Nothing to Turn a Grumpy Evening Around
Like having your two-year-old wander into the room absently singing "Jesus Loves Me".

Labels: baby talk, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 8:03 PM |

 
He Talks!
Boy, does he! Daniel is rapidly catching up with his brothers' verbal prowess. He does his best to count (he can number 2 objects reliably, and has most of the way to 10 memorized- though he's stronger on 789 than 345), sings a reasonable facsimile of the alphabet song, and sings along with most of our They Might Be Giants (he calls them "gians" with a hard "g") and last year's VBS music, with a little bit of Chicago here & there.

Daniel's favorite conversation (monologue?) goes something like this: "I see 'mals zoo!" "What animals do you see at the zoo, Daniel?" "I see po' beyars. I see 'mingos. I see fwogs. I see seyuws. Zebwas, 'stwiches, g'affes atta zoo!"

Tonight, Daniel and I went to Dollar General for a couple of odds and ends. When we got back, I let him out of the stroller, and he kept saying, "He'p gosies". I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he wanted help with, until we got inside the front door- he wanted to help me with the "groceries". Awww :)

Daniel is the youngest and he's the smallest, but he is a force to be reckoned with, nonetheless!

Labels: baby talk, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 10:52 PM |

 
Songster and Bro.
This afternoon, the big boys were singing original compositions. Jay started off the concert with a song entitled, "Babies Shouldn't Eat Pencils" and segued into "Babies Shouldn't Eat Chairs (It's Not Safe)". Isaac joined in on the closing number, "The Rotten Wood Song". Despite only encompassing 5 words, this song went on and on. Jay has picked up on some of the finer points of musicianship, varying the dynamics to his songs. "The Rotten Wood Song" (as I am informed) starts loud, then goes into a quieter section. It seemed to end pretty loud, though. Isaac asked me whether I liked the loud part of the song. Although I was sure to tell him I preferred the quiet section, the artist knows best (ahem!), and so Isaac, nodding his blond head, pointed at me with his finger and announced, "I'm going to sing the loud part."

As the concert began, Jay was running back and forth behind the sofa to Daniel's delight. You really can't help but join in when he starts laughing like that! Daniel, by the way, has added the classic hands-and-knees crawl to his repertoire, though the inchworm/frog move has not disappeared. He's also pulling up on everything in sight (look out, Grandmas and Grandpas!) He gave up sleeping until 4 AM and is waking up closer to midnight these days. I know, it's time to stop bringing him to bed. I'm just so tired and he's so warm and cuddly. *Sigh*

Labels: boys, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 7:57 PM |

 
Fame
I'm not sure how much longer it will be up, but the boys and I made the front page of our local paper. We'll miss Mrs. Chrys!!

Labels: Mebane, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 8:54 AM |

 
Not Ageeyan!
There is one song on the LeeAnn Womack CD I keep in the car which never fails to get Jay's attention. The refrain is "You've Got the Wrong Girl", and this phrase is repeated again and again throughout the song (apologies for the overly flashy link).

Jay will say "Mama, he got the wrong gril [sic]. He got the wrong gril ageeyin! Oh, no, he got the wrong gril agEEyan!!!" etc etc. Started out hilarious, but it's still cute.

Potty update: Jay was wearing BIG BOY UNDERWEAR all day until dinnertime, when he had an accident. Then he put on training pants, but stayed dry until bedtime, when he "use-ed" the potty! By the by, that is what he was telling the waiter when we went out to eat Sunday night. "I use-ed the potty!! I use-ed the potty at home!!!" Poor guy had been talking baby talk to Isaac, but didn't seem to know what to do with our "potty-mouth" boy ;)

Labels: boys, potty training, Singing

- posted by Gary @ 7:51 PM |

 
'At is Not 'Portant Right Now
Paul is out with the youth group, so I had bedtime duty tonight. I had the boys rectify most of the mayhem they created in the living room and brush their teeth shortly after 7:30. Isaac wanted to sit on the potty, but lately all he does when he sits on the potty is flush it. There being a water shortage on and all, I try to stop him, but he usually gets one in anyway.

