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It's always fun how kids combine things that were not really expected to be blended.

Melanie really enjoys yoga, and it's something she shares with the girls. Claire loves going to the kids yoga classes when Melanie goes for a session. Ella follows along, and can do a few of the poses really well.

Her favorite is either the tree pose or downward dog. It's unclear, but she does them both randomly.

Ella started violin lessons in early October. One of the first things you learn to do is to stand correctly with your feet on a mat with outlines of three different foot positions drawn on it. They are feet together, zip (separate the toes by a few inches), then step (step forward with the left foot).

This is a good grounded stance for playing the instrument.

But Ella is more interested in jumping. She will zip, step, and hop. And hop a little more.

During a recent practice session I asked her to stop jumping around and to stand firm, like a tree.

She looked at me, gingerly put down her violin, placed her hands above her head with palms touching, lifted one leg up and placed the raised foot against the side of her other leg and stood there proudly. It was, I must admit, a very well done yoga tree pose.