The Newest Member of the Family

My faithful 15-year-old electronic piano that had journeyed with us so many miles, did not adapt well to British voltage. In fact, it got killed by it. When we tried to plug it in and turn it on, it made a dying whine and never turned on again. I was so sad. However, as fate would have it, we live just around the corner from a piano shop that sells lovely used pianos. One day we went in to browse--that also happened to be my lucky day, because I ended up with this:

Dark wood, perfectly weighted keys, made in England, and lovely as can be.

In the evenings, after we've cleaned up dinner and gotten everyone in their jammies, Roo mandates that all children have to leave me alone so I can play the piano for at least ten minutes. My skills are rusty and my fingers fumble, but I couldn't be more pleased.


Some other recent advances:

Esme has discovered the joy of cuddling. She even asks to cuddle with Penny. Penny takes a bit of convincing to participate. (Because usually she ends up being pushed away by the head.)

Esme has also discovered pockets. She digs through the coin jar for "money" to put in her pockets. She likes money in her pockets. She's a lot like her father in that way. She also prefers to keep her fruit snacks in there.

Penny has learned to sit up on her own, eat rice cereal, and master the ways of the Force. (You can't see it in this picture, but she's actually raising a space ship out of a swamp right here.)