One-on-one with the boys

I have some posts I need to do (spoiler: we went to a lot of splash pads last week), but I think I'll just share these little tidbits instead.

1. When Matthew is napping, I usually try to get in a little bit of teaching with Joseph, whether it's reading, math, music, or some other educational topic I remember. Today we did a little bit at the piano. We did a few pages in Piano Adventures and then I decided to play a bit of piano for him to listen to.

"Does this sound happy or sad?" I asked as I played Chopin's funeral march. (Sad)

"Does this sound scary or not scary?" I asked as I played an upbeat song. (Not scary.)

"Does this sound more like summer or winter?" I asked as I played Jingle Bells. (Winter.)

Then Joseph went over to the lowest keys and started pounding them. "This sounds like superheroes!" I said it sounded more like monsters and he said it was superheroes fighting monsters.

Then he wanted the Demo key which played all short pieces for each of the possible instruments on our piano. He has always said that Strings 2 sounds like Superman, and there was a while a few months ago where it was on constantly for that reason. Today he branched out.

"This one (electric piano) sounds like the Jungle Book!"

"This one (vibraphone) sounds like Sesame Street!"

"This one (grand piano) sounds like the mailman!" (still not sure why.)

"This one (church organ) sounds like Superman too!"

"How does it sound like Superman?" I asked.

"It sounds like Superman is dead." Then he started singing "Superman is . . . . dead" to the melody of the organ piece. I guess it sort of fits. Whether or not piano lessons are supposed to look like with a 4-year-old, it's what works for us.

not really dead

2. I took Joseph to preschool today at a friend's house today, and she lives far enough away from home that I decided to just do errands in the area with Matthew. We ended up at a children's section of a nearby library, and it was fun to just get to play with him for a bit and listen to him babble about the action figures and Barbie car there.

Since we were at a library, I figured I ought to read one book to him. We got about 3 pages in before he closed the book and said, "Amen! Amen! Amen!" and walked away. He also says that during prayers, but I think it's just because he's excited that he's figured out what's going on.

We moved over to the puzzles. They're still a little hard for him, but he could usually manage to take one piece out and put it back in. Each time he did, he would say, "Ta da!" and grin, charming everyone around us. I feel like he's got the world wrapped around his finger, and he already knows it.

When they're together, it's a mixture of chasing and squealing and laughing and squabbling. But sometimes it's nice to interact with Joseph and Matthew separately.

We sure like them.