1000 bow holds

"Are you keeping track of your bow holds?"

My son's new expensive violin teacher asked him on his second lesson.

"No" was his reply.

She then explained how important it was to keep tack because once a student reaches 1000 bow holds your name goes up on the yellow sheet of paper she has hanging in her studio. He didn't look too excited, but when she mentioned that parents sometimes like to give some incentive like a popcorn party to encourage their kids, I saw the wheels turning in his little red headed head.

Mini Ninjas has been the nagging request as of late. They have the cash to buy it, it's rated 'E' it's the latest game for the Wii (hard to find in stores even), and the parents in our household have told them that another video game would be valued as much as a hole in all of our heads at this point. "No" had been the answer for a few days now. Much to everyones dis-belief. That's right "NO."

So we made a deal, when both of the violin students in the house made it to 1000 correct bow holds that Mini Ninjas would be theirs for the buying (with their own money).

I thought it would take a month, maybe two. Well two days, and lots of circling the floor in our basement later we have 1000 holds under our belts (x2 both boys did it together). Little Boy was sporting a blister on his thumb for a day. The teacher was stunned! I was proud, and mini ninjas has been a distraction from practicing ever since.

In fact, dare I admit this on the blog? We actually went out for about an hour, with the entire family belted in the van, lost in the hot momentum of pursuing the Best Buy in town that had this game in stock! When upon our arrival at home we realized a sad fact. Big Boy's group lesson had been about 30 minutes ago and we'd forgotten to attend. Sigh!