What they're up to

As we start a new year and the Orglets approach their birthdays, we find ourselves reflecting on their recent accomplishments.



Zoe has been very communicative lately. She is starting to make lots of noises that sound like talking. She seems to be saying Mama and Dada discriminately, and lots of other things that may or may not be words in English and/or Portuguese. She understands much of what we say to her. The other day when I was dressing her I asked her to give me her socks, and she did. When I showed obvious pleasure that she understood, it made her so happy that she reached for her shoes and gave those to me, too. Now whenever I dress her she spends the whole time trying to hand me footwear.

She loves it when we sing songs with her, and she makes requests by getting our attention and making the hand movements for particular favorites, while making sweet little sounds that are clearly her attempts at singing them. She also stands by the piano and dances and says "bap bap bap" when she wants us to play music.

Recently Zoe has been enjoying playing with her shape sorter. She's very good at the circle. The other shapes are harder, so she asks for help. She'll try once or twice, then turn to one of us, and give us the shape to put through for her.

Owen and Zoe have some things in common, like a passion for music, and wonderful senses of humor. But they are also quite different. Zoe is a dabbler while Owen tends to be incredibly focused. Owen is (and always has been) very independent, while Zoe seeks constant interaction. Zoe seems to enjoy making the people around her happy as much as Owen enjoys doing math and spelling puzzles on Daddy's phone.

Owen loves letters, number, and patterns of any kind. His independence, ability to focus, and love of music and patterns are put to nearly perfect use at the piano. He is absolutely determined to figure out how to play it. If we ask him to play a song with simple melody that he has never seen played before, he will more often than not be able to work it out. And then a few minutes later he'll play it in a different key. So far we have failed to find a teacher willing to teach piano to a 3 year old, so we have taken to playing simple pieces while he watches, which he then practices on his own. Like this:



(In the clip he's playing the left hand arpeggios and the right hand melody of an Allegretto by Czerny. They're not aligned in time the way the music suggests, but then he's figured it out entirely on his own, without being taught, and without the benefit of being able to read music. And, of course, he's 3.)

Happy New Year!

Sometimes at night when we're putting Owen to bed he helps us tell him the story of his day. On New Year's Eve, I put Owen to bed and told him the story of his year. What a year it was! When 2010 started, he was only 2 years old, and he didn't have a sister. In 2010, Zoe was born, and Owen turned 3. His school in Boston moved into a new, renovated space, and his teachers changed. We packed up all of our things, and moved to a new house in Portugal. Owen started a new school, with new teachers and friends. He learned how to jump, play songs on the piano, read a little, and do a little math. As I went through all of this, he listened VERY carefully. He kept wanting to talk about the part where we packed up all of our things into boxes and put them on the truck. I think he might remember that for a very long time.

This is how we were in 2010:


It was a year full of family, friends, and adventure, and we will all remember it for a very long time.