SUPER HERO PIANIST!!

These photos of Ryder were taken right after we inherited this Piano.  This was evidence that he was ready for the lessons!!

Ryder has been a budding rock star since he started toddling around with his guitar.
He would strum the guitar with his natural, left-handed, stance and he just looked the part. Even with his diaper hanging out.

Now, as he approaches the big boy age of 5, he is beginning his journey down the musical yellow brick road. This makes me both proud and uncomfortable. I crushed rock stars for a while when I was younger. Both, actual celebrity-type rock stars, and boys my age who aspired to be rock stars. There is something immediately alluring about a boy with a guitar, not an image I want to picture for my son.
But, he's been asking. A LOT. For guitar lessons. Being that he is too young and his hands are too small (if he has Berman hands, which I think he does, I hate to tell him he will struggle with that issue for life) and his fingers are not yet nimble enough we were advised he start with piano.
 
And so we did.

He had his first lesson on Tuesday and he proved he wanted these lessons as bad as he had been saying. After Miss Mindy introduced herself (and he told her that we had a cousin Mindy and a friend Mindy, Shane's mommy) he ran right over to the piano, his feet hardly touching the ground. He looked at it for a moment, wide-eyed, imagining the possibilities. Then he looked around. He found, much to his delight, a photograph of Miss Mindy's two sons dressed, appropriately, in superhero costumes. It doesn't matter how small or how hidden, like a Waldo, if there is a Spider-man to be found, Ryder can spot it.
The presence of his super friends made him feel at home. More relaxed. It gave him something else to focus on when his 4 year old mind travels, as it does, from the task at hand to something else altogether.  I wouldn't be surprised if he spent some time wondering if their was a Super Hero Pianist? I suppose, despite the fact that he doesn't wear a cape, there is and his name is Beethoven.
 
Although I did not sit in on the lesson, I did sit in the other room with Chase (who refused to miss out on any moment that may belong to Ryder.).
I listened a bit as Mindy opened the top of the piano and showed Ryder how it works when you hit the keys. His MacGyver mind must have been enthralled at that alone.
They went on, working on the black keys, practicing which fingers to use, and where on the keyboard the sound was "Low like a Lion" or "High like a Bird" a closed eye exercise he seemed to enjoy!
His mind did drift - twice to the costumed boys picture and once to the piano shaped dish filled with M&M's - but it always came back. And, of course, there's homework which means, like it or not, I will learn to play the piano, too!
 
Afterwards, he recited back most of what he learned, first to me, then later, to Todd. He even asked if we would all go to his Piano concert like we go to Chase's soccer game! I am sure he will be super excited when he learns that piano recitals involve tuxedos, since he loves to get dressed up!!

Overall, I am excited for Ryder as he partakes in something that belongs just to him, for now. I am excited for him as he begins to vent his creative energy in a positive way. I am excited for him because he has always heard music; in his head, in the wind. He has always loved listening to music. Playing the piano he seemed happy, at ease, eager to learn so that he can, one day, play a song. Or compose one.