Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Friday Mom – Erin:
We attended a children’s concert by some talented LA musicians last weekend.  The singers–a quirky hipsteresque couple with a real knack for entrancing toddlers–went to college with some friends of ours and were in town for a few other gigs.  We were fortunate to be included on the invitation list for a private backyard show.

Notwithstanding the horrible heat and impending thunderstorms that cut the set short, Rory and Charlotte (and mom and dad, for that matter) had a great time.  They danced.  They shook egg shakers.  They chased the bubble machine.  They tossed beach balls of all sizes.  And they tried to sing along.

And Rory has not stopped singing one song in particular since.  It is called “Grapes,” and it has a catchy beat, quirky lyrics, and a lengthy refrain of “I’m gunna go home, and I’m gunna eat some grapes. La la la grapes.  La la la grapes.  La la la la la la Grapes, grapes, grapes grapes.”

I know this well, because we have listened to the song.  Every morning.  The entire way to school.  All.  Week.

Rory is a pretty compulsive kiddo–he finds something he likes and tends to fixate for a while.  But this week takes the cake so far. . . Now please excuse me as I go try desperately to get that refrain out of my mind.

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
Tate loves music. He is always tapping his toes, dancing, or snapping his fingers to the beat. He will go from grumpy to cheery just hearing the intro to an upbeat song. His teacher told me, on more than one occasion, how much she enjoys watching Tate in music class. He loves to sample instruments, hum tunes, and learn motions to songs.

It’s no surprise to me that Tate’s new pastime is singing in the shower. He will sing for days in there if we let him. He happily sings songs he learned at school, heard on the radio, or lately, Christmas carols. He doesn’t like to know anyone is listening, so Jack, my husband and I, all keep our distance from the bathroom door, but listen from the adjacent room at how funny he can be. Sometimes he’ll sing his heart out, and other times he pretends he’s different animals singing. It’s the sweetest thing to listen to especially when it took me a solid ten minutes to convince him bathing is a good idea.

Although our water bills are gradually climbing, I think it’s great Tate is using his musical interest to bellow out his tunes. Surprisingly, he doesn’t like an audience while singing, but with his entertaining abilities, that soon may change. Perhaps Santa should bring him a microphone.

From Friday Mom – Erin:
As I may have mentioned before, I am a huge Amazon Prime shopper. Sure, sometimes that limits the available options, but being able to buy things cheaply AND have them arrive at my house in 48 hours or less makes it a no brainer. Plus, avoiding spending time out shopping means more time spent with my family.

What this also means is a high volume of cardboard boxes at our house each week. Sometimes we reuse them to send our own packages, and other times we simply put them out for recycling. Recently, however, Rory and I have found a new way to recycle: building out of boxes.

Equipped with a pair of scissors and Rory’s crayons, our boxes become whatever we can imagine. Last fall, I made Rory a firetruck out of a fairly flat box. Sure, it was basically a fire truck caricature, but he gleefully donned his fireman a had and climbed on in. We only recently took it out to the curb with the other boxes; it was that big of a hit.

During last week’s snow day, I made Rory a “laptop” computer out of a box flap. He was bent out of shape that his daddy had to take work calls from home, so I made him his own computer so that he could send emails, just like daddy. We helped him type emails on its little keyboard, and he folded it closed when we finished.

Finally, over the weekend, I fashioned Rory a banjo out of a paper plate and some more box flaps. Now Rory and I play “gicktah” (guitar) together– he turns his popper toy turned upside down while I use the banjo. During yesterday’s snow delay, we had a good old fashioned jam session, with renditions of favorites such as old McDonald, BINGO, and Baa Baa Black sheep. The cardboard is growing weak from all the use it has received over the past few days.

Rory has a playroom full of toys that we purchased or he was given as gifts, but he always gets so excited by the novelty of our cardboard creations. He loves the new opportunity to pretend, and I love knowing that I am combatting his boredom AND showing him the value of creativity. Plus, a cardboard banjo and imaginary guitar are MUCH quieter than their real life counterparts. Thank goodness.

From Friday Mom – Erin:
Rory sings nursery rhymes with his daycare class every day. We knew this was the case, but this week was the first time Rory has shown any real desire to continue his singing at home. During bath time on Wednesday night, he started chanting “baa black sheep, baa black sheep.”

Once I realized what it was he was asking for (toddler speak isn’t always the easiest to decipher), I happily regaled him with an off-key version of his apparently-favorite nursery rhyme. He loved it. We repeated over, over, and over again until I was able to sneak in a round or two of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” (or “i-sy spa der” as Rory apt to say).

Then, on Thursday evening, while I was driving home, his daddy sent me a text informing me that Rory had sung all of Baa, Baa Black Sheep to himself, entirely on his own. When I arrived home, I learned that Rory’s most recent rendition was perhaps a bit more chopped up than I had originally envisioned, but, regardless, his dad and I were both tremendously proud of the little guy.

