Mozart in the Making

Alexis loves to play the piano. We were fortunate to figure this out probably about a year ago. As such, she has quite the little toy piano collection. There is one in the living room, one in her room, one in our room, and a couple of small ones scattered in her various toy boxes. Every one of them is a little electronic number which makes it very difficult for her to play a "bad" song.

I have learned that I should really appreciate those little programmed numbers. A few days ago, she and I were wandering around TJ Maxx. We ended up in the toy section (imagine that) where she discovered the Mother of All Pianos. It was a miniature Baldwin. It was bright red and looked exactly like a grand piano, just in a very small, just right for Alexis, size. And it sounded like a real piano. One key was even a little bit out of tune. Baby girl was in heaven. She sat down in front of the piano, arched her fingers just right, and started pounding away. The worker two aisles over laughed as she played and played and played that little piano. I gave her about five minutes, then tried to divert her over to the books. After all, the piano was $40. A book is $5. She looked at a few little novels then discarded them in a flurry as she ran back to her beloved piano. She sat down and played some more. The worker two aisles over chuckled a bit, but his laughter was certainly not as heartfelt this time around. And by the tenth time I tried to drag her away from the piano that she loved -oh- so much, he wasn't laughing any more. In fact, I think he may have been crying just a little bit, as were the other 30 or so people in the store. The thing was really loud. And she's really not very good.

The piano stayed at the store that day. I think about it from time to time as I imagine the joy that would light up Alexis' face if I were to purchase the greatest piano ever. But then I remember that it would end up one of two ways: 1) She would get bored of it the instant it entered the house and she would never touch it again. 2) She would love it forever and ever and never stop playing it. I fear number 2 is the more likely option and I think that may be the most painful outcome I can imagine. So, TJ Maxx, take care of Alexis' little piano. We will likely come to visit it once in a while, so make sure to get your staff each a set of earplugs.