Saturday, June 11, 2005

Swinging Tunes Baby's rocking out, as it were, in his Baby Papasan swing.  This was one of the most expensive items we bought for him (most of our baby stuff was handed down) and thank goodness it works.  Daddy's arms were getting ready to fall off if this didn't work.  Let's talk about music.  Here's one of those unexpected melodies that our son has heard a lot of in the last two weeks: Get your hands up!  Get your hands up!  Get your hands up!  Get your hands up!  Go!  Go!  Go!  Go! This is the song Oliver gets when I'm trying to put his outfit on for the day.  When he hears "get your hands up," dad's literally trying to get his hands up and into the sleeves. Are you stuck for lullabies for your new little one?  I've discovered a whole new world of songs that can work just fine for lullabies, or rocking the pumpkin back to sleep, or just rocking out. Here's the secret to lullabies:  they don't have to be traditional at all.  Sing whatever you remember - U2 songs, bubblegum pop, commercial jingles, whatever.  In her book Baby Laughs, Jenny McCarthy talks about singing Britney Spears and Metallica to her baby, because she remembers the lyrics.  Sing whatever you know - the important thing is your voice, your mommy/daddy voice, singing to your little one.  Your baby's too young to go all Simon Cowell on you.  Anyway, here's my rapidly growing list of non-traditional lullabies.  Feel free to borrow some. "Redemption Song" "Hey Ya!" "Hanky Panky" "The Victors" (Michigan fight song - I don't know the words, but I heard it all the time watching Wolverines football on tv) "Surfin' Bird" "Low Rider" - War "The Bottom Line" - Big Audio Dynamite "Hail to the Chief" (conveniently, there are no lyrics, so you can ad-lib your own) His favorite song, though, still seems to be "Over the Rainbow."  (Besides my lilting voice, he's heard versions of this song by Dan Zanes and the Innocence Mission.)  It's hard to argue with the classics, I guess. 1:59:22 PM     Speak up!  []