The Conductor

Ahh, the joys of music. It stirs your soul, enlightens your mind, warms your heart. And, in the case of my 2 year old son, brings out your most controlling, ambitious, perfectionist tendencies.

It all started after Z-monster and Didi watched Curious George. I had actually blacklisted CG previously because of an episode which introduced the sport of "Extreme Hopscotch", but, due to incessant whining and a dinner deadline (meaning, "we will resort to cannibalism if you don't serve us dinner, Mommy" deadline) I was worn down, and put the monkey on air. Apparrantly, in this episode, Curious George conducts a symphony, with the assistance of a poorly trained black dog named Charky. Following this episode, the Z-monster constructed a violin out of Mega Blocks, and provided me a bow in the form of a Lincoln Log. After demonstrating how to play the violin, he proceeded to construct a horn for Sven, also out of Mega Blocks. He then climbed up onto a dining room chair, rapped soundly on the back of the chair (podium and music stand), and began directing Sven and I in a very unique musical number.

Eventually, I suggested that he might like conducting a real symphony. He said that yes, he would be delighted. Sven put in some Vivaldi, and off he went . . . for about 30 seconds. (we scrambled for the camera, but were too slow). After that it rapidly disentigrated into a modern dance performance, which disentigrated into a general melee after Didi tried to steal the violin.

That's my little Mozart . . . I mean rocket scientist . . . I mean precious.