First! (day of school)

This morning went well, very well in fact! Hoping and praying the rest of this very first day of school will go well too!

The proud kindergartner was excited, happy, and anxious, and who knows what else was going on in her sweet little head or heart this morning! She got to work right away though and started coloring and eased mommy's anxiety. The classroom was neat and clean, well-organized, and just ready for all these cute "lady-bugs" to crawl in. It just dawned on me after dropping her off that this will be a great year, that she will learn lots, feel loved and protected in her kindergarten room, and grow together with her friends and teacher. It will all be good and well (even if I still worry... a bit!)

And I got my updates at pick-up time: everything went well, eating-her-own-lunch-in-the-cafeteria experience included. She did mention that school was a bit boring! Ha! Not surprised though as they're taking it easy this first week.

After gobbling down her dinner (boy, was she hungry?!), she asked for a yummy desert: brownie topped with (soy) vanilla and chocolate ice cream and a cherry on top! This girl knows what she wants! :)

(Cute, silly face but can't ask for more since she'd been in school for 9 hours at that point!)

This is what she made in after-school:

It was nice to be back in ballet last Thursday. It was a very small class too due to the "back-to-school" hoopla (some kids did not show up.)

(... please excuse the glare. My faithful DroidX camera is still doing the job though!)

We haven't taken a break from piano this summer. The only (welcomed) change there is that now Ms. Bell comes and teaches Ella at home. And they get a lot more done!

"I'm playing the pinano"

Three years ago or so when we bought our first upright piano, after pounding a little bit on the piano keys Ella would say: "I'm playing the PINANO!!" She loved that "pinano" of hers.

Fast forward to today:

Mozart Mouse and Beethoven Bear are Ms. Bell's. She lets Ella borrow them sometimes (when she does really well.)

After about 8 months of lessons, our baby had her first performance class on Monday. It was really a class not a performance/recital but a class that prepares children for recitals and is taught by the director of the school, Mrs. Boukadoum who, we're told, is a famed pianist and pedagogue, and a very very nice person, according to Ella. :-)  In these types of classes, children get to practice recital etiquette, play in the recital hall and on the recital grand piano in front of the director/master teacher and the rest of the children several times, while receiving critique from the master teacher. Parents are not allowed. (A little confession here: I really can't tell how nervous Ella was but I can confess that I was very nervous yesterday and so was Ms. Bell, her teacher, as this was Ella's first time in this kind of setting.)  Well, she surprised us all and did a swell job! The class was one hour long which is quite a long time for her (her regular class is 30 mins long.) During the one hour class six children ages, 5 (Ella was the youngest) through ten or eleven each played a piece they had memorized and practiced before hand. Ella played a little nursery rhyme, "Baby Bumble Bee." The older children played more intricate classical pieces. After playing the first round, they each received critique and got to play their pieces (taking turns) four more times. I was standing there outside of the recital hall doors wondering when I was going to see (through the glass windows) Ella getting impatient or wandering off. But she did not, she sat quietly through the whole thing. As Hrishi wanted to make this a really special ocassion for her, he bought her a beautiful bouquet of flowers and handed it to her right after class. She was so happy! She said she loved everybody else's pieces and wanted me to hum/sing them for her.... :)

We got home happy and relieved and while talking about the class in general, what was different about it, etc., Ella commented how she didn't play with both hands (at the same time) just like all the other children. Well, I explained that is a little more advanced but if she wanted to we could try learning a piece that requires using both left and right hand at the same time. [It's very interesting that I knew somehow that she was going to wonder or comment about that, as soon as I heard the rest of the children playing their music. Funny!]

Thank you baby for being brave and doing such a good job and for making mommy and daddy proud!