To Soothe The Savage Beast

Music has always been a big part of Little Man's life. We spend a good portion of our day listening and grooving to music.

He starts his day with music--his CD player goes off at 7 AM and he wakes to Disney tunes. Woe be the parent who attempts to remove him from his crib before the CD stops playing.

Before breakfast, he's dancing to his favorite songs on "Mickey Mouse Club House"--particularly the "Hot Dog Dance":



Our Little Man bounces, wiggles, and does his own special "hand dance", perfected when he was in his cast and couldn't get up to bop.

Meal times are full of music. As soon as he's in his big boy booster seat at the kitchen island, he gives me an abbreviated form of his hand dance that's his way of asking for me to sing. He always has a song in mind for me to sing, and sometimes it takes me a couple of tries before I find the one he wants. Meal time favorites include "Farmer in the Dell", "Apples and Bananas" and "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain":



A ride in the car means Little Man really gets to groove with totally grown up songs from Prince (he likes "1999"), Maroon Five (we sing "you got that baby swagger" to the tune of "Moves like Jagger") and his favorite, Britney Spears. I indulge his love of her song "If you Seek Amy" for now because he loves the beat, but the minute he starts repeating words, it's off our playlist.

Even story time is musical--at least once a day Little Man brings me his "Wheels on the Bus" board book and wiggles in my lap, waiting for me to sing.



One of Little Man's favorite songs, dating back to before he could even sit up, is from a Chattanooga tourism commercial. The commercial used to play every night during Jeopardy, and his head would spin around to the music. Now, the tune is bookmarked on my computer and we listen to it daily:



Finally, we end our day with a soothing tune from the Disney Lullaby album while we brush teeth, put on jammies, and get ready for bed:



Little Man's life is full of happiness and music. Below, he shares his hit list just for you:

Little Man's Hit List (Songs to Rock to at 18 Months)
--The Wheels on the Bus
--Farmer in the Dell
--Row Row Row Your Boat
--The Hot Dog Dance (They Might be Giants)
--I get by With a Little Help From my Friends (Beatles)
--Old McDonald's Farm
--The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers
--'Till the World Ends (Britney Spears)
--The UGA fight song
--Mickey's Countdown
--Zip-A-Dee-Doo-dah
--The Itsy Bitsy Spider
--I'd Rather Be (Chattanooga Tourism)