Most nights after dinner has been cleaned up, when other families may sit down in front of the television, our family heads to the living room for some music making. Either Curtis or I play the piano and the boys play along on a rhythm instrument. Isaac bounces up and down on his knees and is quite the little maraca and jingle bell player. Recently, Noah's instrument of choice is the 'ma-ca-ca' (harmonica), when he isn't just running in circles, that is. Often, when I am playing the piano, I will glance over my shoulder to find Curtis, the percussionist, dexterously playing three or four rhythm instruments at once and keeping us all on beat. Our repertoire ranges from children's folk tunes to the Beatles to Jason Mraz to Johnny Cash. And I can belt out a dreadful version of Unchained Melody that makes Noah laugh and Curtis cringe (lovingly, of course).
A few weeks ago, all this boisterous music-making led to me wanting to learn to play the guitar. I already have about a million other balls in the air. Why not add one more? So now, armed with my Dad's guitar (which I still hold rather awkwardly), I practice my chords for a few minutes each night as well. Literally, just a few minutes. Because my goodness it really hurts my fingers to hold down those strings! Apparently it takes some time to toughen them up. We shall see...Until then, I will play the piano or just sing along as we live out those dreams we had years ago of making our family a musical one.
Here, he is thinking, "Gee, brother, I would really like that toy, but if I reach for it..."
Finally, just as we were packing things up for the trek back to the car, they played Hey Jude for the encore. And our thousands of friends and neighbors sang along. It was one of those goosebump-inducing moments, and worth the wait (though Gumpa may not think so).
It is not really a question, but a demand, and though I am not a singer, I indulge him anyway. Let me tell you, it is a challenge to hold a tune while he is plunking away in who-knows-what-key. It doesn't really matter though, because he stops after about 10 seconds and flips through whatever book happens to be on the stand to find a new song, asking himself, "What song you want?"
Isaac finds my singing entertaining as well, especially if I bob my head back and forth and make silly faces while I sing.
Because music is such a big part of our lives, I thought our blog could use some music as well, so I added a player. 
{making music}
By the time he was two months old, I was able to prop him on my lap and play. He loved to watch my hands move around the keys, and even tried a few notes himself.
When he could pull up to stand, he could often be found at the piano bench, 
Now he is a big boy, getting up on the bench all by himself. There he will sit for long periods, alternately gazing out the window and then playing a few notes and singing along while his body sways back and forth and his little legs swing along.
To listen to a child making music, or to make music with a child opens up a whole world of creativity that is lost to us. Maybe I will stop reading the music once in a while and just play the piano like Noah.
And here is a short video of the budding musician in our family jammin' with his Daddy this past weekend. It's a bummer when you need to turn the page, but your little arms are too short and you practically fall off the piano bench. Please excuse our morning hair and the fact that we are all still in our pajamas!