Britton came home from school a few weeks ago and told us he was interesting in playing in the orchestra now that he is in the 4th grade . He was trying to decide between the viola and the cello. We decided to go ahead and let him pursue it since it wouldn't add to the after school craziness that is very much a part of our lives at this stage. In fact, orchestra is before school 2 mornings a week. At the orientation meeting Britton made his final decision- the cello. What tipped the scales in favor of the cello? Well, during the meeting he realized that the school district will rent a cello to elementary students for $70 for the entire school year, but that the viola would be about double the cost to rent because we would have to go through a music store or just purchase one. Since he was on the fence about which one to play he decided to go with the less expensive option for right now. Gotta love a financially minded kid! I didn't want to influence his decision in any way, but I LOVE the cello. This last week was his first week of class. Here he is with the cello sans bow because they haven't taught him how to hold it yet. Neither Adam or I ever played a string instrument so it is all new to us. I can help him with piano, but he is on his own with the cello!
Britton had a great soccer game yesterday. After a less than par game last Saturday the director of his soccer club gathered the parents together and encouraged us to have them work on ball handling drills for 20 min. every day at home and watch at least 2 min. of soccer a day in addition to their practices and games. Britton is a motivated player so we put him to work. He was out in the yard every day this week working on his drills and then he and Adam watched a few YouTube clips of Messi, Ronaldo and other world class players doing their thing. It has already started to pay off. During yesterday's game he got the ball and got around a few defenders and then kicked it perfectly into the side of the goal. It was beautiful. His team went crazy, they loved it. Just goes to show that hard work really does pay off.
Since this post has turned into an "All about Britton" post I might as well throw this in. I went to pick Britton up from scouts this week and ended up taking one of his friends home, too. On the way Britton and his friend, Peyton, were talking about their teachers at school. Britton's teacher has kind of a reputation of being mean (which is code for strict) but Britton was telling his friend, "She really isn't mean" to which Peyton replied, "Really?" and then after a pregnant pause concluded, "Well, that's because your perfect." I couldn't resist asking him what he meant by "perfect". He explained that Britton is never late from recess and always does his work and is, well, perfect. I said, "Well, you do those things to, right?" He responded, "Uh, yeah, not really. Everyone knows that Britton is the smartest kid in our grade." He said it like he was simply stating a fact. This was all very informative. While none of us are truly "perfect" Britton is a pretty good kid.