Song and Sniffles

Today I’m seeing another leap in my son. He’s becoming so mature. It’s a little hard for me facing that fact that he’s growing up so fast, but at the same time I celebrate his accomplishments, his growing desire to learn more, try harder and achieve. This is monumental…

Hunt enjoys being in a music/speech therapy group called Voices Together. He seems to enjoy the group activity and is making friends, but reluctant to participate in the actual singing. Hunt loves every aspect of music and even shows an interest in learning to play a few instruments…drums, piano and guitar for now. He’s the oldest in the group by a year or so and his general demeanor depicts a measure of boredom as I guess it would be with any teenager who’s not totally committed to the cause. Whatever the case, he seems to enjoy himself, so I press on.

Each semester the children learn a new song. This semester’s song is very long and a popular hit. Fortunately we are to learn the chorus, only. I bring the words home and find the song on YouTube. We listen and then I sing… My son shows little interest as he usually does when embarking upon something new. It takes more than one exposure to something before he reacts to it. Well, unless it’s a food item he does not like. That is when I can expect the tale…tale wiggling of the fingers accompanied by a very clear and stern “no” or “do not.”

Anyway, I played the song several times, always encouraging Hunt to sing along if only a single world. He refuses, but does so with a sheepish grin. That tells me he’s receptive to my proposed notion, but will comply in his own time. There’s more school work to be done, so we’ll try the song again on another day.

Time for group again and as usual Hunt is eager to go. As usual he runs into the classroom and greets everyone in his own way and as usual he sits and listens to everyone else sing and he grins. Song recognition is wonderful, but I do so want him to sing a little. The leader of the group tried to encourage Hunt to sing, but he only points and requests to play the piano. I clap and cheer at the end of the song and tell all, job well done. Hunt seems to be please as well and claps also. I am happy that he gets so much enjoyment out of this group. Perhaps one day he will sing with his friends…perhaps.

Today after finishing school work Hunt pointed to YouTube and wanted me to pull up the song we’ve been working on. He waited with anticipation for me to start the song. Watching carefully to see what icons I clicked on. As soon as the song began to play, he grabbed my pen, started rocking and pointed to the words of the chorus that were in front of him. At the appropriate time he began to sing the chorus. Oh my goodness, he’s signing the song!! I stared for a moment and then left him on his own to process the song in his own way. He must have played that song 20 times. I think he sang for about 30 or so minutes. He worked so hard to sing as much of that song as he could. And he did exceptionally well I might add. He sang and sang and I shed a joyful tear. He sang until he was satisfied and then announced that he was done. We have another group meeting tonight. I don’t know if he’s going to sing or not, but I know for sure that he’s learning this song. I guess I’ll have to wait and see. I’m excited. I’ll be sure to tell you all about it later.