Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
Tate has a love for music.  Anytime he hears a beat he automatically starts dancing or moving a part of his body.  I remember he was very active in utero while I listened to music. Recently, I signed Tate up for a music class because I thought he would be stimulated by all the sounds.  Also, it would be a great one on one activity for the two of us.  Our class meets once a week for 45 minutes and lasts until mid May.  The program offers many different classes for different age groups and is held at a local church.  Our class met for the first time today.  Tate left quite an impression on the other children (and parents).

We were one of the first to arrive to the class room.  There were several egg shaped “maracas” sitting in a basket.  Tate decided he was going to shake them uncontrollably and hand them to each child that walked in the room.  I was so happy to see him share since we have been having some trouble with that.  As we sat in a circle the teacher introduced herself and each parent introduced themselves and their child.  We started singing a few songs, first fast and then slow.  We used several different instruments as well body movements.  Tate loved to shake the loud bells and bang the wooden sticks together.  He found it funny to show the class his hilarious dance moves during every song.  The other parents got a chuckle from Tate’s personality.  It was cute, but exhausting trying to keep him grounded during certain activities.

Tate and I had a great class together.  He really enjoyed the class as he was running, clapping, stomping, and dancing to every beat.  Although I was a little stressed out trying to  at least be near him while we did our activities, I quickly realized how much fun he was having and that’s all that matters.  I noticed Tate doing things that I had no idea he could do.  He was saying new words and repeating different sounds with an instrument back to the teacher.  I look forward to our time in music class together again next week as well as what new moves Tate has up his sleeve.

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
Some evenings before bath time we have a dance party.  It helps in several ways.  For example, if someone is having a tantrum it disappears immediately, and it burns large amounts of energy which leads to sleepy kids. Both of my boys love music.  I can remember when Jack was just a few months old he would move his arms or kick his feet to the beat.  Now at age four he still loves to dance and show us his moves.  Tate, on the other hand, seems to be obsessed with music.  Whether it’s in the car, at home or in the grocery store, he drops everything he is doing and shakes a part of his body.  I crack up laughing every time.

Hearing different types of music intrigues both Jack and Tate.  Tate will move slowly or fast depending on the beat, and Jack is starting to learn the sound of different instruments.  He recognizes the trumpet, saxophone, guitar and drums, of course.  Jack will even get out his toy instruments and pretend he is part of the band.  He even tries to teach Tate how to do the air guitar.

Ironically, as I sit here and type, both Jack and Tate are making some unpleasant sounds.  Time for a dance party!

Andrew loves music. It doesn’t really matter what kind. Some of his favorite “songs” are actually commercials! But whenever one of his favorites comes on, he stops whatever he’s doing, bursts into a huge grin and bops along to the tunes.

In the car, he loves to play backseat DJ, and he has very clear preferences. He’ll loudly yell “NEXT!” when the song isn’t to his liking or “AGAIN!” when he wants to hear “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” for the hundredth consecutive time.

He will excitedly point to my laptop and ask to listen to “The Wheels on the Bus” (repeatedly – who knew there were so many different versions of the song?). We make up our own lyrics to the song too. Did you know that sometimes there’s a cookie on Andrew’s bus? It goes “mmmm…” (Don’t ask – we were both in a silly mood that night.) Andrew makes up a lot of his own lyrics to songs. Some of them even make sense. Even when they don’t, it’s still fun to watch him excitedly belt out a tune.

Last night Andrew did not want to go to sleep. I tried holding him while he fought closing his eyes. Hubby tried holding Andrew, thinking maybe he had the magic touch that night. Finally, I ended upstairs in Andrew’s room rubbing his back and singing him to sleep.

It’s always the same song – Kenny Loggins’ “House at Pooh Corner.” My dad used to sing me that song every night when I was little. It was the song we danced to for the father-daughter dance at my wedding. Now it’s what I sing to Andrew.

As I finished the song, Andrew’s heavy eyelids slowly lowered and he let out a content sigh. He fell asleep holding my hand with a smile on his face that mirrored my own. I love those moments with my music man.