Keep on rockin' in the free world!

Concerts before children included:
The Cure (with my crazy cousin, Linda!)
Jimmy Buffet
Poi Dog Pondering
Smash Mouth
Cowboy Junkies
Violent Femmes
The Waterboys
Ralph Stanley

Concerts after children (and counting):
Rocknoceros
Mr Knick Knack
Rusted Root (technically it's not a kiddie concert but it was at a fair and we had kids, so....)

Today I took the kids to Burke Lake Park for a playdate with the children of her new preschool. Since my plans for the day had changed, we decided to go to the amphitheater and listen to Rocknoceros. This is Z's 3rd time seeing them and I dare say I've become a little groupie. A groupie of a kiddie band - egad! I even bought CD's.

I am wondering... what IS it about kids music that makes it so darn appealing to kids? Lyrics? Maybe. At 3 could Zofia REALLY be listening to the words of the songs to make a judgment as to whether or not she likes it? Personalities? These kiddie band members have a stage persona and costuming that you dare not see on the street unless it's Halloween. Instruments? Some one-man-bands only consist of a guitar, nothing spectacular there. So what is it? Je ne sais quoi. And as I listen along with my kids there are definitely songs that I DON'T like and songs that I'm requested to play over and over. Kids Place Live on XM has been a great resource of kids music for me, otherwise I'd be stuck with the same CD's OVER and OVER and OVER again. There are some groups that are not kid groups at all but may have one or two in their repertoire like They Might Be Giants, Kristin Andreassen, and even Talking Heads (I am specifically thinking of "Stay up Late"). My children rock out to Adam Ant, Jack Cooke (bluegrass musician), and just last week Zofia was diggin' the blues.

So sometimes when I pull into the gas station and leave the key in the ignition so the music doesn't stop while the kids tunes are playing, you'll never know if it's playing for me or for them (smirk).

monkey see, monkey do

Aaron is now 19 months old! And, he's quite the imitator! He pays close attention to pretty much everything and copies - from signing, "helping", "cooking", and tantrums. He has now perfected the protester limp, thank you big sister! He finally started saying "mama" just over a month ago - how happy I was to hear that word! His vocabulary these days includes: mama, daddy, bubble, bowl, ball, bib, zz, baba (his blanket lovey), down, bird, yellow, bell, nana (banana), uh oh. He gets excited over trucks, cars, planes, helicopters - quite the boy's boy. He signs very well and can copy the signs very well: cat, orange, down, thank you, please, owl, yes, dog, car, banana, daddy, mommy, more, water, drink, eat, grandmom, grandpop, help, baby, bear, plane.

Zofia turned 3 last month! We had a birthday party for her. She had a horse and butterfly cake, yellow cake torted with mango buttercream and chocolate cake torted with strawberry buttercream. She had a blast. The week leading up to and after her birthday were so wonderful - she was so easy to get along with. "Being 3" was a big thing - she was a big girl, didn't need help, could do everything. Then just as quick, this phase passed and we were back to tantrums, screaming, crying over EVERYTHING, waking up in the middle of the night, waking up screaming from naps! I was praying she wouldn't revert on toileting since she has been potty trained for just under a year.

But today was heavenly and peaceful...thank you, God!