Music is a part of life, and our house is no exception. Whether it’s a drippy faucet, a squeaky shoe on the bathroom tile, or a song being blared out of a standard-option, car radio, kids love the sounds that pervade their world.
When they are young, they make no distinction between music and noise. I guess that’s something that comes with age. And they don’t really care about getting the words right or carrying the proper tune. They just revel in the sounds that so easily sail out of their mouths and into their auditory locale. The “Itsy Bitsy Spider” is a prime example.
I’m not sure why our kids love this song so much. Maybe it is a boy’s natural inclination to investigate spiders and snakes and the like. Whatever their draw to the classic nursery song, they both have their eight-legged friend going up “the spider spout”, and no amount of correction from mom can change it.
The alphabet song is another of their favorites. Both boys get the same letters transposed when they sing it, but they never forget to say, “Next time won’t you sing with me,” unlike their cousin Harlie who actually says, “Next time don’t sing with me.” Cooper and Brisco must agree on some level because they haven’t quite connected on the idea of singing in unison. They each want to be the loudest, and when the other brother tries to bust in with his own version, they’ll holler, “Mom! I can’t hear myself sing while he is singing!”
Brisco is really the musical one of the two. I can remember singing to him a lot when he was just a baby. I sang to Cooper too, but it never seemed to soothe him the way it did little B. Even to this day he will lull about the house, singing to himself while he’s playing with his toys or tormenting his brother. And the kid really can hold a tune. Cooper, bless his heart, can get dramatic with his musical inflection but the notes don’t always seem to come out just right.
But that is no matter. It doesn’t keep him from trying. He actually seems to be getting a feel for some of the more popular jives. An old AC/DC tune came on the radio last week in the car and Randy and I both got a kick out of watching him bob and sway his body about in his head-bangin’ little car seat. And the boy grins and giggles with delight when Dad says, in his best Cheech Marin impersonation, “Respect the classics, man!”
From showing their muscles at the “He is strong” part of “Jesus Loves Me” to misinterpreting Garth Brooks’ “Loooo-ng neck bottle” for “Naaaa-ked bottom”, there is really no end to the hilarity and entertainment that music, created by a child, can bring.
And when they get going, there’s really no stopping them. They’ll go about the day spouting one liners from a whole spectrum of different songs. From “Take you ridin’ in my car, car,” to “Pea-nuuut, peanut butter…jelly!” these boys are definitely a sight to behold, and a sound to be heard as they go about their daily business and play.
Their newest favorites are a collection of songs sent from an old classmate of mine including timeless classics such as “The Chicken Dance” and “Herman the Worm”. It isn’t unusual to find all three of us waddling around the living room singing, “Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk,” like a trio of crazed chicks, or wiggling and wriggling as we grow “thiiiiis big!” just like ole Herman.
But banging the bottom of two metal racecars together is just as pleasing to their sweet little ears as a requiem by Mozart or a concerto by Tchaikovsky. And playing the air-harmonica to an old Bob Dylan classic with Brisco in the background saying, “He said Steel-an-Stone!” can bring a smile to a mom’s face like no other over-priced, live and in person concert I’ve ever attended.
Yes, music is a part of life. And there’s none that sounds sweeter than when it’s created by children. Especially your own. So until the days when we disagree about what they consider music and what we consider noise, I’ll continue to enjoy dancing around like a chicken and listening to my baby meander about, impersonating ole Fats himself with his own two-year-old version, “Don’t mess-y my Toot Toot!”
And that’s All in a day’s work!
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