I put the kibbosh on P’s violin lessons, at least for a little while.  I was having to enforce practice time, which I was dead-set against (shades of my mother ordering me to practice) and which was supposed to be M’s domain.   She can’t concentrate on practicing and is frustrated easily (I know, she’s three) and I don’t like being the practice police. So…we’ve got a break, for a while.

I’ve been playing my cello more and more.  One of the tips about avoiding perfectionism in kids is to let them see you learn something – making mistakes, soldiering on, improving, and so forth.  And there are lots of mistakes, which make P laugh.  And she’s very interested when I practice (and I take requests – fortunately Twinkle, Twinkle is also Baa Baa Black Sheep and the ABC song, which makes life easier).

The best investment I made in music recently is a stand that lets me keep the cello out all the time and just grab it for practice sessions.  I don’t know why just taking the cello out of the case made it that much harder to play – but apparently, yes, I am that lazy.