Keegan's Cello & His First "Lesson"

Keegan has his first cello. His cello first belonged to his Uncle Kevin around 14 years ago. Since its been a while since it was played, it was not in the best shape when we took it out of the case (it had a broken neck!) But, after a bit of incredible TLC from a friend of my parents from their church (since the luthier I usually go to basically laughed and said for a cello that size and since it was for a 2.5 year old, it would be better for us to fix it ourselves and he would put the finishing touches on it after it was in one piece) it is as good as new. Well, almost as good as new....the tailpiece broke while I was tuning it today so as soon as I replace that it will be as good as new. But it is still playable right now, so we Keegan had his first "cello lesson" today.

He and I sat down in my music studio at our house, where I teach lessons, and talked about the parts of the cello, he has to know what everything is called! Then we talked about the names of the strings and where to put his hand and fingers to pluck the strings. He only lasted about 10 minutes, but I think thats pretty good for a 2.5 year old! He seemed interested in the cello and told me he wanted to play a song for me. I think we'll take it real slow and see how he does!

Good Job!

Already a budding musician!

Keegan is absolutely already showing signs of an interest in music and is becoming a little musician. He has a harmonica that he got for Christmas from Mimi and Papa that he loves and has really figured out how to play. He can even show you where the high notes are and where the low notes are! He also has a little piano (where he can also show you the high and low notes!) as well as a guitar that he loves to sing and dance along with. He has even shown an interest in conducting, since he has seen me conduct several times. We went to see an orchestra of bears at Christmas time and Keegan proceeded to stand in front and conduct them! He has also, several time, started conducting when he hears music or especially if he sees something he can stand on (to be his "podium") and he'll stand on it, then start conducting! He also has his own "cello" that he likes to play when I play my cello! 

Since we are both musicians we hoped it would be "in his genes" and we think it is! Otherwise, it was going to "have to" be in his genes...no choice with music in this house! :-)

Playing his "cello"

Figuring out how to play his harmonica for the first time.

Playing his harmonica with Daddy

Showing me his high and low notes on the harmonica

Showing me where the high and low notes are on his piano

Singing and Dancing with his guitar 

Conducting with the bears

Our Smart Boy

Keegan amazes me everyday with how fast he is growing up and learning things! He has started putting 3 words together now...."mama sit there", "mama read this", "bless you mama" (after I sneeze or cough....he actually says this to himself too "bless you keegan"). Here are some recent pictures...

Working on his puzzles

I came into my room and found Keegan on the bed, with his book, reading like this.

We went to the Apple store the other night and Keegan loved playing on the computer there.
He later told me when he saw this picture that he was "working".

Lovin his puzzles

Keegan is obsessed with puzzles right now! He will spend so much time working on them!


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Keegan is 2 years old! 

(Well he was a month ago but I got a little behind...)

 

Keegan at 2 weeks

Keegan at 2 years

• Weight: 34 lbs (95%)
• Height: 36 inches (95%)
• Clothing Size: 2T & 3T
• Enjoys: 
• Books - especially his Cars book & Thomas book
• Trains - he got a train set for his birthday, he is totally obsessed. 
• Kitchen - he got a kitchen set for Christmas, he likes to make us "meals"
• Cars - he drives them everywhere saying "vroom, vroom"
• Turn-Offs: still not much....he's a pretty agreeable kid. He doesn't like being told "no" but who does!
• Strengths: Keegan is still a great eater, he'll eat almost anything. He is also VERY smart. He knows his ABCs, he can count to 10 and knows a lot of his colors. He remembers things well, and puts things back where they go a lot of the time. If something isn't in the right place, he fixes it. He is very observant. 
• Sleeping: Keegan goes to bed around 8pm every night and sleeps until 6:30 or 7 but he doesn't usually call for me until 7:15 or 7:30. He is getting pretty good about playing in his crib in the morning. Sometimes he'll stay in there until 8:00. We let him play in his crib for as long as he's happy in the morning! Keegan is still taking a nap everyday usually from 1:00-4:00.
• Words: Keegan talks all the time now. Its not a matter of what words he knows anymore. He will repeat just about anything you say to him. He remembers things too, if you tell him what something is once, chances are he'll remember and tell you later. 
• Signs: We aren't really signing very much anymore which makes me kinda sad because it was so neat to watch him sign and learn new signs. He still signs some words as he says them at the same time. He still pretty consistently signs milk, book and eat, but he says the word as he signs it too. We are working on teaching him to hold up fingers for numbers now and I want to teach him to sign the alphabet to help him later when he learns to spell. 

Favorites of Keegan currently:

• Foods: tacos....he LOVES tacos. If you ask him what he wants to eat, he'll say he wants a taco. 
• Songs: ABC, Row Row Row Your Boat (he'll sing this one himself....sort of), The More We Get Together (he sill sign this and sort of sing it with you)
• Shows: Thomas, Sesame Street, Arthur, Cars, Veggie Tales
• Books: any book, Elmo books, truck books, Thomas books
• Toys: Thomas the Train set, kitchen, Cars push car 
• Activities: Soccer

Things I don't want to forget:

• Keegan had a nice second birthday party. He had some friends (James Dungan, Cameron Stumpf, Anthony Hudelson, Evelyn Bartel, Kaylee Winans, Amara Kanesvaran and Kieran Manfree) along with some family (Weezie, Mimi, Papa, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Joni, Mary Beth, Anna-Margaret) We decorated cupcakes and Keegan got lots of nice presents. The whole party went very well. 

opening presents with mimi and papa the night before his party 

ice cream at his birthday dinner

licking the candle

keegan and kaylee coloring their trains

opening presents!

evelyn, kieran and anthony eating lunch

keegan eating lunch

blowing out his candle

decorating his cupcake with his friend Anthony

I think James ate more toppings than ended up on his cupcake!

James and Cameron

Baby Cookie Party

We had a cookie decorating party with our playgroup this morning. We weren't sure how the boys would do, but they actually seemed to really enjoy themselves! They sat at the table, focused on their cookies and were strangely quiet! Some ate more than decorated but they all seemed to have fun! Keegan really enjoyed it. He really got into decorating his cookie, I think we're going to decorate cupcakes or cookies or something for his birthday party, because they seemed to have so much fun! I think this is the most sugar Keegan has ever had, but he still went down for his nap fine so it didn't seem to wind him up too much! Thank goodness!

Morrisville Christmas Parade

On Saturday, Dec 3, we went to the Morrisville Christmas Parade with some new friends that we have made in our neighborhood. They have a son who is 2 weeks younger than Keegan. We met them this summer and got to know them better when the boys took soccer together. We played at the playground for a bit before the parade then headed out to the street to watch the parade. We had a good time watching the parade. It was the first year Morrisville had a parade and we thought they did a pretty good job! They had a band from the Helping Hand Mission Organization, which Keegan LOVED. He danced and stomped right along with them. It was hilarious. It kept trying to get his friend Jack to dance with him but Jack didn't want to dance. 

showing Jack his game on Daddy's iPhone

trying to get Jack to dance

Morrisville FD dog