, Joe & Kathy

peter’s prodigious piano premier

It’s a moment I have thought about ever since it became clear that Peter has perfect pitch. I knew I would someday introduce him to the piano keyboard & see how quickly he grasps the concept of a musical scale, and the relationship of physical up & down on the keyboard and higher & lower pitches.

I set up a video camera next to the piano, gave Peter a quick (30 seconds or so) explanation of a C Major scale and how the keyboard works, and I then turned on the camera.  What you see here is unrehearsed, and quite literally Peter’s 1st time playing the piano.

[my apologies for the audio quality - Murphy's Law kicked in & the video's audio track sounds terrible - go figure]

red robin read

There were four adults in the room – all with mouths hanging wide open in disbelief of what they heard.

Peter came into the kitchen holding a balloon.  The balloon was from the burger restaurant Red Robin.  We were at friend’s house, so he had never seen this balloon before, nor has Peter ever been to a Red Robin.  He pointed to each letter in the Red Robin logo, and said…

“Rrr Eee D….  Rrr..Oo..B..Ii..Nnnnn”.

Peter read to us!  Peter read to us!

emma makes her performance debut

Bravo, Emma!  Grandma Charlotte is smiling down on you.  And you KNOW dad is proud as can be!

Sam – Rest In Peace

1994 – 2009

a great knight

Good friends and neighbors had an extra ticket available for last evening’s game between the Washington Nationals & The Florida Marlins.  I was invited, and gladly accepted.  The seats were right behind home plate – couldn’t ask for a better vantage point to watch a game.

I noticed that seated just a behind us was a familiar face.  It was 1986 World Series MVP Ray Knight.  He was the 3rd baseman for the New York Mets that year.  Met fans have the image of Knight crossing the plate after the infamous Mookie Wilson to Bill Buckner ground ball forever in their mind’s eye.  OK – it wasn’t a crazy coincidence that he was at the game… he does the post-game wrapup show for the cable broadcasts of the Nats games.  Still, there was a sports hero of mine just a few yards away.

I was (naturally) wearing my blue & orange Mets jacket.  Between innings, I stood up, gestured to him (as my friend yelled “RAY!”) and he looked my way.  When he spotted my wave, I tapped on the big Mets logo on my chest, and gave him a big thumbs up.  He smiled, nudged his fellow broadcaster Johnny Holliday to get him to look over as well.  He returned the thumbs up, put down his scorecard & clapped, winked and nodded approvingly.

In today’s age of athletes and their multi-million dollar salaries & egos, it was terrific to be able to extend a greeting to a baseball superstar and have it humbly returned with genuine appreciation. Class.

Very special thanks to Jeff, Kristi, Jeremy & Alena.  What a great evening!