On the Way to Win a Wii

Sienna had her first official piano lesson today after nearly 3 months. It went smoothly, largely due to the two things that happened prior to it.

First, we had put a point system in place. Sienna will get 10 points for her 30-45 minutes practice everyday. A good lesson with the teacher will win her 20 points. She will have 80 points in a week and 320 points in a month. In three months’ time, she will win her a wii game with 1,000 points. I had some serious calculation, on paper, in fact, to make sure the duration is not too long and not to short and the goal is not too hard or too easy to reach. We had a whole week of working the system with no incidents of whining.

Second. I was listening to her play this morning, with a slower than usual pace. Looking up, I saw her fingers so standing up like never before. It was like over night, she suddenly discovered the proper fingering that the teachers tried so hard to instill on her. She was so natural about it. It was such a surprise. Yet I am not so surprised about the sky opening up suddenly phenomenon. I always ran into this kind of state in my own learning and living.