My First Piano Lesson of the Year

I nervously entered my piano teacher's house. My knees shook. I hadn't had a piano lesson for ages because of the long summer holidays. Would I have done enough practise? Would she say I had gone backwards?

"Hello!" my teacher said smiling at me and Charlotte. "Who will have the first lesson?" I didn't know if I wanted to get it over and done with or leave it as long as possible. Luckily I didn't have to choose.

"I think I will teach you first, Sophie," Christine decided. I took a deep breath and followed her into the music room.

I started on my scales, being very careful to get them all right. Christine tapped her fingers to help me keep the same pace. A few times she made me repeat a scale until I got it perfect.

Once I was finished with my scales I started on my exam pieces. My forehead furrowed in concentration. Imogen had helped me out with one of them over the holidays, so I wasn't really worried about it, but the others I had been practising on my own.

"That was really nice," Christine said as I finished one of my pieces. "I can tell you really enjoy that piece."

I sighed with relief. I did enjoy it a lot. It is really fun to play.

When my lesson was finished, I walked out and grinned at Charlotte. She smiled at me and walked into the music room for her lesson. I settled down on the sofa with my book to wait.

Later Christine walked us to the front door. We said goodbye and rushed over to the car where Mum and Imogen were waiting to pick us up.

"How did it go?" Mum asked.

"Great!" I said.

"Christine said we did wonderfully," Charlotte agreed.

The grin didn't leave my face the whole way home. I was so happy.

When I was Little

Me when I was little

I remember when I was small. I used to follow the big girls around, always wanting to be one of them. They often let me join in with their games.

Imogen would invent some wonderful games. She would be an inn keeper and we used to be people staying at the inn. Most of the game was spent making the inn. We would take our dress ups and go and fill skirts with pine needles for pillows and big dresses for blankets.

Another game we liked was being on a ship. Whenever we went to the park, the play equipment turned into the ship and I would grab the telescope and Charlotte the wheel or Imogen. They often swapped jobs. Sometimes Charlotte was a crazy cook that put nails in the soup or tyres in the bread. Don't ask me where she thought she would find them out at sea!

On rainy days we had to play indoors. Imogen had some wonderful ideas for those games as well. We would play school and libraries. I enjoyed the school games. Imogen was a wonderful teacher.

We had a lot of Little People and we played some games which went on for days at a time. I remember I often got the people Imogen and Charlotte didn't want.

I love my big sisters. They never left me out and they always let me be one of them. Do you have sisters like mine?

Special Charlotte

Charlotte is my wonderful big sister! 

She is a great artist. She draws excellent dragons and princesses. I sometimes wish I could draw like her. 

Charlotte enjoys reading. She is a bookworm. She reads everything from fantasy to history. She enjoys helping me find books at the library. I really appreciate it when she does that. It is so hard to know whether a book is good or not.

Charlotte is a wonderful story writer. She writes fantasy novels. She inspires me to keep writing even when my novel isn't going too well.

Charlotte often knits me toys. She is always helping me with my knitting too. The toys Charlotte makes me are so special. 

Charlotte loves chemistry. She is always making crystal models and watching movies on the elements of the periodic table. She used to teach me and Gemma-Rose some chemistry as well. I never knew much about it until Charlotte started to have an interest in it. Now I am interested in it too.

Charlotte always takes an interest in what I am doing. She is always finding names for characters in the books I am writing, helping me think up story lines for a new story, helping me out when she notices I am having problems with my piano and a lot of other things.

I love my Charlotte. She is very special!