Saturday Morning

We had a rare Saturday morning together at home.  Eli was home (yay!) and Caleb slept until 7am (double yay!) and we were blessed with some sweet family time.  Caleb relaxed with his Daddy and read his new favorite book, which makes animal sounds and makes him smile and giggle :)

Then Caleb decided to investigate this diaper box.  Currently, this kid loves everything that is not a toy.  He loves water bottles, spatulas, DVD cases, magazines, shoes, boxes, etc.  How do we know this?  Because 1) he shows minimal interest in his actual toys and shows intense interest in non-toy items, and 2) because he CRAWLS to inspect, manhandle, and slobber over anything that looks remotely interesting to him.  That's right.  This kid = early crawler.  Six months old.  We're in trouble.  With a capital T.

Then we played the keyboard, which is one of Caleb's new favorite activities.  He's discovered sound effects and rhythms that I never knew existed on it.  Clever little man :)

I bought this keyboard on Craigslist when we lived in Chicago with the intent of maintaining my music knowledge.  To be honest, I haven't played it as much as I'd hoped, but I'm still so glad we have it.  Here's why: Eli and I desperately want our kids to learn music, but when we move to Africa it will be my responsibility to teach them how to read music since Eli doesn't really know how.  And, as it turns out, keyboards are more transportable than actual pianos.  No, I do not intend to take a keyboard on the plane as we cross the pond, but they can be sent in shipping containers and somehow eventually make it to their final destination in the African bush.  That's how the missionaries we worked with in Cameroon got a keyboard in their house in Africa.  We're hoping to do the same.  It's kind of ironic since I'm not a pianist.  I play the cello way better than I play piano (although I've only played my cello once since moving to Duluth) but learning music is, I think, easiest on the piano because you learn both clefs, you don't have to build up calluses on your fingers, you don't need to worry about tuning once you find the right note, you don't need strong lungs, and so on.

So there you have it.  We have a simple keyboard that we hope to move across the ocean someday so our kids can learn the basics of music from their non-pianist mom in the African bush.  Life is an adventure, is it not?