I took Sullivan over to Brentwood Park today. It is our new favorite hang out. They have a wonderful playscape area, a giant sandbox, swings, lots of shade, a basketball court that he loves, and there are always kids his age to play with and moms for me to connect with. We pack our lunch and eat with the other kids at the picnic table or in the grass. He thinks that is cool and for some reason as soon as we get out of the car and walk over to the park he asks for a snack….like is the only thing he associates most with the park. Well today it was a really warm day and I let him play in the sun for a bit but he is such a warm blooded light skinned kid that after 20 minutes out in the heat his head was soaked and he was beat red all over. I hated to call him over to the shade as he was so engrossed in his rock activity. Picking up small stones from one pile and taking them over to the metal steps and back and forth with soo much precision and care. But I enticed him over for a little snack on the grass and he gladdly followed once he saw the buffet that I layed out for him (cheddar cheese pieces, blueberries, peanut butter and cinnamon sugar toast slices, crackers and pretzels, and of course his green machine juice). He ate and pulled grass and tasted weeds and drummed with sticks while he casually grazed until he say the first piece of trash. We can not have trash at the park thank you very much. Another favorite activity of Sullivan’s at the park is trash pick up. He saw me put some trash in their big stone containers and has been obsessed with finding as many things as he can to throw into the containers as possible. We always leave Brentwood Park much cleaner than when we get there.

Sullivan is all about the A, B, C’s and 1, 2, 3’s these days. Whenever he sees writing he yells out “A,B,C’s, A,B,C’s”. And to our surprise he actually can recognize the correct letters at times. The other day we were in the car and he yelled out “O” and sure enough we looked around the there was a sign that had a great big “O”. Damon bought him a big tub of foam letters that he loves to play with now. He doesn’t always get them right but he is just so excited about learning them and exploring with them. He even knows the melody of the A,B,C song and tries to sing along with me now….of course some of the letters get mumbled together like L,M,N,O,P sounds more like emenemopee.
He also likes to try and count things. When we were at the park the other day there was a giant bead counter on one of the playscapes and he tried to count each one. Not in order but all the numbers were there. Just like the time he walked up all the stairs at the UT building the other day. I had to run an errand and he wanted to climb the stairs himself and as he walked up he said, “one, too, tree, fur, ive, ixs, even, ate, nine…..then he got lost at 10 so went back to 1,2,3.

Music is such a big part of our world here at the house. As much as I originally whined about Damon taking up a quarter of the playroom with all of his drums and drum accessories I really can’t imagine it any other way now. Damon and Sullivan have Jam out Sessions all the time back there. As soon as Sullivan hears daddy begin his tapping rhythms Sullivan runs through the house to find me. Where ever I am in the house I always know when Sullivan wants a full family dance party. He runs in gabbering on about coming back to dance and play with him. Daddy plays the drums and Sullivan and I play all the rest of the instruments (and dance of course). He often asks me to play the toy electric guitar which I love to do…the only time I am the preferred musician. Great since I don’t play any instruments at all. Damon has created several Sullivan drum themes…..One is for the cowboy hat. It has a kind of Lone Ranger/Indian feel to it. Whenever Sullivan puts on the cowboy hat Damon strikes up that tune or vica versa…whenever Damon plays that tune he goes and finds his hat. We also have the hip hop rhythm and the rock out rhythm and the funky rhythm which is my favorite. Sullivan also likes to count off Damon’s jam session….with drum sticks in hand he waves them around like a conductor and counts 2,3,4 and then of course Damon begins to play. We have lots of musical fun over here at the house. Here are pictures of the last jam session. Right before nap time….Daddy came home from some meetings and he led a rowdy time to tucker Sullivan out before nap. As you can see Sullivan takes all of this very serious.

The Biscuit Brothers performed with the Austin Symphony Orchestra tonight and Sullivan and Granddaddy Jerry came along. The show was part of their annual children’s music concert. They expanded the program this year to include several guest artists to kick off and celebrate the symphony’s new home at the Long Center for the Performing Arts. The symphony did a short concert first then the Biscuits joined in for the last half. The whole evening was thrilling, a career highlight for me. Grand dad Jerry came down with us so Sullivan could enjoy the show as well. We got there early for sound check and Sullivan had a chance to explore the new stage and tour around and see the instruments (that is him in front of the big tympany drum that he calls a Bum). It was cute seeing him react to all the musicians warming up. Orchestra members would arrive, unpack their instrument and go set up on stage and as soon as he heard their instrument he would run to the stage calling out what instrument he heard (he has learned them all through the countless instrument of the day segments on the Biscuit Brothers)….so when he heard the Clarinet from backstage he ran out saying “net, net” and when he saw the Tuba being unpacked he ran to it saying “horn…Milk” cause Buttermilk plays the Tuba on the show.
Jerry said that Sullivan was his quiet attentive self during the show. Damon and I were a little teary backstage during the opening song “Fan Fare for the Common Man”…..realizing that we were missing seeing Sullivan experience his first symphony but Allen reminded me that at least we can say that his first visit to the symphony was to see his parents perform. It was a THRILL for sure being on that stage and singing with an orchestra but I also would have loved to see Sullivan’s reactions first hand. But so glad his Granddaddy got to be there to enjoy it….said it reminded him a lot of Damon’s first trip to the Dallas Symphony. Wish we could have gotten more pictures and a video of the night but hopefully there will be many more shows like this with the ASO and around the country with other orchestra’s.