Madison is one of those kids who can hear a song once and sing it back to you.  It happened to use again last night.  We were at Michael’s and she heard a Christmas song that I’m pretty sure she’s not heard before.  The rest of our shopping trip, she continued to sing the song and the correct words to the song.  She may never be the best forensic accountant, but she sure can remember music.

That being said, Madison has been dying to learn how to play piano.  To be honest, I’m not sure why.  She had been asking for months, but we recently decided to sign her up.  We can’t afford a piano right now (even the best forensic accounting services isn’t going to find money for that in our budget), so I picked her up a really nice keyboard.  She’s already had 2 lessons, and this week she is suppose to learn Mary Had a Little Lamb.  She’s super excited.  :)  Its a tad painful for me to watch her lessons and her struggle, but it is pretty amazing to see her “get” it.  What she struggled with last Wednesday, she is playing perfectly today.  Ahhh, to be young again.

I’m hoping this is something she will continue with.  I think she’s got a “sixth” sense with music, and I hope she will love to play.

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My kids and I were invited to an awesome program at the The Field Museum.  My kids are huge fans of Dinosaur Train.  Heck, I am a huge fan.  The music is awesome, and your kids are learning without even realizing it.  Will even tries to sing along with the theme song!

Now, we were able to see some of the Dinosaur Train toys that will be coming out this fall for the Christmas season.  Let me tell you, you are going to want these:

As you can see, they’ve made toys of all the characters!  Want to know the coolest part?  They all talk and sing to each other.  If I could have snuck one out in my purse, I would have!  They were absolutely adorable and cute.  My kids loved them!  I know I’ll be buying a few of these for Christmas this year!  (Now, I’ve seen toys that can sense others and react and they were in the $300 price range.  These toys will be affordable.  I asked.)

Not only did we get to play with awesome toys, but we got to meet Dr. Scott.  He’s the brains behind the show, and if you are avid followers of the show, you’ll know that he’s in every episode:

We even got to meet Craig Bartlett — that’s the guy who sings the Dinosaur Train Song!

I have to admit — this was one of the coolest events we’ve been too!  I hope that Dinosaur Train decides to come to the Field Museum again!

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Here are the latest and greatest contest/giveaways found on the web for this week!

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Something we have been struggling with is if Will is behind in his speaking.  I’ve talked about it on Twitter and to my friends, but not on here yet.  We definitely know he is behind.  I mean we aren’t expecting him to say “hey mom, take me to a musical instrument shop” or “buy electric guitar“. However, he’s only got about 10 – 15 words. He’s two. Depending on where I read, he should have 30 – 50 words.  We aren’t even close to that.

It’s hard.  Madison was always ahead of her milestones.  She also talked early and a lot, so it has been very hard for us to gauge.  The turning point for me is that my mom and Bill’s mom have both mentioned several times to us that he doesn’t talk.  He also does something very odd with his mouth.  You know how Popeye talks out of the side of his mouth.  Will does that a lot.  He also makes that face when he’s not talking.  I can’t tell if it’s a bad habit or if there is a problem.  I do have to add that he is slightly tongue tied, so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it either.

We have a wellness visit set up on July 13th for him (and a school physical for Madison).  I will be definitely asking for a referral for services.  Bill thinks he will grow out of it and catch up.  My thoughts are to get a professional look at him, and let them determine whether we have a problem.

If anybody has any experience with anything like this, I would love to hear your experience.  Any advice would be helpful too!

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My life long dream has been to learn how to play piano.  I know, it sounds crazy, but it’s one of those things I always wanted to learn to do.  Madison also has this incredible ability to listen to song once and start sing to it.  Granted, she may not be the best singer, but she is definitely picking up the words.  She just seems to have some natural music ability.

I was mentioning this over the weekend to my SIL and MIL that I was thinking about buying a piano for Madison (well, me too).  My SIL said they have one sitting in their garage we could have for free!  Seriously!  We just have to figure out how to move it here, and it’s ours.

Now, Will’s birthday is this weekend, so it won’t be this week.  However, we’ll definitely have one here soon!

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