Elton John

My son is six months old today - very Grown Up! Last night he was giving quite an impassioned piano solo, then a vocal rendition (of something). Obviously artistically gifted. He was so moved by the music that we ran out of time for trying grean beans again, and he didn't get to sleep until 8:45, which is late by Little Man standards. Green beans will still be there tonight.

The piano solos are just wonderful. He leans way in, right over the keys and really gets into it, sometimes with one key at a time, and sometimes whole-handedly giving it all he's got (sometimes even with both hands), sort of Elton John style, I like to think. Early Elton John--you know, standing at the piano, maybe throwing in a foot here and there.

At Grandma & Grandpa's, if someone plays along with him, he'll wait as he sits next to them on the bench until they're finished, putting his hand on their arm, and then give his portion when they pause. My brother says the hand means something on the order of, "um, okay, I'm playing now, and perhaps you should pause to let the maestro continue," but my mom thinks that it's just his way of connecting with what you're doing and giving you his full attention. Either way it's pretty adorable. When I play with him, though, he doesn't seem to mind; he just plays right along with me. I'm not sure whether I'm no threat and he feels that he can play right over me or whether he thinks we are great as a four-handed duet. I'm going with the latter.