Toddler Thursday: Songwriters

January 30, 2014January 30, 2014Sadia
Toddler ThursdaymusicLeave a comment

My daughters came into their own as songwriters when they were toddlers. Perhaps it’s my fault. I’ve always been a musical theatre geek. I’ve also been known to break out in song just to make the day brighter.

M went through a phase during which every song ends “All day long.” Every single song ended like “The Wheels on the Bus.” Well, that’s the way I grew up singing that song. M and J learned the “all through the town” version. Where “all day long” came from, I’m not sure, but it was M’s songwriter signature.

Some examples of such songs were:

After I’ve shampooed her hair:
I using sanipoo,
I using a sanipoo,
Jessie using a sanipoo too.
My hair clean
And Sissy hair clean.
ALL DAY LONG.

While in time out:
I go in time out.
I go in time out.
Not okay pushing Jessica.
ALL DAY LONG.

On being offered a grape by her sister:
I don’t like grape.
No, I don’t want a grapes.
ALL DAY LONG.

Because I have them, here are a couple of videos to illustrate a later artistic phase and her sister’s compositional prowess.

M’s Song

Transcription

M: (introductory remarks) It’s about a blue Jasmine.
Me: A what?
M: Jasmine, a princess.
Me: Okay. Let’s hear it.
M: ♪ Jasmine a princess wanted a baby. She asked her mama. “Not today.” ♪ She bows.
Me: Beautiful! I love it. Thank you, M.
M: It’s a little song.

J’s Song

And now for J’s lengthier piece.

J: ♪ When I want my favourite toy, like a Cinderella princess, I ask my Mom with my words. When I want them, I got to ask to my Mom, “I want my princesses”. ♪

I think a bunch of this was filler. I certainly didn’t understand what she was singing.

Jessica: ♪ When I want a my pretty sun. When I want my Mommy to come back, I ask my Grandma or Daddy or Grandpa. This is a way to talk. My day. When I jump on my big jumping, I roll over to turn into a princess. When I turn over, I turn to a Jasmine. When I turn over, I turn to a Cinderella, a princess. When I turn to my side, my Sleeping Beauty for, my Sleeping is for, my Sleeping Beauty is for yoooooou. When I jump, I take my Sleeping Beauty away from you, put it on my bed. Ohhh. My … ♪

and so on, about Penelope, lava, Melody, her bathroom, and other silliness.

Yes, I asked her to wrap it up, because it was after bedtime. As J says, she sang too much and got tired, just like Ms Anna (from The King and I).

Note: If you’re seeing this is a reader, you may need to click over the blog to see the video clips. I’ll transfer these videos to Youtube when I have a moment.

Do you have toddler songwriters? What sort of stuff do they sing about?

Sadia (rhymes with Nadia) has been coordinating How Do You Do It? since late 2012. She is the divorced mother of 7-year-old monozygotic twins, M and J. She lives with them and their 3 cats in the Austin, TX suburbs and works full time as a business analyst. She retired her personal blog, Double the Fun, when the girls entered elementary school and also blogs at Adoption.com and Multicultural Mothering.

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Selfish

March 20, 2012Sadia
Mommy Issuesguilt, Mommy guilt, Mommy time, music, time away7 Comments

I’m a choir geek. I started singing when I was 5, and managed to find a choir to sing in from then on. When I was pregnant with my twins, though, I just didn’t have the energy to make it through evening rehearsals, so I stopped singing. For the first few years of their lives, I was too busy to even think about singing anything other than nursery rhymes.

Tonight, I attended my first choir rehearsal in 6 years. A college friend told me about auditions, and I figured I’d give it a shot. The chorale will be performing Carmina Burana with the Las Cruces Orchestra this season. Singing again was amazing. There’s something about a group of people creating art simultaneously that is transcendent. Still, I couldn’t help feeling guilty about not being home to tuck M and J into bed. I’m sure they loved having Daddy to themselves and didn’t even think to miss me. It’s hard, though, not to feel selfish pursuing an interest that has nothing at all to do with my family.

Do you pursue any activities without your kids? Do you feel guilty too? Does the guilt pass?

