Outside the Roland Park Starbucks the other day, a Kind Woman - the sort who appears in Curious George books - peered admiringly into our stroller and said, What long fingers! She'll be a pianist.
Cleo does have long fingers (and toes); in fact, that was pretty much the first thing that I noticed about her, after birth. And, yes, it does mean that she shares, for now, one trait with pianists such as Rachmaninoff, whose hands - pictured above - could allegedly span a thirteenth. On the other hand, when it comes to the piano, it's clear that biology is not destiny: the well-regarded Spanish pianist Alicia De Larrocha, who is roughly 4 foot 6, can only span a ninth with difficulty.
Regardless, though, what struck me about the Kind Woman's comment was the implicit desire to predict a child's future. L and I have been enjoying a book called Crib Notes of late: a collection of statistics, tables, and facts related to parenting, it includes several traditional ways to predict the sex of an unborn child, some of which I now wish we'd explored. How does the expectant mother pick up a key? If by the round end, it'll be a boy. By the long end, and you'll have a girl.
And so on. What color will the child's eyes become? What will her first word be? It's all common grounds for speculation, and, really, I understand: speculation is interesting. But there are times, too, when it seems enough to simply remain in the moment. As I'd noted on Saturday, these first few months pass quickly enough, without our trying to hasten their passage.
Cleo does have long fingers (and toes); in fact, that was pretty much the first thing that I noticed about her, after birth. And, yes, it does mean that she shares, for now, one trait with pianists such as Rachmaninoff, whose hands - pictured above - could allegedly span a thirteenth. On the other hand, when it comes to the piano, it's clear that biology is not destiny: the well-regarded Spanish pianist Alicia De Larrocha, who is roughly 4 foot 6, can only span a ninth with difficulty.
Regardless, though, what struck me about the Kind Woman's comment was the implicit desire to predict a child's future. L and I have been enjoying a book called Crib Notes of late: a collection of statistics, tables, and facts related to parenting, it includes several traditional ways to predict the sex of an unborn child, some of which I now wish we'd explored. How does the expectant mother pick up a key? If by the round end, it'll be a boy. By the long end, and you'll have a girl.
And so on. What color will the child's eyes become? What will her first word be? It's all common grounds for speculation, and, really, I understand: speculation is interesting. But there are times, too, when it seems enough to simply remain in the moment. As I'd noted on Saturday, these first few months pass quickly enough, without our trying to hasten their passage.
So, yes, she may learn to play the piano, in time. Or she may not. L might have grabbed a key by the stem, or might not have. But all that really matters, right now, is that Cleo is a little girl with long fingers.
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Long fingers also make for a great guitarist (ever seen Jimi Hendrix's fingers?). She could also be a great curve- or knuckleballer. Or perhaps a jeweler...
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