The Second Time Around
So our little one, G, will turn 5 years old tomorrow (March 2) and there is something about a kid being 5 instead of 4 that makes them instantly "bigger". It's not a physical change but a change in perspective. For example, if you tell a total stranger "I have a 5 year old son/daughter" their mental image of that child will be different then if you say "I have a 4 year old." Age 4 means preschool, Sesame Street, and holding up your fingers and saying "I'm this many". But age 5? That means rambunctious, it means formal schooling, and it is really quite a leap from age 4 when you really stop and think about it.
I think turning 5 is the first milestone many of us have. It marks the beginning of a lot of things. Most of us start school at age 5, many learn to ride a bike or swim at 5, and we begin to learn to read, write, and try to wrap our minds around the basic concepts of math at 5. It's a lot to take in. And I have never met a 5 year-old that didn't take a lot of pride in turning 5, being 5, and recognizing the significance. Maybe it's a sociological thing we've created and they're just responding too it or maybe they have the tiny wisdom to recognize that 5 years is a descent chunk of time. You've had at least one Presidential election come and go, Gold medals have been won in your lifetime, you've outlasted the average sitcom and/or the shelf life of your average musical band or artist. These are both small and large things and I think they're pretty cool.
G is a little blossom of multiple talents and I think he is beginning to recognize the power of his own identity. When you're a little brother it is so easy to just find a comfortable spot in the shadows and shade of your older siblings, learning from their example, doing a lot of the things they do, idolizing them one moment and being angry with them the next. Many of the things you do have been done before and after a while I think even the youngest of kids can sense it when their parents are seeing something for the second (or third or fourth) go around. Instinctively almost every younger brother or sister begins to look for ways to find their own drummer and one of the things I love so much about G is that not only is he finding his own beat but he often creates it himself and it is a sound that is very different then the one our older son B made at the same age. He is his own little drummer and sometimes that makes him seem like a weird kid to some. But my wife and I are both younger siblings ourselves, so we both "get" him and understand where a lot of it comes from.
As we prepare for his birthday (which will stretch into his party on Saturday) I wanted to share with you a scene out of "G's World":
G sits on the couch with my wife's acoustic guitar on his lap and he is strumming the strings totally out of tune and singing Jason Mraz's "The Remedy" as he plays. The words he can't remember he just skips or mumbles through and then jumps right into the chorus...'I won't worry my life away, hey, oh wah oh...'. And all the while his little eyes are shut and he is feeling the music as the song he's heard a couple hundred times runs through his head and then back out through his own voice. When he's done he sets down the guitar and comes up to me and says, 'I'll bet when Jason Mraz made that song he sang it with his eyes shut." And who am I to argue?
By the way...his version of "The Remedy" is, according to him, Track 13 of the album he is recording. He is his own band, his own producer, and his own manager. Coming soon to a radio near you...
J
*****************
Question of the Day
Today we begin the "Witness Series" of the QOD...
#1. What is the strangest sight you've ever witnessed in a grocery store?
Thanks.
I think turning 5 is the first milestone many of us have. It marks the beginning of a lot of things. Most of us start school at age 5, many learn to ride a bike or swim at 5, and we begin to learn to read, write, and try to wrap our minds around the basic concepts of math at 5. It's a lot to take in. And I have never met a 5 year-old that didn't take a lot of pride in turning 5, being 5, and recognizing the significance. Maybe it's a sociological thing we've created and they're just responding too it or maybe they have the tiny wisdom to recognize that 5 years is a descent chunk of time. You've had at least one Presidential election come and go, Gold medals have been won in your lifetime, you've outlasted the average sitcom and/or the shelf life of your average musical band or artist. These are both small and large things and I think they're pretty cool.
G is a little blossom of multiple talents and I think he is beginning to recognize the power of his own identity. When you're a little brother it is so easy to just find a comfortable spot in the shadows and shade of your older siblings, learning from their example, doing a lot of the things they do, idolizing them one moment and being angry with them the next. Many of the things you do have been done before and after a while I think even the youngest of kids can sense it when their parents are seeing something for the second (or third or fourth) go around. Instinctively almost every younger brother or sister begins to look for ways to find their own drummer and one of the things I love so much about G is that not only is he finding his own beat but he often creates it himself and it is a sound that is very different then the one our older son B made at the same age. He is his own little drummer and sometimes that makes him seem like a weird kid to some. But my wife and I are both younger siblings ourselves, so we both "get" him and understand where a lot of it comes from.
As we prepare for his birthday (which will stretch into his party on Saturday) I wanted to share with you a scene out of "G's World":
G sits on the couch with my wife's acoustic guitar on his lap and he is strumming the strings totally out of tune and singing Jason Mraz's "The Remedy" as he plays. The words he can't remember he just skips or mumbles through and then jumps right into the chorus...'I won't worry my life away, hey, oh wah oh...'. And all the while his little eyes are shut and he is feeling the music as the song he's heard a couple hundred times runs through his head and then back out through his own voice. When he's done he sets down the guitar and comes up to me and says, 'I'll bet when Jason Mraz made that song he sang it with his eyes shut." And who am I to argue?
By the way...his version of "The Remedy" is, according to him, Track 13 of the album he is recording. He is his own band, his own producer, and his own manager. Coming soon to a radio near you...
J
*****************
Question of the Day
Today we begin the "Witness Series" of the QOD...
#1. What is the strangest sight you've ever witnessed in a grocery store?
Thanks.