So after an Isaac retread and jammy-ing all around (and another Isaac re-tread: apparently he wasn't just blowing smoke when he said something about poop as I resignedly removed him from the aquatic amusement), we did the usual prayers, and then Jay requested a Christmas song, which prompted Isaac's seconding, "'Mas song... 'mas song..." So I told them I'd sing after they were covered up in their beds.

Jay's dinosaur friend got a blanket (he apparently occupies the exit side of the bed), both boys got their covers, and then I made the mistake of consulting them on the choice of Christmas song. It SHOULD have been simple; Jay has always wanted to hear "Silent Night" in the past, and Isaac's young enough to be very easy-going. This time, though, when I offered to sing either "Silent Night" or "Away in a [the?] Manger" (my two standards), Jay told me he wanted me to sing "sum'ping else", though Isaac did chime in with "Manger!"

I suggested "Angels We Have Heard on High" and was informed by Jay that this was not a Christmas song, it was really a VeggieTales song. This may have been the point at which Isaac chimed in with his "manger". In any case, Jay didn't have any suggestions for me, and I was trying to get him to agree to "Away in a Manger", when he finally agreed to "Heard on High".

I sang the first verse, quietly, but as nicely as I could, bid them good night and all that, and then had to respond to Jay's request for another song (no) and then his reassertion "'At is not a Christmas song. It is about heard [hurt?] on high." So I explained to him that it is about the angels who sang the night Jesus was born, and how the shepherds came to see Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. He may have believed me, because his reply was "'At is not 'portant right now." This is a line from VeggieTales' "Dave and the Giant Pickle", and it came awfully close to cracking me up. We compromised. I put on a record.

Labels: bedtime, boys, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 8:21 PM |

 
Master of the Left-Handed Compliment
"Mama, you are not singing. That makes me happy. I am proud of you!"

Now as it happens, I was singing along with LeeAnn Womack, but I guess I just sound like a professional singer, and the boy can't tell the difference. Yeah, that must be it.

Labels: baby talk, boys, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 9:09 PM |

 
Dancing Queen
We were so pleased when Jay started singing along with a praise song in church this morning. Now that he's in the threes class, he starts out the 11 o'clock hour in church with us until children's church starts about 15- 20 minutes into the service. The last few weeks he's been very difficult, not wanting to stand during the singing or do much of anything else except draw on the registry pad. He was still very rambunctious, but I encouraged him to stand on the pew during the opening hymn so he could see Daddy up front playing his French Horn. He seemed to like that, and so later when we sang "Open the Eyes of My Heart", Jay caught on to the "I want to see you" refrain and sang it over and over again. Participation is good!

I was not entirely prepared for his musical prowess this evening, however. I had put in my new ABBA Gold CD for clean-up music in the playroom, and Jay started singing, "dancing queen" again and again. Later, Isaac was playing at the keyboard (I was playing the CD from our PC) and disrupted the music several times. At one point, he restarted the CD, and less than 5 seconds in, Jay said, "Dancing Queen!" There's one for the baby book. The first song he recognizes from just the instrumental intro!

And just because it makes me happy to note these things, a mom of five (give or take) behind us told me after the service that Jay is so cute she wanted to "eat him up". When she saw my expression, she added, "I know he's a handful." =] So I thanked her, of course, since it is so nice for people to let me know that my children's frequent drawing of attention to themselves isn't ALL bad. It seems like Paul, "Mr. Thomas", and I were saying something similar about the younger boy last night. *Sigh* they sure are cute, and as was also said last night, it sure is a good thing!

Labels: 3-year-olds, church, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 10:37 PM |

 
A Sentence?
Isaac put together a proto-sentence this week. Paul had left for work, and Isaac said, "Daddy go." He's no competition for my niece who was giving grammatically correct orders at her second birthday party, but he's doing quite well, verbally, for a boy!

The boys were both very interested in hearing Christmas carols tonight, so I sang them to sleep with "Away in a Manger", "Silent Night", and a number of other classics. Isaac was adamant that I continue. "Sing! 'Mas!", even when Jay told him, "No, Isaac, you can't sing. Mama is singing."

Jay's favorite was "Silent Night". It's the German blood, my friends =]

Labels: bedtime, boys, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 10:55 PM |