Christmas Type Fun

Once the Christmas balls start to roll there is no stopping the Christmas type fun, so--before I left town for NJ--Kelly Sara & I gifted each other with our presence, spending a merry eve together.

We started out at the Green Bowl, a stir-fry joint downtown, where you fill bowl after bowl with veggies and sauces and let the stir-fry wizards work their magic, delivering to your table a transformation of good into goodness.  We unloaded our minds and hearts as we wiped our somewhat messy chopsticked chins, and left fuller in every way as we rolled on to our next stop:

the local pottery painting establishment.

We painted,

we played,

we learned the pottery-making process,

we may or may not have gotten slightly frustrated...

Overall, we had a lovely, somewhat messy, time.

We closed out the shop, and then went home for a treat:

 hot chocolate in front of our lovely tree

and the phenomenon of Tim-Tam-Slam.

Having never heard of it before, Sara had to teach me the ropes, which are:

 bite off the ends.

Submerge one end in hot deliciousness.

 Drink as if with a straw.

 Slam the Tim-Tam into your mouth as it melts into nothingness.

 Be a hot mess.

Act guilty, yet delighted.

Do it again!

By the end of our evening

we were merry indeed, full of
Christmas type [if somewhat messy] fun!

Welcome to Christmas

Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas--even with a giant tree permeating my house with it's glorious fragrance--until I experience a Christmas gathering with those I love.

Things were officially kicked off this past Sunday, then, when Emily, Aden, Amy, Caleb and I congregated over tacos and good conversation.

There was much to talk about, what with the

growing baby bump and

sparkling engagement ring we've been blessed with recently.

But when the eating and the conversing
had been given sufficient time, 

we moved ourselves towards the main event

 --the giving of gifts--

 while the men and dogs looked on

and while Aden captured our gift-giving joy:

Don't ask us what was so hysterical,

just know that we enjoyed it...

With gratitude for all these gifts,

Welcome to Christmas!

Tree and Goodness

Speaking of celebration,

you might be aware that there is a little bit of one 

coming up soon in our calendar.

You might also be aware of 

a little tradition called a 'Christmas Tree'.

Sara, being the decoration coordinator 

and social chair of our home, 

decided that a Christmas Tree was necessary

 to make the season complete, 

and so shortly after December came upon us she and I

--along with friends Matt and Pat--

set out for a day among the Trees.

We gathered the necessary supplies,

arming ourselves for the task at hand.

We headed into the fields

and considered many options

before settling on this beauty, 

who just seemed to be calling our name.

Then,

we made the boys cut her down.

With Sara's help, of course.

(Mine too.)

Then,

we set off to find those boys their own tree.

We traveled for many miles, until:

Pat found it.

We didn't argue with him.

This guy waved him over however, 

and thus the decision was made.

When everyone was happy with the finding and cutting, 

we meandered breezily back from whence we came,

our cardboard soaring,

our feet sliding,

our saw (and other things...) flinging through the air

(as Matt debated whether or not to catch me before or after the saw left his hand...) 

(Let's pause for a moment of silence for my poor boots.

....

Funny, all I can hear is GALES of LAUGHTER....)

Eventually our mission was accomplished,

and the boys reflected on our good work.

And, as I've sat in its presence these past days, I've reflected too:

Good indeed, in every possible way.

And we're Home

Perhaps it's time I made an official introduction:

Meet Kelly & Sara, housemates extraordinaire. 

We have spent these last few months living life in all of its nooks and crannies and--

since nooks and crannies are full of mess as well as joy--

we have loved and learned a lot about each other, 

and about ourselves.

Our living of life has involved 

intentionality most often in the form of food,

 like this early fall picnic

where we took advantage of a lovely place, 

and learned more of the loveliness of each other.

Our fooding has also occurred in the form of celebration,

like this sushi dinner for Kelly's birthday early in October.

Most recently, 

our celebrating occurred surrounding the incident of Sara's birth

when we cooked a giant brinner

for a collection of friends, 

and spent the remainder of the evening in games

and serenade.

