Saturday, March 1, 2008

Do babies really like this stuff?

I am upstairs in the office uploading lullabys and singalongs to iTunes. So far I have input the CD’s “Lullaby Classics” and “Playdate Fun” from Baby Einstein and “Loving Lullabies: 15 Christian Instrumentals” from Cedermont Baby.

“Why on earth are you doing that?” you may ask. I am doing it for two reasons. First, because there is a lot of research that says childrens brains are stimulated by music. Max has an iPod player in his bedroom and I want to fill it with soothing, happy songs. Second, because I do not remember any children songs and I have failed miserably at singing to my son.

Max is becoming very aware of his surroundings. He watches everything and likes to “talk” and interact with people. When you talk and sing to him he becomes very animated. He smiles and coos and kicks his legs. “Great” I thought “I’ll sing him some kiddy songs”.

So I start the first verse of “I’m a Little Teapot”. Now picture this in your head. Max is laying on a blanket on the floor looking up at me. I begin the song “I’m a little teapot, short and stout…” I am doing the arm motions and everything. I get to “here is my handle, here is my spout” and forget the rest. Of course, Max is a baby and he could care less that I am singing “something, something, something, blah, blah, blah”

At that very moment I could hardly remember the words to any song, let alone, one appropriate to sing to my baby boy. I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I can just imagine the look on Shannon’s face if she heard me singing “Breaking the Law” by Judas Priest to my impressionable son. I fumbled through the song and entertained Max for the next few minutes. I vowed to be more prepared for my next performance.

So here I sit learning the words to “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Pop goes the Weasel”. This kids stuff is okay. I am determined to work in The Beatles, Stones and maybe some Led Zeppelin too.

A baby can fall asleep listening to U2’s “Joshua Tree” right?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Dan and Shannon

I cannot even express how much joy and happiness your blog has been bringing to me (us-Uncle Ed and I)
It has really been fun to read and showed what a great sense of family you have become. Like we said before, Max is such a lucky baby. We cannot wait until we come in April to see "ya all" especially Max.

See you soon

Love Aunt Mari and Uncle Eddie

Anonymous said...

Oh goodness, I can just see you singing the teapot song! lol If it makes you feel any better, I don't know any children's songs either. But I think it's great that you are exposing him to lots of different things, including music.

~Amanda