Play me a tune, harmonica man.

The other day Henry up and starts looking for his harmonica, just like that. "I need my harmonica," he says. "Help me look for it." I have things to do (I believe I was peeing, if you must know) so Scott helps him. He hasn't used his harmonica more than twice since he discovered his hands, and I suspect that as soon as he find the harmonica he'll forget what he was going to do with it, but at least the search keeps him busy. Eventually the harmonica is located in his bedside table, next to all the other doodads he hasn't seen since the last time he opened his bedside-table drawer two years ago.

He breathes into the harmonica for a while. It sounds like the harmonica has a disease. Scott runs away. "I need to be alone," Henry tells me. As I flee the environs, he adds, "I'm going to play this tomorrow morning. I'm going to play it very early, before you're awake. I'll be outside playing a tune. So if you're wondering where I am, I'm outside. Playing a tune. " This, mind you, is the first time he's ever mentioned "playing a tune," or being outside in the morning, or being anywhere in the morning. It was an afternoon of firsts, over here.

I could pretend that I was up early the next morning, listening for mournful harmonica wheezes coming from the yard. But I can't lie to you, Internet. I was sleeping. And our front door requires a key to unlock it from the inside, so Henry wasn't going anywhere. Not that he was awake.

I told my friend Wendy this anecdote, adding that I wished I could make it into a blog post but there didn't seem to be a point to it, and she claimed that his lovable eccentricity made it more than enough, so okay then. My work here is done. Thanks, Wendy!

Comments

[tixie]

Hey - it gave me a little oh-man-it's-still-only-4:30-why-won't-the-clock-move chuckle and the awww-factor was quite nice...

cute, sweet little man...

[Domesticated White Trash]

I'm picturing this little man in a poor boy cap, plain pants and a button up shirt...playing his harmonica and singing a tune about the "blues". hahah.

[The Window Seat]

Oohhhh...what if he's a child prodigy in the blues and this is how it all starts? You could be rich! And famous!

I love this story.

[Carrie]

Don't you kinda wish you could see the thought process that led to those announcements?

[suburbancorrespondent]

loveable eccentricity? No wonder people love to hear stories about my husband.

[Kate]

Wendy was correct! That is too funny, and classic Henry!

[Robin]

I think Wendy's on to something. Maybe she's your mentor now.

[dd]

He's got the blues in his soul huh...

Wendy was absolutely correct. Thanks for posting it.

[Lynn in Tucson]

A charming anecdote, for sure (and people have blogged much, much less)!

;-)

[Emily]

What a great story. Henry is an old soul.

[Mignon]

Man, even when harmonicas sound good, they sound bad. Anyway, what makes a kid wanna blow a mournful tune?

[Jenn @ Juggling Life]

Sometimes it's the minutae that means the most.

[MommyTime]

I can totally relate to this because out of nowhere my son started playing the harmonica too -- all incoherent wailing imitating a blues rhythm, punctuated by lyrics of his own devising:

*blow blow blow*
I was wearin' my old shoes
*blow blow blow*
I'm wearin' my NEW shoes now

And so on. For about 1000 verses. I don't know where they come up with such things, but I do love them for it.

[Miss Grace]

My son is oddly in love with his harmonica. Specifically, he likes to take it to bed with him and blow on it until he falls asleep. Except that it makes my ears bleed. So I told him he could only play inside if he played it very, very softly. And now I've managed to blend it into the background noise so that when friends come over and ask me what that bizarre wheezing is, I'm like, "What are you talking about, yo? Oh you mean that melodious genius? That's Gabriel."

[Wendy]

Before you know it, Henry will be regaling you with tunes expressing his time on the open road - the campfire, the horse that dropped its shoe on the Old Cayuga Trail, and the can of beans. (Let's hope that last one is a tune he goes outside to play too)

[Sprite's Keeper]

Eccentricity does not need a point. It just needs to be eccentric. It sounds more like Henry's job is done, which was to inspire this post!

[HouseofJules]

I love posts like this! Henry rocks!
Jules
House of Jules

[Sunny]

My daughter used to play the harmonica too.Now she is a beautiful piano player.Henry sounds like a really cute kid:-)

[neutron]

That's a great little anecdote and a cutie indeed. Thanks for sharing.

[Velma]

One of the nicest things a teacher has said to me this year is that my daughter "really knows who she is." I get the feeling you'll be having some parent/teacher conferences like that, too. :)

[Nora Sawyer]

I'm with Wendy.

[Robin]

Somehow (because Henry always sounds like a pretty remarkable kid) I expected the post to wrap up with you waking to strains of Amazing Grace wafting from under Henry's door. He may not be the next Bob Dylan, but I bet he inherits his mama's gift for writing.

[amanda]

I am always, always, always happy and excited when a Henry adage makes its way into the wider world. He is a precious, startling genius. Anytime you feel so inclined, please allow Henry to speak to us. We are honored.

