From the ridiculous to the sublime!

There has actually been a lot happening lately and I've written this post many times over in my head already!

I had intended to blog about our latest achievement individually - and so much has happened which has superseded it in many way but I think W's latest achievement does deserve space all of it's own and so I will simply write posts over a few days instead :-)

W learns the piano. He has done for about 4 years now. He enjoys it and finds it very relaxing and, like many things in his life - he's very single-minded about it, often practicing 3 times a day.
I do wonder if part of this impressive practice schedule is also an escape thing - the sound of the piano, in a quiet corner of downstairs, cancels out the ructions of N and T!

W recently sat his Grade 1 Trinity Hall piano exam (having done preliminary Grade last year) and so we were expecting his results a bit before Christmas.

He did very well last year - getting a Merit award with 86%. This was exceptional considering he was really sick that day - he got out of bed to go to the exam and went straight back to bed as soon as he got home! Added to that he'd only been out of plaster for about 3 weeks having broken his arm at his birthday party earlier.
So I'd quietly wondered how he'd done if so much hadn't been against him that day while celebrating his magnificent result!

This year he announced he was going to get a Distinction pass as he'd already got a Merit.
Okay - good to have aims and I knew he'd do the work but wondered how he'd do and what would happen if he didn't get that result.

He suddenly stopped practicing anywhere near so much in the few weeks before the exam and I got a little concerned. His view was he had the pieces perfectly and so once a day/every few days was all he needed.
So I talked to his teacher, figuring that she'd know where he was actually at and maybe I was fretting for naught. Her advice was that, yes, his set pieces and scales etc were great but that he could just play through old books to work on sight reading. So I passed this on to W - who disregarded the advice as children do. He knew his pieces were fine and he was going to get a Distinction - okaaayyy.

The day came to sit the exam and W went silent and sweaty and whitish. I'd have worried except I know that's his 'I'm petrified' thing and actually the best thing to do is leave him alone so he and I travelled in with the radio on for mild distraction and to stop my urge to talk, reassure and sympathise.

He came out from the exam and I knew from the way he was moving something was wrong.
My heart plummeted - I knew I should have got on him to practice more, knew I should have tried to mitigate his aims and maybe set his target lower, should have been more supportive.

He was devastated, convinced he'd totally thrown the exam. He said his fingers had slipped on some keys and run a few notes together in one of his set pieces, didn't think he'd done well in another and had panicked during another set piece and struggled to keep himself under control because the examiner had told him off for not waiting for her to say go because she did exactly what she had at the start of the first piece so he thought she'd meant start. He was also convinced he had totally messed up all the sight reading.

All the way home he conducted a grim post mortem of all his possible errors, speculating on his potential marks and telling me how hopeless it all was. I kept telling him the time for a post mortem was when you had the report in your hand, there was nothing which could be done now and to try and put it out of his head until he knew how it had really gone.
He was miserable for 3 or 4 days and barely touched the piano.
He slowly worked his way out of his funk and thankfully he didn't have too long to wait to get his results.

The day they were due I briefly contemplated commenting that this was results day - and decided not to!
Then that morning the phone rang - it was his teacher who couldn't wait until his lesson that day to give him his results which had just arrived in that morning's mail.

W had got 95% and achieved a High Distinction pass grade!
He got full marks on all 3 of his set pieces and only lost 1 mark for scales and 4 marks on the sight reading - which he had clearly struggled with as per his gloomy immediately post exam report - but only struggled a little.

Sheer joy beamed from W's face - not something we see that often!
So excited he jumped in the air and kept dancing around - and then ran downstairs to tell his father.
A huge beam was over his face all the rest of the day and well into the next - as it was for all of us.

This is a fantastic achievement for any child - and as W pointed out, to improve his marks by 9 again next year he will need to get 104% - a little difficult I think my dear!

After his lesson we stopped off at the supermarket and bought items for a special celebration dinner to mark his wonderful result.

A couple of days later he and I were chatting and he brought up some concerns about muscle weakness and pain on his right side - arm and leg. I was explaining to him that it's something to watch and be aware of but not unexpected due to his very mild right sided probable CP. I reminded him of all the stretching and exercise we had to do for him when he was little and how he barely used his right arm aged 2 1/2 but kept it curled up to his chest. He talked about what he remembered of the physio and OT sessions he had for over 2 years and I told him he was still learning how to use that hand better in OT aged 4 years.
His comment then was to express his own surprise at how well he can play the piano now then.

That's right sweetheart - it's hard work that's got you there, first off mostly ours but later mostly and then all yours.

And that's why the grin of pride in his success is all the brighter. 95% is fantastic for any kid but for W it is simply awesome - in the full sense of the word!