Layla, Piano, and Tooth Fairies

LAYLA'S SELF PORTRAIT

Layla started piano lessons a few weeks back, and honestly, between work, house cleaning and getting ready for school-we just hadn't had time to put a much time into teaching Layla her notes.  (We had only learned the first five notes on the treble cleff scale, and still hadn't learned about higher octaves and all that jazz...which i don't think Layla should have been learning yet anyway).  So, we are at her lesson and her teacher is obviously annoyed that Layla still doesn't know her notes (this is like her fourth week of 30 minutes lessons once a week), and I start to get a little agitated with her (the teacher).  Then I could not believe it when she starts asking Layla to find the C an octave higher than middle C....ummm-can you tell her what an octave is?????  Then she starts asking her to find other notes an octave higher than what she was learning.  Am I supposed to be TEACHING her myself at home?  In that case-what happens to the parents who know nothing about reading music?  Anyway, on the way to the car Layla asked me if she had done bad, and I decided it was time for another teacher.  I was so upset, I never realized how perceptive kids are at such a young age could be-so then I was REALLY upset.  So, even though we were paid up for the month Layla didn't make it to her last piano lesson.........flash to today-

We hired a new piano teacher who will come to our house every wednesday for 45 minutes to an hour depending on how much time Layla wants to spend at the piano (how long her attention span will last for the day).  Today was her first lesson, and I couldn't be happier with this teacher.  He is so wonderful and patient!  He started the same piano book from the beginning and really made sure that Layla understood about notes, measures, lines, spaces, and kept asking her if she had any questions-and she did!  I was so proud of her, she was so attentive-give or take a few minutes at the end of the hour today.  So, she is on her way to becoming a pianist.  Or singer, or whatever she wants to be-just as long as she enjoys doing it!


On a different note, we are collecting food to fill a box for an organization through our church.  A couple days ago Layla asked if she could have a baby doll-and I told her that we didn't have money right now to buy toys, that we needed to make sure that we had money to buy important stuff like food.  Layla made a pouty face and started to have attitude-arms crossed and all- so I closed my eyes and prayed a little prayer for God to calm my annoyance and give me patience. I then explained to her that some parents didn't even have enough to buy food so we should be thankful  and grateful that the Lord has blessed us with what we have-and that we need to make sure we still have enough to help those who have less than us and reminded her that we still had those boxes to fill at home for the children who didn't have enough to eat.  She still stayed quiet, but I left her alone.  Yesterday Layla was telling me about her day and out of the blue told me she wanted a few of her teeth to fall out.  After asking her why, she answered for the money that the tooth fairy would give her so she could help buy the food for the kids who didn't have enough.  I giggled to myself, so happy that she really was listening-although she shouldn't feel she has to share the job of money maker.  I told her that Jesus was so happy to know that she wanted to help-but that we didn't need her teeth just yet.  ;)  The Lord is teaching me patience through Layla- how am I just getting this?