We’re planning to ask his teachers what other songs they sing so that we can work on adding some variety to our bath time vocal set. And we’re also hoping that his love of the song doesn’t mean that he is going to start asking us for bags of wool. . .

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
I am a music lover. I’ve gotten a little less “into” my favorite bands and musicians as I’ve gotten older, and I can’t say I’m totally up to date on the latest pop. Who has the time? But I still enjoy it and try to stay somewhat aware of what’s new in the industry as a whole as well as some of my favorite genres in particular. Haley loves music, too. Unfortunately for my sanity, our tastes don’t always align.

Don’t get me wrong—I love the soundtrack to “Frozen” and a few hits from “The Fresh Beat Band” are really quite catchy. But hearing them over and over again can get a bit, well, repetitive.

Her latest album of choice? “A Kids Bop Christmas.”

Haley does not care what the calendar says. When we’re in the car, she demands “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and “Santa Claus is coming to town”—sung by tweens. If I dare to put a regular FM station on for a bit of a break she screams, “No big girl songs! Christmas! Christmas!”

However, it is really adorable to hear her sing along as best she can to the music. Her interpretation of what the lyrics are is often quite amusing. It’s neat to see her personality develop to the point where she so strongly knows what songs, movies and shows she really likes or dislikes. I think we’re just as the beginning of her confidently knowing what’s cool, and rolling her eyes at Mom’s terrible taste.

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
I have blogged about Tate’s love of music several times.  As you know, he loves to dance, play instruments and listen to music.  Sometimes, he walks around the house with his toy guitar pretending to be a rock star.

Tate’s latest musical interest is singing.  He has spent weeks practicing for today’s school music program. He won’t sing for me if I ask him to, he says it is a surprise. But I overhear him singing when he plays on his own in his room.

The other time I hear him singing is when we ride in the car. He loves to listen to the radio and has picked up on some pop songs on our rides to school.  I think it’s hysterical when he belts out the words with pretty good timing.  I try not to make a big deal about it because he gets embarrassed when I say something.  I sneak a peak in the rear view mirror and it cracks me up.

Our musically inclined child is always finding ways to incorporate a drum, dance or beat to any genre of music.  I hope he gets confident singing because I love to watch him put on a show. Whether it’s his school program, or just our living room, Tate loves to entertain us.

Andrew has always loved music. It doesn’t really matter what type. He’ll listen to anything from county and jazz to rock and rap. Loud music doesn’t particularly bother him either.

So last night when an extra ticket opened up to the Train concert, I brought him with me. He was totally into the idea. But the second the music started…”mommy, too loud! let’s go home”

My mom had the foresight to pick up a couple pairs of ear plugs before we got there. So we tried one pair that kinda made Andrew look a little Frankenstein-ish. That lasted half a song.

We tried the other pair. That held him for maybe a song and a half. But he was done.

We got as far as the exit before a very nice woman asked Andrew if he wanted to be her special helper at the door. He could hear the music downstairs where it was quieter and check out all the people, making sure that no one came in without a ticket. THAT he was totally into.

Finally, he looks at me and asked to go back to his seat. “I want to go back and see the concert! That is my decision.” With Andrew’s official decree, we went back up to the seats and he made it through almost the entire concert. (Yes, with ear plugs)

Overall, it was a good experience. He had fun, got to hear some great music and hang out with the family. But hopefully our next concert experience we get to see the whole thing 🙂

Have a great weekend everyone.

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
The topic of Tate’s music class over the last few weeks has been staccato and legato.  Tate practices moving fast and slow, up and down with short notes or long slurring notes.  Whether we’re singing, dancing, clapping or bouncing, Tate is learning the differences of fast and slow articulation in music.

Last week’s assignment was to make “track art.”  We picked out several different size cars and trucks and applied paint to their wheels.   Then, on a piece of paper, Tate drove the cars all over in different directions and different speeds to demonstrate smaller wheels have skinnier tracks and larger wheels have wider tracks. While making his tracks, Tate sang a song and would push the car back and forth to the beat of his song.  It was hysterical listening to him sing.  It sounded more like a rap.  He raced the cars all over the paper creating quite a piece of abstract art.  It’s one of those pieces I’ll hang on to for awhile.

I thought the activity was fun and a great idea because it’s something different for him to do with paint as well as a learning experience.  Cars dipped in paint definitely held his attention.  He loves to paint and get messy.  What child doesn’t?

Today in class we looked at each child’s track art and discussed what was different about each one and what was similar.  The children had fun showing each other how special their own painting was.  Next week’s assignment is to make our own drum.  I can’t wait to see what ideas Tate will come up with.

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!