Firsts

Several "firsts" happened this past week. At work, I was asked to provide my technical expertise to help our contracts department with some proposal work. If we win the bid, the company will most likely send me to Missouri sometime in March or April to conduct a site survey. I have never traveled for business before, so I look forward to this first time experience.


Piano Lesson

(Jackie practicing at home)
Jackie had her first piano lesson on Thursday. I signed her up at Music and Arts store at the Cedar Lakes location for half an hour piano lesson once a week. When we arrived at the facility I checked in with one of the store clerk's who processed my payment and briefed me with their rules -- there will be no refunds for skipped lessons, but in an event of emergency or for any reason Jackie cannot show up for her scheduled class the teacher will accommodate rescheduling. I had to sign a piece of paper to acknowledge that I understood the terms. Then the clerk sent us to the back end of the store where the classrooms are. We stood around for a few minutes and Celine (Jackie's teacher) came out of one of the rooms. She asked how old Jackie is and if she could read. She was delighted to hear that Jackie could - I guess this makes it easier. After the meet and greet, she invited Jackie to follow her into one of the rooms. I asked if we (Berna and I) could watch and she agreed, but only allowed us to stay for a few minutes. I watched though the glass window on the door. When the lesson was over Celine told me that Jackie did very well, and that she did lots for first day class. I was not surprised to hear it - we were blessed with this darling girl who is very bright (I cannot take credit). At the age when Jackie was only supposed to know a few words, she knew hundreds. Her ped did not believe us when we told her the amount of words Jackie knew (I guess a lot of parents exaggerate), but in that same visit our little Jackie spoke in complete sentence - LOL.

Anyway, Celine told me to have Jackie practice 10 minutes a day and to complete the homework before the next lesson on Thursday.

Here's Jackie on her first practice day at home
(thanks to Berna for taking this video for us)

Ice Skating

On Saturday, Don took us ice skating. Don and I have been married for eight and a half years and we've never gone ice skating together. It's been over a decade since the last time I've done this fun activity with friends, so I was a little nervous when my blades hit the ice. SkateQuest in Reston was open for public skating between 1:10 to 3 p.m. - then they closed the facility for hockey players. We all had fun (Berna did not skate - she just watched and took pictures). We were very proud of Jackie for not getting scared and for doing very well - she got the hang of it very quickly. She had so much fun that she did not even want to take a break! I was able to take a break with Jackie during the resurfacing of ice. What a fun outing! I would love to go again, soon.