Little Red Drums

Remember the post where Calvin hopefully anticipated the arrival of his drum set every time the brown truck drove by? Yet no drum set ever came. So Finn packed all of Calvin's toy drums into boxes and staged a delivery:

And then put forth his best effort to make Calvin's dreams come true:

Calvin was very pleased with this set. However, duct tape has its limits ,and before long, Finn's masterpiece crumbled into ruins. And so Calvin still clung to the hope that one day, he too would get a real set, just like his big brother.

And Finn encouraged Calvin's hopes day after day. Every time the brown truck drove by, the boys would work themselves up into a frenzy of excitement. "Gege, your drums are coming", Finn would squeal. And then they would run to the front window and jump up and down. And every cardboard box they saw at every supermarket, contained these alleged drums.

"Please John?" I would ask. "Just a tiny kid set? Calvin's birthday is coming up...look at those big, sad, puppy-dog eyes."

But the answer was always the same. A big fat NO. " We don't need two drum sets in our house" he would say. Understandable.

So you can imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago, John found the perfect little drum set on Craig's List. John finally caved to the sad eyes. Or he couldn't resist the smokin' deal.

On the afternoon of the 11th day of August, I whisked Calvin away to Vons to get his birthday balloons, while John and Finn staged the final brown truck delivery. Anticipation was in the air.

We got home and immediately escorted Calvin to the entry room for his big surprise. He could not believe his eyes, when he opened the boxes and saw real live drums. Both boys went wild. Surely this was Christmas in August. They raced back and forth, putting this new set together. And while Finn's hand-made sets will always hold a special place in my heart, here is the next best thing.

Finally, a set that is proportional to my small boys.

Everyone loves playing these little red drums, even Mr. Canaan--he made a beeline for them the minute he stepped foot through the door, and started tuning them. Throughout Finn's lesson, this little red set came in handy. Sometimes Finn was playing them, other times Cannan was playing them...they did duets and grooves together.

But most importantly, Calvin loves them. He rarely tries to sneak onto Finn's throne anymore. He's completely satisfied with this set. If anything, it's the other way around, and Finn is trying to usurp Calvin's throne, as you can see in these photos!

A tumble weed must have gotten in my camera in this shot above. I prefer to use my imagination and pretend that it's a fisheye.

How's that for cheesy smiles?

Ollie says, "Hey guys, what chord are we playing?"

Wild mashugana!

Ok, next time I need more shots of Calvin. After all, they are his drums:) However, he was in desperate need of a hair cut. And he kept running away. Excuses, excuses.

And now, if I could just get my act together and put my pool table for sale on Craig's list, maybe I will have room in my house for these dueling drummers! Calvin is on first video, Finn is on the second one.