:)

And also. I will keep reading no matter what you write here. It's the very least I can do to support you during a hard time when you have been gifting us with Henry stories and so much more all this time.

[Sarcastic Mom]

Dang, that Wendy is smart. ;-)

[Steph.]

Hey, you never know where that harmonica talent may come in handle. Just before school ended, I rode bikes with my son to school when we met up with one of his favorite friends from class. The boy got a smile as the two of them watched a busload of some of their friends pull up in front of the school. Suddenly, I noticed his friend whip out a harmonica and he began playing it and stomping his foot as the kids in the bus clapped along. It was the most hilarious thing I've seen in awhile...harmonica bus serenade. HA!

[Pork With Bones]

Dear Alice,

Not everything in life has a point.

These things may still be rare and precious, and worth sharing. I've often felt this to be one of the points of blogging.

Love,

Lou

[sveedish]

Thanks Wendy indeed.

[Kelley]

Boo has taken a shine to the tambourine. Like in the middle of the night. He is getting really good too. Well I can say that in the cold light of day, at night it sounds like my head is exploding.

Maybe they can start a band... bwaaa haaaaa haaaaaa! Not.

[Lori]

I agree with Wendy! His eccentric nature makes the story come to life.

[The Yummy Mummy Cooks Gourmet]

Harmonicas rock!

Note to Henry: You get up early and play that baby real loud for your parents. Knocks 'em right out of bed every time. They'll love it!!!

Kim

[Tara]

Are you kidding? Alice, this is the stuff we come to you for. It's awesome! I think you could turn a 5-minute reading of the phone book into a blog post, somehow, and it would entertain.

And. . . glad to see you out & about more, so to speak. I was worried about you, and didn't know what to say, so I just lurked here and "felt" intensely for you. If that's not totally weird. (((Hugs)))

[C-Rah]

You need to encourage those harmonica-playing skills he's got going there. He could go pro and you'd never have to worry about money ever again. Now wouldn't THAT be something else to blog about?

[lizneust]

I love it! We actually have TWO harmonicas, because my girls fought over the one so much we had to buy a second. They like to have parades and march around the house blowing on the darn things while waving chopsticks in the air (batons, dontcha know). The funny thing is that the little one (2 and half) is starting to be able to play little made-up tunes on it. Nothing recognizable, but purposeful repeated note patterns and rhythms. Maybe Henry will prove to be a harmonica prodigy? Good luck!

[misstraceynolan]

I love harmonica man!

[daisy]

It is a beautiful post. I love those moments when you realize raising kids is sort of like living proof of quantum physics. Little bursts of maturity spring out at you, whole and complete, nonlinear, like little abrupt jumps up the stairs to adulthood.

[Heidi]

I rarely laugh out loud at anything on the Internet (even when all the comments are "LOL!" and "ROFLMAO!") but this cracked me up.

Also, Miss Grace? I almost woke the baby up laughing when you said it makes your ears bleed.

So thanks for two good laughs today. Here's to more eccentric children in the world!

[Deanna]

Are you kidding? That was a great blog post!

[meredith]

That so makes me want to get a harmonica for my girls!

[dianne]

I'm such a Henry fan.

Sounds like he's only months away from black turtlenecks, Gauloises, and existential rants. Love him.

[Lisa C]

What a delightful, fun, precocious child!

[musicmom325]

Every kid should have a harmonica at least once in his life. I remember trying it when I was young. I wanted to be just like my grandpa, but somehow, it didn't quite sound the same.

[jennifer]

Lordy, as if I didn't have a sweety little crush on that Henry already.

[The Cheap Chick]

Well, at least it wasn't a recorder. Or a kazoo.

On a completely unrelated note, a friend of mine can make the kazoo sound without using an actually kazoo. She used to kazoo the happy birthday song to me on my b-day as a special treat.

I know, speaking of odd, non-sequiter anecdotes... It's been a long day.

[StartsWithanX]

Tomorrow you should ask him to help you find your trombone. Just to see what he does. And where he looks.

[ZoeB]

This entry makes me laugh every time I read it. I've come back just to read it again, knowing I'll laugh. Thanks, Alice!

[Dahlia]

Great story! My son has a harmonica too, though he isn't nearly as enthusiastic about it as Henry is!

[Mom101]

I don't know if it's even eccentric. I think it's just...five. Five doesn't always make sense to we boring, staid adults, but it makes perfect sense to five.

Lovely.

[Dorothy Stahlnecker]

I found you from Mighty Girl blog log. I use always tease my daughter who has 7 children....I'm going to buy drums and other loud instruments to give my grand children...so you'll remember how crazy you made me. Of course, I never did...however you made me remember I threatened.

Nice blog.

Dorothy from grammology
remember to call gram
grammology.com

[Ashlee]

Very cute story! It reminded me of the harmonica my brother had when we were younger. He wrote a song called "He's a Victim" that he would play for the family many, many times a day. I think we were all victims.