Budding Musicians
Bug had her first violin recital a week ago! She was nervous,
but she did beautifully. She played two songs accompanied by a pianist. She said afterwards that she didn't like doing the recital--standing up on stage with everyone staring at her--but that she was very satisfied with her performance. She was also pleased that she can now leave those songs behind and start working on some new material!

The girls have actually been taking their music a bit more seriously recently. Monkey and Bug even composed a few measures together. Monkey decided on a drum pattern, and Bug chose notes to play and matched her bowing rhythm to Monkey's beat. Goose  plunked along on the piano for awhile--following the rhythm and choosing notes seemingly at random--but she lost interest when the big girls enlisted my help in printing up blank sheet music and actually helping them write down the notes. They were so excited! (Monkey cannot wait til we move to a bigger house and actually have room to get her a real drum kit.) Bug has also been pulling out Goose's piano books and teaching herself to play some of the beginner piano songs as well.

Even More Lost Teeth!
Monkey and Bug each lost another tooth this week! And they seem to have developed a habit of losing them rather violently. Monkey lost hers when she and Daddy were practicing a self-defense technique--they misjudged each other movements and Monkey got a tooth punched out! (It was really loose; minimal blood was shed.) Bug lost hers when she and Goose accidently bumped heads while we were out shopping.

Self-Defense Is Authorized
Unfortunately, those self-defense techniques they were practicing when Monkey lost her tooth weren't just for their jujutsu class. Our social circle recently added a family with a little boy who initiates play with other little boys by wrapping his hands around their neck and pushing them to the ground. They are otherwise lovely people, but his mom says he's just playing--he doesn't mean to hurt anybody. In our house, a chokehold isn't a form of play, and Monkey and Bug have pulled this child off of their friends on multiple occasions so far. We praised the girls for coming to the defense of their friends, and had a discussion later at home to make sure they knew that if they felt attacked they had permission to fight back (I also gave the boy's mom a heads up that if he ever went after one of our girls he was likely to get punched; she seemed ok with that). Daddy highlighted a few techniques specific to chokeholds.

Artist in Training
Monkey painted her first canvas! She's been planning it for awhile, so she was very excited to set up her easel and put paint to canvas. We also discovered that Bob Ross's Joy of Painting show is available on Hulu. She's a big fan now.

Little Locksmiths
Somehow related to one of Daddy's classes, he came home with a lock-picking practice kit that included a variety of transparent locks and picks to try out. He pulled them out for the girls, explaining how the different lock mechanisms work and how to get past them without a key/passcode. They even found some online videos demonstrating different techniques and tools. Bug in particular was fascinated. She's been studying her little cashbox--trying to figure out how it works and playing with a few bobby pins to see if she can pop it open. No success yet, but she's making progress in figuring out what she needs to make happen.

And She's Off!
No, not Goose's running this time--Monkey's reading! She finally got past whatever learning hurdle changes reading from being a difficult chore to something fun. Hooray! We came home from the library with a whole stack of books at her level, and she's finally reading on her own time, not just when I make her. Even she noticed how much more fluent her reading has gotten over the past couple of weeks.