Speculative Speculations

Apparently the lesson today didn't go terribly well. When I get home, the Maestro probably won't want to talk about it, and Riley will want to talk about it a lot.

Some speculative speculations on my part have to do with something that happened on Sunday. We stopped by Hildegard's apartment for something non-lesson related, and he didn't realize that he wasn't getting a lesson. It was late, he'd had a long day, and he didn't handle the disappointment very well. As we drove home, he talked about not getting to have cello lessons anymore. I think he associated it with the time he was told that the Teacher didn't want to teach kitties anymore, and he had to go home without getting a lesson. We talked to him about how much Hildegard likes being the Teacher, and how she tells all of her friends about him. He seemed to agree, but perhaps he wasn't convinced. The last time he felt threatened with not having lessons anymore, he got a mini-lesson a couple of days later where he successfully demonstrated his bows for the first time. It was all positive, and didn't threaten his competance at all, because they stopped there. Maybe a short lesson to build his confidence in himself, and in his relationship with the Teacher would have gone better today? I'm not sure that any of us needed to have predicted that.

The other theory I have to consider is that he hates being pushed. One time recently I wanted him to use the toilet before we went somewhere, and he didn't want to. After "encouraging" him, he looked at me and said "Dad, don't push me. You remember the last time you were pushing me, and I said 'Don't push me!'?" Trying to get him to do 10 bowholds a day, which of course he isn't going to want to do, may have made him feel pushed. His natural response to that is passive; he simply stops doing what you want. Hopping like a frog is new, however.

He's really making good progress, and could have his real bow by next week, as I understand it, if we can get this figured out.