Our Little Maestro

On Sunday, Calvin had his second piano recital of his young musical life. He started taking piano in September and, despite the occasional struggle to get him to practice, we have all really enjoyed it. He can read music now and recognizes many of the musical marks and relishes the fact that he now knows more about piano than Noah.

I was SO nervous at his first recital in February. We wanted Calvin to be prepared for the fact that there would be lots of people watching, but we didn't want to freak him out, so it was a tough balance to strike. Plus, the first recital was canceled and rescheduled many times because of all the snow, so we had many weeks for extra practice and growing anxiety (at least on my part). But when the day came, he went up, played, smiled, and thought nothing of it.

So when this recital rolled around, we could all relax a little bit more. And he did great! We told him he could pick the restaurant after his recital, which, of course, was his usual favorite (and ours) Rio Grande, a Mexican place that is usually insanely busy so we have to carefully time our visits. But we braved the Sunday night crowds for him.

Here he is, all decked out and ready for the show. I hope we can get a few more uses out of that awesome seersucker jacket this summer, before he outgrows it:



Looking for his name in the program, which is probably the highlight of the show for him:




Found it! Yes, he was playing the classics Yankee Doodle, Grandmother, C Song, and Elephant Ride:


Our sweet girl. She was very patient during the performances:


This is her brother's face, absorbing an afternoon of culture while the other kids played:

Finally, his turn. He's playing a duet with his teacher, Ilya:



This was the best shot we could get of his bow, which is my favorite part of his performance. (His teacher makes all his students practice the bow, too, so Calvin is really good at it:) He was pretty excited to finish this time, though, and we were seated way in the back. So he only paused for a second and then broke into a sprint to get back to us. But his smile shows how pleased he is with himself. When he got back to his seat, I hugged him and told him he did a great job. And he said, "And now you'll take me to Rio Grande."