Beethoven Jr.

Yesterday we went to New Jersey for a bbq at Helen & Rick's house. Ian tried to keep up with the girls, but they were much bigger and they didn't want to play with him. But he managed to have a good time anyway, running, playing with a plastic hoop, and watching tv.

Afterwards, we went by Kai-Yi & Yi-die's house to drop off more clothes for little Peter (Eva is coming for a 2 week visit next weekend with Carolyn and Peter, so we're hoping that Ian can spend some time with his cousins). Ian was in a great mood and was humming the ABC song at the top of his lungs in the car on the way over. He did his usual exploring and walking around once he got in the house. Kai-yi and Yi-die (that would be Yi-po and Yi-gong to Ian) found a stuffed watermelon for him to toss around, as well as a little stuffed bird and a stuffed lion. He yelled, "Ball!" when he saw the watermelon and picked it up and threw it. He did the same with the bird, yelling "Niao-niao!". Then we put him on the piano bench and let him play the piano. Surprisingly, he sat at the piano for at least 15-20 minutes playing the keyboard. He alternated hands, sometimes playing piano and sometimes playing forte. Kai-yi noted how he played each note going up the keyboard, one at a time. Yi-die couldn't believe how long he sat there playing. Every now and then he would play a little trill and he tried to reach the ends of the keyboard. The interesting thing to me is that he sat in the middle of the bench and didn't move his butt at all. I remember when I was little, some of the other kids would shift their butts up and down the bench in order to reach the keys. But Ian sat and just reached with his hands. It's not like we've played the piano at home or anything, so I'm wondering why he did that. He was also moving his lips as he played, as if he was singing to himself or talking to himself while he was playing. Yi-die took a video of him playing. Here are the photos of the young virtuoso:


Here are Kai-yi and Yi-die taking the video:

Kai-Yi thought Ian might need to see the music (which is in fact Beethoven):


Look at that great posture!

After Maestro Ian was finished with his performance, he was pretty hungry, so we went to Boston Market for dinner, where he insisted on sitting in a regular chair and not the high chair:

I guess we'll be starting Ian on piano lessons sooner than we thought!