Mama's Little Music Man

Mix Master P - March '09

My son LOVES music. He loves listening to it, he loves making it.

Well, I guess what he makes wouldn't be classified as music quite yet, but he tries! We'll just say that he loves experimenting with sound. He jibberjabbers constantly, rhyming words and changing the intonation of his voice. A lot of the time it sounds like he's singing. He loves to play with anything that makes a sound, his wooden recorder, plastic xylophone, his daddy's guitar and our family piano are among his favorites. I am genuinely impressed with his piano playing skills; he doesn't just bang on the keys, but presses them gently with one finger at a time and often will string notes together making a little tune. He will also make an instrument out of just about anything. He has been known to make his mother extremely nervous by banging different items on our glass coffee table just to hear the different sounds they make. He loves to dance and asks me to sing all the time. Lately he has been asking me to sing songs that I don't even know! For instance, the other day he asked me to sing "the strawberry song." I don't even know if there IS a song about strawberries! But I made one up, and my sweet boy told this nearly tone deaf mother that my song should be on the radio. He knows just how to melt his mama's heart. ;)

It is absolutely amazing to watch this interest and aptitude unfold. I really believe that his interest in music is innate. He certainly doesn't get it from me, I took piano lessons throughout my childhood and still only play as well as a 3rd grader. I played the saxophone for several years but totally faked my way through high school band (and it's good thing I did, cuz that's where I met my hubby!). I know I should, but I don't intentionally expose Seth to music. In fact, most of the time I listen to talk radio instead of music. Just the way I'm wired I guess.

He must get it from his father. My hubby is musical, so much so that I think of him whenever I read this Mother Goose Rhyme:

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross,
to see a fine lady upon a white horse.
Rings on her fingers
Rings on her toes.
She shall have music wherever she goes.

Nathan makes music wherever he goes. He is an absurdly good whistler. He says "practice makes perfect" when it comes to whistling, and I believe him...he whistles all the time! I've told him on several occasions that he should enter a whistling contest because I'm pretty sure he would win. He is always singing, drumming his fingers and listening to music. He can hear a song once and then sit down to play it on the guitar. He has never taken a piano lesson in his life, doesn't read music and can play by ear better than I can ever dream of playing! His musical ability is definitely one of the reasons I fell in love with him. He even sang and played his guitar as part of his marriage proposal to me. **SWOOOOOOOOON**

I feel so blessed that Seth is interested in music. I've always dreamed of being musical and I would love the opportunity to nurture that trait in my son. My hubby loves it too; one of his and Seth's favorite things to do together is jam on the guitar. ;)

And for a two year old, I think Seth has pretty eclectic taste in music. Of which I am inordinately proud. But hey, being inordinately proud of your child is one of the perks of being a mom.

Here are a some of Seth's (current) favorite songs that he requests by name:

**Brass Monkey by The Beastie Boys
**Old McDonald had a Farm
**Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard by Paul Simon
**The Science of Selling Yourself Short by Less than Jake
**The Name Game by Shirley Ellis
**Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean
**Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin

Not bad, eh?

I've been singing that last one to Seth since he was in the womb and he still loves for me to sing it to him before bed. It seems like a strange song to sing to a child, but honestly, it's one of the only "non-camp" songs I can sing without sounding too much like a frog. Nathan once said that he can't wait to teach Seth to play that song on the guitar. Truth be told, I can't either. Nathan says he'd love for Seth to play it for me on my 50th birthday. I can hardly think of a better gift. But you know, if Seth doesn't end up playing the guitar, it's no big deal. I'm enjoying the music he makes now, and that is gift is enough for me. ;)

Not Me!! Monday

This blog carnival is the brain child of MckMama. Check out her blog to see what others have NOT been up to this week.

This past Tuesday evening I did NOT go to a friend's house for a Girl's Movie Night and end up not even turning on the movie. She and I did NOT just sit on the couch drinking rum and cokes and chatting until 1am. Ahem, NOT us!

If you had bugged my home with a secret listening device this week you definitely would NOT have heard me say to my 2 year old: "Stop that this instant! You are not a feral raccoon, you are a human child and will behave as such!" You would also NOT have heard me say "No Honey, Mama will not talk to your penis......yes, Sweetheart, I will talk to your bellybutton. That's fine." No, I would never EVER have an occasion to say such things.

