Wednesday, January 21, 2009

My hero

For Christmas my in-laws gave us a Wii and the Fit. Also for Christmas, my parents gave us Guitar Hero World Tour, with 2 guitars. Their family (which still houses all four of my siblings, ages 7-20) received GHWT with all the bits. You know, microphone, drums and both guitars. Needless to say, it was one of the most fun Christmas days ever!

My son, 7 years old, was unsure about the whole thing. He is so self conscious about everything that it has taken Dustin and I YEARS to get him to stop racing from the room, in tears, from embarrassment. So, getting him to participate in the GH festivities was a time consuming process. He started with the drums. Then tried a guitar. But really, he was so frustrated at his inabilities that he refused to play more, until he could practice at home. So, in desperation, I tried the last bit. The microphone. But he was hesitant, so I said I would sing with him. The boys (because, in my family there are a lot of them) chose Linkin Park's song, What I've Done.

A side note: You know how I said I was nerdy? Well, my whole family is, meaning husband, son and daughter. We love movies and specifically superhero, fantasy, sci-fi, action. So this song? Yeah, it is THE closing song for Transformers (which if you have not seen, you should do so before you do anything else, ever). My whole family loves Transformers. But my son LOVES Transformers.

So the music comes on, and he goes all, "Hey, I know this song....." As the lyrics come across the screen, I begin to sing into the microphone he is holding. He starts to warm up to it. Reads the words (OMG!! He is reading the words without trouble!!!!) and then, suddenly, with the crescendo of the chorus, goes all rock star on me! He is totally belting out the words, head banging and adding dance moves during the guitar solo, hogging the mic! RAD!

My grandma, who was watching the whole thing called me over to tell me how proud of him she was. That she knows he is unsure of himself but that she is so happy we work hard to pull him out of his shell.

And wouldn't you know it? He kept on trying other instruments for the rest of the evening.

4 comments:

  1. That's fantastic for Jesse! Sometimes all it takes is one little success to make them want to succeed at other things, too.

    In the words of my cousin-in-law after a horrifying rendition on a Karaoke stage, "Sometimes you've just got to be a fool."

    Amen.

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  2. Want. to. see. So bad. Your son is so amazingly cool. Maybe he gets it from his parents? Or his mom, at least?

    And speaking of karaoke, Jami and Erin, I think there needs to be some girls' night karaoke sometime. Because I will sing (badly) in public and I will love it. :)

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  3. I think it is especially terrifying to try things like that for the first time in front of family. When I've got friends over to our place (We're Rock Band folk) I don't mind taking the mic. But when we get together for the holidays at my parents' and my siblings bring GHWT, I find that for some reason singing in front of family is much more intimidating than singing with my peers.

    Also, once Jesse gets a few sessions of playing the guitar parts with nobody watching, he's gonna turn into an animal.

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  4. I love it. Love, love, love it. Can't wait to see this! Can't wait till our kids are old enough we can do this at Mom's group!!!!!!!

    Also - I'm up for some karaoke (following much alcohol, or I'll just dance for ya). :-D

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You have my undivided attention.