Laurie Berkner LIVE!

Music is almost as popular as reading here at our house. F has an inborn talent for singing and playing that neither Travis or I have. We both did music in various forms but had to work at it. F sings and plays his piano with such simple effort that it's a joy to get to listen to. We have the rear entertainment system in our car set up for all kid music or audiobooks, and it's a toss up as to which one is F's favorite.

One of the artists that fills F's world of music is Laurie Berkner. If you've got a child who is less than 7 or so I'm sure you've experienced LB (and maybe even some of you with older kids who have outgrown her). She's not just one of the artists, she's his hands down all time favorite. I'm relishing this time as he listens to music I don't mind, I know that right around the corner are pop music and goodness knows what else.

Saturday Laurie Berkner played at the Boulder Theater. F and I had front row VIP tickets (which were only nominally more expense than general admission, go figure) and part of the package was meeting LB live and in person. We were the last ones of the before-show meet and greet and Finn blushed and wiggled as he waited his turn. He was all prepped with a couple questions for Laurie, and she had a few of her own for him. FFM was in HEAVEN.  He got hugs, he got autographs, and when Laurie asked him his favorite song she offered to sing it with him.

Live with Laurie Berkner, FFM singing "Drive My Car"!

We could have gone home right then and there and FFM would have been over the moon. He now counts Laurie as one of his friends and asked when we could see her again. LB was magnificent with all the kids, giving each one her full attention and infinite patience. She made sure everyone got a great photo, even the kids who got a bit nervous.

Getting ready to go in to the famous Boulder Theater

Sharing a moment with LB

Getting some hugs

Leaning right up against the stage for the whole show

"Pig on My Head" is a song about exactly that, a pig on her head. I was impressed that she managed to balance a giant stuffed pig on her head before she got started singing. Then during the song you do things like touch your nose, touch your toes, and then touch your nose to your toes. The woman must do some killer yoga because she stood there on stage, with a stuffed pig balanced on her head, in a skirt and pretty tall sparkly high heels and brought the toes of one foot up to her nose. Without so much as a wiggle to regain balance. Awesome.

I should have gotten a photo of the toes on the nose,
but all I managed was the pig on her head.

Having a super great day

Busy Boy

Before school started Travis and I had some lengthy dicussions about the volume of activities FFM wanted to do. This child would be happy if he were in some organized group activity every day. However, we parents opt for at least a couple days off.

Swimming is going well.  After seeing the swimmers at the Olympics this summer FFM 'borrowed' my swim cap and now wears it for every lesson. He's refining his strokes and hopes to be on a summer league swim team next summer.

Piano is where he really excels. I'm constantly stunned at his skill and persistence for practice. He gets frustrated when he can't learn a piece in a couple of reads; this semester of piano he's been challenged by longer and more complicated pieces and he's learning to keep going instead of just quitting if it's too hard the first time. This fall FFM inherited my grandma's piano and it was barely in the door when he started playing it.

Somewhere FFM learned about choir and Sunday School so we've become pretty regular church goers. He sings at least once a month in service-our church is very musical with several choirs, bells, 3 piece combos, orchestra, and more. This weekend he sang in the angel choir for the Annual Advent Pageant. He loves choir and manages to be in the front row AND wear a tie for every performance. Notice he is surrounded by girls...perhaps one reason he likes choir so much?

Right before Thanksgiving FFM started 6 weeks of ice skating lessons. I really like this activity because it's on Saturday morning and Travis gets to take him. I tag along occasionally and try to stay warm while we watch him master basic skills like gliding, going backwards, and making tiny jumps. Soon we'll trade ice skating for ski school, just as soon as some snow arrives.

Even after all this FFM wants to go to more.  The school sends home fliers for after school activites every couple of weeks and the latest one was for a ceramics class. FFM asked to do it, and after even more discussion we said OK. Last Tuesday was the first day of class and as I stood in front of the school at 5pm waiting to pick him up I thought about how strange it was to be at school in the dark. When we got all loaded into the car FFM admitted, "Mom, I had a really great day today but it was LONG!" I was concerned it was too long a day but he was adamant about continuing. Mr. Social Butterfly had a grand time and can't wait to go back.