Laughing, living, eating, celebrating.

Life; Home.

A sneak peek

I'm in full dissertation mode.  The joke in our house has become 'the answer to every question is: dissertation'.  I am consumed, and the only word that stumbles out of my mouth when pressed is....dissertation.

So, since it's such a part of my life at the moment, and since this bloggy is supposedly about my life, here's the rationale I've spent most of last night and this early morning crafting:

...The stories of these children and these questions have led me into further exploration and into the literature regarding young children and young children’s music making, with the aim of discovering how young children take part in their worlds, what it is we can expect from them, and what it is we should be hoping for them.  I am looking to find out what is valuable learning in a piano lesson setting as defined by them, and not defined by my work with older children, the parameters of my own training experience, or the predominant pedagogical resources.  What do young children need in order to have a valuable experience?  It seems to me that they need specific things from me as their ‘teacher’ and from the environment that I—as the adult—have the power to create and control.  I have a responsibility, then, to acquire deep understanding of the lived experience of children.

I approach the understanding of children from a socio-cultural perspective.  A socio-cultural perspective frames an individual child’s development within the social and cultural environments surrounding her (Walsh, 2002).  In those contexts and the relationships between them, the child has a lived experience that fosters and filters the meanings that she makes.  Her lived experience is active, not passive; social, not solitary.   Within the contexts she is situated in, she is a social being with agency who encounters other social beings.  Encounters can become interactions; interactions can grow into relationships.  Encounters, interactions, and relationships are reciprocal processes, in which the child is involved in negotiations of meaning as she learns and develops according to the norms of her culture.

The quality of the meaning made within contexts and in contact with others can be positive or negative, and have long-term effects on the child’s identity, motivation and engagement within specific domains.  As such, the role that adults take when participating with children is crucial for the quality of their long-term being.  An adult who respects and values the child as a being with agency within this sociocultural framework will act as a guide, as a more knowledgeable and experienced being within the culture.  Adult attitudes that recognize the child as an active maker of meaning within contexts and relationships will provide opportunities for children to have optimal experiences of self-directed learning.

This framework is expressed in the five essential human needs identified by Dissanayake (2000).  The five are rooted in and stem from the first: mutuality between mother and infant.  Mutuality is another word for ‘love’, and describes the communicative interactions from the very beginning of the child’s life.  Mutuality is a shared intention from one to another, made of imitation and turn-taking, which extends into other intimate relationships the child becomes a part of.  Those relationships reflect the human need of belonging, as reflected in the ways that children move into group settings and look for value, communication, and emotional connection.  Finding and making meaning is essentially connected to survival, as whatever is valuable resonates with what a human needs in order to exist.  Meaning is thus connected to that which ‘gives life’, ‘feels right’, or ‘makes sense’ (p. 73).  Hands-on competence is the process of making active meaning by being a part of something, successfully. Elaboration is the way that humans extend basic features of sound, expression, and movement and transfer them to ceremony and the arts.  It is an extension beyond basic need that is “an outgrowth, manifestation, and indication to others of strong feeling or care” (p. 130).

These needs resonate deeply in my lived experience as an adult, inseparable from my lived experience as a child.  Acknowledging my own experience of these needs calls up deeply embodied memories that are more than concrete images or specific moments in time.  They are memories that are deeper and richer and fuller; they are holistic and make me whole.  Hence, I have a unique perspective on these needs in the life of children as I dwell in my own experience, as I realize that once a child I am always a child.  Understanding my own experience of Dissanayake’s identified needs points me toward Boyce-Tillman’s (2004) conceptualization of music in our lives.  According to her, our lives cannot be separated out into discrete categories; neither can our knowledge, our music, or our music education.

Boyce-Tillman (2004) rejects the legacy of a science-driven society and its obsession with objective, detached, and impersonal understandings of reality.  Instead, she calls for the inclusion of subjective, belief oriented, and non-causal personal involvement as valid and necessary for understanding humans as beings.....

And now, back to it!