It's More Than an Accordion

First, did anyone else grow up with an accordion in their house? No? Just me (and my brother I suppose). My grandparents enjoyed polka music, so at some point a junior accordion made its way to our house, which I was supposed to learn how to play because I was the musically talented one. (Not quite, but my parents were still proud of me.) I also received a toy accordion that fits into your hands to play as a gift, which was rediscovered by AJ during one of our recent visits to the family farm.

AJ loved the accordion and monopolized the use of the accordion that visit, but Teddy got his turn when we were there for Thanksgiving. He thought it was the coolest thing that he could make music with it and did quite well, as you can see in this video.

What floors me, though, isn't Ted's ability to play the accordion. It's the fact that he gets into a standing position while holding the accordion with both hands, which means he didn't use anything other than his core and other muscles to stabilize himself as he stood from the floor. I watched the video several times just amazed at how easy he made it look, when in reality that's as challenging as most people doing backflips. Heck, Sunday night I couldn't even do that! (Granted I had run 13.1 miles that day, but still ...)

Those little things catch you and show you the tremendous progress that Teddy has made. With his sheer determination and effort, I have no doubt he'll continue to amaze us (and drive us crazy at the same time.)

And, yes, I already bought him a toy accordion like the one in the video for Christmas. His grandparents are giving it to him because that feels better than us giving him such an obnoxious toy.