Whoa! it's been TEN days since I last posted! Oh well... I seem to do good keeping up w/ posting for a few days, then bad for a few days.

Well, my first recital here went really well last Saturday. I was very pleased with how it went. All my students played well (especially my Josephine!) and I was proud of them all. 3 of my students earned trophies, one of those students were Josephine. She was SO thrilled to get one. She really deserved it- she practices so much I have to fuss at her sometimes to get OFF the piano! I wish I could practice the piano as much as she does!

Josephine has gone through her most recent set of books in about 3 months - most students take about 6 months or longer to go through a set of books. Of course, it helps to have a piano teacher for a mother! She gets mini-lessons just about every day.

... my students all chipped in and got me an Amazon giftcard - I was able to buy each girl their own book, a shared book for Maureen and Josephine, and a book for myself "The no-cry sleep solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night" by Elizabeth Pantley. Click on the "No cry sleep solution" button/link on the left if you want to read more info. about the book and author...

We used the "Ferber" method for both Josephine and Maureen, and in retrospect, I feel bad for making them both cry (even though I went in periodically to comfort them). I'll give this method a try for a couple months, and if it doesn't work I'll have to resort to the Ferber method for Veronica. I don't think I can take much longer of her waking up through the night, every single night!

Maureen continued labeling things with her own made up titles... (remember she was saying "chocolate hair" lately for brown hair?). Well now she has a "big leg, arm, eye, and ear" (her left leg, arm, eye and ear) and a "little leg, arm, eye, and ear" (her right leg, arm, eye and ear). She'll say things like, "I hurt my big leg!" or something along those lines... Also, a couple mornings ago, as we were still cuddling in bed, she pointed to my bra and called it "bumpy." I gently explained to her that it was called a bra, and she said, "Not, it's not a bra, it's bumpy." I thought that was hilarious!

Veronica continues to stand on her own - she can go from sitting to standing without holding on to anyone or anything, and is taking a couple steps on her own. ALSO, other than "uh oh" she is also saying "cat" and the sign for cat! I've only been doing sign language with her for about 3 weeks (only cat, book and eat) and she's already doing cat at the age of 11 months old! I'm very amazed. She is a smart little girl just like her big sisters!

Michael and I have both applied for summer jobs... we haven't had any luck in getting hired, but will continue searching. I have a prospective organist/pianist job at a Baptist Church... I will meet with the music director person next week.