Tr-O(y)-rphee

Well, most of you will think that what I am going to write here is the fruit of my imagination, which is OK ( I mean to think that). However, trust me, my imagination stayed out of it.

Yesterday morning I played a couple of pieces from Orphee to Troy while we were driving. As soon as he heard the end of Laissez-vous toucher, he started singing in his usual way, except that it sounded a lot like he was copying Juan Diego's singing. So I told myself: Nah - impossible. Who could ever copy that? Never mind. He is just singing like he always does.

In the afternoon mom and I went shopping and of course, brought Troy with us. Because my mom loves classical music as much as I do, I could not wait to brag my new CD to her and play all the best pieces. When it came to the end of Laissez-vous toucher, it sounded like Troy started copying that singing again.

So I told myself - I am not saying a word. Let me see if mom will notice anything. As soon as I thought that, mom said : "Look what he is doing - he is trying to sing it, and it sounds like it too."

So she heard that.

A friend of mine used to be a children's psychologist back in Russia. I told her this and said that I understand that she might not believe it. She said that it's not that unbelievable and that quite often toddlers amaze us by doing very complicated things just because they do not realize how complicated those things are. She also said that the role of a parent is to pay close attention to those things and develop their children in those directions.

Today, not for the first time, we were reading the Orphee et Eurydice book (which, as you may remember, means me telling it to Troy in fewer and simpler words and matching pictures with aria pieces sung in my own kitchen-level way). It works great though: I sing quietly and hit all the right notes, and he likes it. It's very interactive, game-like and educational.