I also did NOT get a wild hair one afternoon this week and decide to take down the wallpaper in our upstairs bathroom. And if I had, I definitely would have finished the project speedily and I would NOT have gotten bored of scraping wallpaper glue off the wall after two days and taken an indefinite hiatus from the project. Um no, NOT me!!

And I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I keep a spotless home. My family is always well groomed and if you were to stop by our home at this very minute, we would be as we always are....wearing starched shirts, sitting in our parlor with perfectly coiffed hair admiring our doilie collection, drinking tea with our pinkies raised and discussing water polo. You know, "the usual." So it would of course stand to reason that this weekend I would NEVER EVER have let my child have rule of the kitchen counter to "make cinnamon rolls" and essentially turn himself into an Oompa Loompa.







And if I had I certainly would NEVER have hurried to clean up the mess before my neatnik husband came home. I would have never EVER showed Mr. TidyPants the pictures of our little orange angel and giggled as he turned white in horror. Nope, never. NOT ME!!!

Geography Lessons

The other morning Seth told me he wanted to go "bye bye."

When I asked where he wanted to go, my sweet little peanut answered: "Acapulco."

Apparently the geography lessons his father has been giving him are paying off.

Also, I think Seth may be onto something...






Mmmmmmmmmmm.........Acapulco. Who's in?

Wordless Wednesday

Not Me!! Monday

Not Me! Monday was started by MckMama, it's a therapeutic (and highly amusing) way of admitting imperfections and laughing at some of the moments we'd rather forget. This is my first Not Me! Monday. If you want, you can check out her blog for more info about Not Me! Monday. Or you can stay here and laugh at how ridiculous I am; I'm pretty sure it will make you feel better about yourself. :)

Here are some things I did "NOT" do this week. :) Enjoy.

I did NOT go test drive cars with my hubby this weekend just for fun.

On our test driving trip I did NOT meet and fall in love with a an outrageously expensive and environmentally irresponsible vehicle. I did NOT spend a good half hour crawling through this vehicle -- inspecting and revelling in every bell and whistle known to man. I did NOT sit in the driver's seat imagining with great joy filling this vehicle with happy children and driving over mountain passes to spend blissful weekends romping through the wilderness and swimming in the glacial waters of Eastern Washington. And I most definitely did NOT spend the rest of the day trying to think of everyway possible I could justify owning such a vehicle. No, I did NOT think of buying carbon offsets, planting my own vegetables, homeschooling my child, raising my own meat, never buying new clothes and composting everything in my home that could ever be composted. Ahem. No, Not Me!

On this same trip, I did NOT sit in a brand new Dodge Challenger with my husband and dream of racing off into the sunset to lands unknown. No, I am a devoted mother who NEVER dreams of life without children. In fact, I am NOT right now sitting at the computer blogging as my child runs about the house with filthy face and hands looking for his daddy because Daddy went to work before we got out of bed.

I have NOT been extremely nauseous and throwing up for no reason for the last month. I have NOT been to the doctor several times for this and have certainly NOT taken an unreasonable number of pregnancy test in the last month. And last night I did NOT take another pregnancy test, even though it had already been confirmed by several sources that I am indeed not pregnant.

I definitely did NOT spend two days last week in the fetal position on my bathroom floor due to this pesky nausea and vomiting. And I definitely did NOT, now that I'm feeling better, but not good, eat waffles and potato chips for breakfast this morning. Because I would NEVER EVER do that to myself and justify it by thinking: "if I'm going to be nauseous all day today I would like to at least have a reason for it!!" Ummmm, no. Not Me! I definitely NOT insane.

And because I am such a good and responsible mother, NOT because my child is threatening to throw a tantrum that will bring down the house, I am going to end this post.

Have a nice day!

Sweet Chicken

I was thinking about it the other day and I have a lot of nicknames for Seth. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I've always been a "nicknamer." Friends, pets, family members, other people's children; it seems that no one in my life is safe.

I don't know where these nicknames come from or most of the time, what they mean. They tend to just fall out of my mouth and hang around for a while. Some stick around longer than others, some get abbreviated you know, because creating nicknames for nicknames is totally normal, some get elongated and some of the ones I call Seth get a weird look from the hubs and then go away forever.

