Songbird vs. Saxaphone

Its hard to believe that school has been in over a month now. Kacey has 3 favorite classes...okay maybe 4. She absolutely adores one teacher that she has and she is in his class for Science and Intervention. We hesitated putting her in an Intervention class but it's been GREAT for her. Instead of having her take gym for 45 minutes every day, we had the chance to put her in a class that would be used to help her catch up on missed work for all the time she might miss from class for being sick or leaving school due to diabetes. I tossed the decision back and forth but eventually I knew I made the right choice because when she started missing time for being sick, she was able to catch up much faster than she would have otherwise. So...back to this teacher. I don't know what it is about him but she comes home talking about him every day. This is the first time since 1st grade that she's had a man teacher and she just LOVES his class. So Science and Intervention...the other two classes....CHORUS and BAND! I was excited to see that she had both classes at the same time...and so was she!

Let's start with Chorus...
It's another man teacher and he is so soft spoken and has an amazing personality! He and Kacey hit it off right away. Kacey has always been a "singer". She sings all the time....while doing things around the house...while in the shower....while riding her bike. She is always making up silly songs. So when she found out there would be tryouts for the Festival Chorus, she knew right away she wanted to do it! Three weeks ago, she tried out against over 80 other kids. Only 40 would be chosen....yikes! Two days later, we found out...SHE MADE IT!!! So this meant another commitment of staying afterschool EVERY Tues from 2:30-4:30pm for practice. I talked with the teacher and he didn't mind me hanging around to "help". So now I've brought a new title on myself..."Festival Chorus Mom"...haha! I organized the snacks for the weeks coming and just hang around and play "Pancreas" in the meantime. It's been AMAZING to watch these kids. There are some really good singers in the group and their harmonies are wonderful. So now, Kacey is singing like she always has but she's singing the songs for the upcoming concert in December.

Now onto Band...
She's begged me to play the saxaphone for the last 3 years. She begged her music teacher in elementary school to let her play any instrument she could get her hands on. By 5th grade, they finally allowed them to use recorders. She brought it home every day and practiced until she could finally play a tune. But...she wanted MORE! So when it finally came time to choose her classes, I knew Band would be at the top of the list and the saxaphone would be in that number one spot to choose. And...it was! It turns out...the only instrument she could get music out of was the sax! Go figure! So we got her instrument and the first night she brought it home, she sat down on the couch, put it together and started to blow. A beautiful sound came out of it and we all smiled. It's only been 3 weeks but she practices every single night and she has memorized 2 songs, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Mary Had A Little Lamb". She took her first test last week on the first song and her teacher asked her to get her book out and she replied, "I don't need it!" and puzzled her teacher asked "Why?" to which she responded, "Because I memorized it!" LOL! The teacher asked her to recite the notes and she spit them out like she'd known them forever and her teacher was so surprised! She did wonderful on her test! Today she has another test. Again, she has those notes memorized and she's practiced hard over the last week. Her goal....MARCHING BAND! She knows she can play and now she wants to play while she walks and it's been all she can do to NOT stand while she is playing! I know it won't be long and she will be marching around the house playing. And you know what....I am blessed to be able to hear it and watch her grow :) (and yes, I keep the Motrin handy...LOL!)

I am the momma of a songbird AND a sax player :) This week I am hoping to make a video of her playing so I can share it with you all.

So how does diabetes relate in all of this? Well there are days she is high and she feels crappy but she still finds joy in singing. It soothes her. And there are days her fingers hurt so bad because she's tested on them so much but she has so much drive to play that sax and play it good that she pushes through the pain to press those keys. She rocks it and....DIABETES WILL NOT WIN!