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Staving Off Boredom

April 17, 2008craftylissa
Productsbooks, music, reviews10 Comments

Dawn asked “I am curious if any of you have come across some good books with information about how to educationally entertain your toddler twins during the day. My guys are 16 months and I would like to find ways to add education into the fun mix. I realize they are always learning with everything we do but honestly I think the three of us are bored. I’m looking for inspiration!”

I hear you, Dawn. I know we’re supposed to be our kids’ best teachers, but sometimes it’s hard to be a one-woman show!

I have found a few fun items along the way that have helped pass the hours, helping me to feel that I was contributing to their budding curiosity and ongoing education. At our house, it’s projects and music. When I was feeling energized and ambitious, we tried out new activities. When I was feeling like I needed energy, we would put on the music.

All of the recommendations here come straight from our own home: tried, tested and twin-approved.

You should be able to find these materials at your local library, which I learned to utilize to a whole new level once the kiddos arrived. Our library system offers online access with a hold system so that you can reserve books from across the network and have them delivered to your local branch. Extremely handy.

We’ll start with books. These are broad-theme books with a range of art and play activities. There are so many idea books out there that are wonderful; these are just a few that I personally found, used and loved.

Toddler Theme Calendar by Totline – 2001
This one is AWESOME. It’s a perpetual calendar with activities for every day of every month of the entire year. I loved that this was already organized for me. I didn’t even have to open a book to find my own ideas – they were laid out already. They have one for preschoolers as well.

Baby Play by Wendy Masi – 2001
We are big fans of Gymboree Play & Music. We started taking our boys when they were 18 months old and only just stopped going after they turned four and started preschool. I love Gymboree! This books lets you bring some Gymboree home. They also have a Toddler Play version as well as new versions published in the last year that I’m sure are wonderful.

Science is Simple by Peggy Ashbrook – 2003
This is a great resource for toddlers and preschoolers. I know it’s got “preschoolers” in its title, but I have always believed in being a little advanced with my guys. The activities in this book are laid out for preschool teachers, so that you can make a whole day’s activity out of making homemade slime. Fun! We’ve tried a few of the activities out of this book with rousing success.

The Toddler’s Busy Book by Trish Kuffner – 2001
A great book! This one is packed full of ideas, games, and activities, from simple to more-effort-needed. Again, there are other versions available for other ages.

The other essential in our house to stave off boredom is music. I cannot stress enough that you do not have to suffer through saccharine children’s music just because you have children. They like what you like, generally. (My boys love to jump around to The White Stripes just as much as they do to anything I have listed out here.) Cheryl had a great review last week of the TwinSpin-Tunes for Twins CD (which I’ve added to my wishlist!). Here are a few others that never fail to get us up and DANCE.

The Backyardigans: Born to Play – 2008
I confess: I LOVE The Backyardigans. When my boys were Tyrone and Pablo last year for Halloween, I made myself a Uniqua costume. (Only one little girl knew who I was – everyone else thought I was Piglet.) I even decorated our mini-van as a backyard for trunk-o-treat, complete with a walk-through interior and a slide out the back. We have nearly all the DVDs and have so far had to live with just two CDs of music from the TV show. Not so any longer. Born to Play is a great CD, full of the wide range of musical styles The Backyardigans is known for. It’s impossible not to dance when you listen. Even if your kids don’t watch the show, you can’t help but enjoy the music.

Ralph’s World: Happy Lemons – 2007
Ralph’s World music is just wonderful. He explores a broad range of musical styles (blues, reggae, swing and zillions more) all within songs that are fun and whimsical. Our favorite is Happy Lemons but there are many more to choose from – they’re all fantastic!

They Might Be Giants: No – 2002
Yes, this is the same They Might Be Giants of “now it’s Istanbul not Constantinople” fame. They have produced some incredible children’s music, have been featured on the Disney channel and much more. This is one of our favorite CDs of all time. The music is quirky and weird with lots of funny stuff that keep my boys laughing. You know it’s good when you end up singing along to it in the car on the way to work. And you’re all the way there before you realize you don’t have any kids with you.

Now that I’ve shared some of my family’s favorites, I would love to hear more about yours! I’m always on the lookout for new books and CDs to share with my boys.

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