I'm kind of concerned that one day soon I'm going to notice that my son will respond to anything anyone calls him. That's not currently true so I'm hoping my concern is totally unfounded.

Just so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about...here's an assortment of the names my son is likely to be called (by his mother) on any given day:

Bubba
Buddy
Bubs
Doodle
Noodle
Doodlebug
Bug
Stinkerbug
Macho Man
Baby
Babes
Beebop
Beebopareebop
Snoodle
Rerun
Goose
Peanut
Little Man
Chicken
Sweet Chicken
Chickapee
Chickanoodledoodle
Sweetums
Sugar
Sug
Mix Master P
oh and, Sethy

I'm sure there are more, but that list is what's currently on rotation. A few of these names are on pretty heavy rotation, but I'd say that all of these will get used within a three day span. Identity crisis in the making? Perhaps.

But I'm going to try not to worry about it. I think I'll focus on enjoying my Little Man for the Sweet Chicken that he is.

And friends I'm curious...did your parents have nicknames for you growing up? Do you have nicknames for your children or pets? Or am I alone? :)

Beating the Heat

In case you haven't heard, it's been hot here. And not just we live in Pacific Northwest and whine whenever the mercury rises above 80 degrees hot...but honest to goodness record breaking you can fry eggs on the pavement or roast marshmallows over my smoldering skin hot.

See? That was Thursday. It was even hotter earlier in the week.

Aaaaaaaand, as the mother of an indelibly adorable and heat sensitive small creature...



Yes, yes that's my creature....I made it my mission this week to STAY COOL (much like Seth is doing in the picture above...what with his cool dude glasses and all).

How did we do it? Well here's a partial list of our cool seeking adventures....basically the ones I took pictures of. Please forgive the quality of these pictures: they are from my phone.

Our regular camera had a rather unfortunate encounter with a toddler....and such toddler will remain nameless, as will the mother who handed him the camera allowed said toddler to play with the camera. But that's another story.

Costco

Ah, Costco........Jesus knew what he was doing when He created Costco. What better place to spend a HOT Summer morning? Seth and I spent a couple of hours at Costco the other day....just sampling. Sampling the juice, the burritos, the pizza and teriyaki veggies...not to mention we took several books and a recliner for a lengthy test drive. It was lovely....and cool.

Birdbath

Seth loves nothing more than to push a chair up to the kitchen sink and play with the running water, cups, (clean) sponges and anything else he can sneak into the sink when Mama turns her head. This week we took it a step further. We filled up the sink with cool water and stuck him in it. He loved it. In fact he loved it so much that since then, he's been seen in the kitchen, pointing at the sink, saying "Beebah Beebah."

Commandeering a Friend's Pool

My parents have a pair of fabulous friends....J & M....we've known them for over 20 years and I love them like family. And I'm not just saying that because they let us come over and swim in their pool a few times this week. I swear.

Staying Up Past Bedtime and Rolling Around in Freshly Watered Grass



Ummmm, yeah....have a I mentioned that it's hot here? It may be going to our heads.

Hanging out in the Basement and Playing Dress Up

Our basement is approximately half a million degrees cooler than the main level of our house. Which honestly, is not saying much considering it has been close to two million degrees Farenheit upstairs all week. Nevertheless we hang out downstairs when we have to be home. And wear Daddy's clothes, because it's better than prancing around in Mama's high heels. Not that my child would ever do such a thing...Sigh.

Jungle Playland

Jungle Playland has been added to my list of "favorite places on the planet." Seriously. It's clean, air conditioned and crazy fun! Hours of climbing, sliding and ball pit fun. All in stocking feet and for a great price. A very cool adventure indeed.

I am somewhat sad that we don't have photographic evidence of our other cool seeking adventures. But do I savor the memories --- of the library, the kiddie pool, taking cool showers then chillin' under the ceiling fan reading our favorite stories, lingering at favorite restaurants, taking naps in other people's houses, spending time with Gram Gram and Papa and driving nowhere in particular. We spent many hours enjoying the sweet sweet relief of water, shade and air conditioning. Despite Because of the heat, it has been a wonderful week.

**Gulp** Did I just say that?