Sing, sing a song...

Sing out loud!

Sing out strong!

Sing of good things, not bad.

Sing of happy, not sad...

Does anyone know who originally sang that tune? If you're like me you're thinking, "Well duh, it's that iconic bro/sis singing duo of the 70s - The Carpenters, of course!" WRONG.

Put this one in the category of new and interesting factoids you learn from raising a kid. Because apparently, it was Big Bird. As in, the dorky but oh-so-loveable big yellow guy from Sesame Street. I know. Now you are saying, "Whhhhhat???? Say it isn't so!" Well, I'm saying it's so. "Sing" was originally created for Sesame Street in...well, I'm not sure exactly what year but it must have been a while ago because hasn't that show been on for like 80 years? And funny how Bert and Ernie never seem to age. Hmmmm.

Anyway, moving along. You might be wondering why I'm talking about this song. It's because out of the blue Ian started singing (and I use that term loosely) it the other day. And I was thinking, "Wow, impressive. He's really picked up on those Carpenters tunes." After all, he had been first exposed to them at a very young age. You see, as soon as Ian was born, one of the first things I quickly learned about myself as a new parent was that I have some serious deficiencies in the lullaby area. However, I did know "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" so I sang that to him like 50 times per day. And that one really worked because I have to say that's one of his favorite songs now. All I have to do is start singing "Twinkle" and he pretty much stops in his tracks, mesmerized by the soothing sound of my voice (which is understandable). It's even worked to calm him down on a plane before - for approximately one second. But the other song I sang here and there was "Close to You". (In fact, I believe that Jeanette also sang this song to Jeff when he was a baby. Maybe she also doesn't know many lullabies?)

But alas, no - his new love for "Sing" in fact did not come from our repeated efforts to attempt to instill in him a love for 70's music at an early age. Rather, it came from watching Sesame Street. I should have known. By way of digression here - for those who know that Ian has never really been much into TV (except sports) - I can report that he is now officially into Sesame Street. Or, as he first started calling it - the Street. As in, "Mommy, I need to watch the Street!" Which just made me laugh when he'd say it because it sounded like it was some gangster show he was addicted to versus children's educational television. I think we have that corrected now, though.

So, to wrap this all back up in a bow - suffice it to say that we spend a fair amount of time singing "Sing" around here these days. He really likes it. And it's pretty funny to hear because he can't quite get the words right except, of course, "Sing a Song", which he repeats over and over again. So often I'll sing it and he'll try and follow along with me. (Really, here's where I need to get the video function of this blog up and running in order to get the full effect of what I'm describing.)

It's also noteworthy that Ian really likes singing in general. I mean, the kid is constantly singing. Even when he's by himself playing with his toys, he'll often be singing something. Besides "Sing" and "Twinkle", other favorites are "Wheels on the Bus" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". Oh, and of course the "Itsy Bitsy Spider." I'm still trying to expand his repertoire, though. For instance, the other day I put on Donna Summer's MacArthur Park and we were doing some interpretive dance and he really seemed to like that song. But then again, who doesn't?

I keep meaning to do some quick research to see if this whole singing thing is normal for kids his age or if we need to move to NYC and enroll him in Juilliard. I don't know. Maybe I'll report back when I find out.

Until I write again.

Scenes from November

Today we are expecting a total of three to five inches of rain - our first real winter storm coming off the Pacific. Undoubtedly, there will be several more right behind it over the next few months. Still, as I drove around SW Portland this morning I couldn't help but notice how pretty everything looked - with the last vibrant leaves of fall hanging onto rain soaked trees. So, I took a few snapshots on my way home from picking up Ian at preschool.

Rain and fog surround the West Hills

Trees in and around Gabriel Park

Street leading up to Ian's future elementary school



Driving down our street



Looking out our living room window

Until I write again.

Housebound

I have a confession to make: Ian didn't leave the house today. Granted, it's not even 4pm here yet, but I can, with some amount of certainty, say that Ian will not be going outside today. And given that it's always my goal to take him out on at least one outing a day, means that today I failed. Now the part about this that concerns me isn't necessarily that he did not leave the house on this one particular day, but more that it might be a sign of things to come.

You see, all summer long as Ian and I were out and about - going to the zoo, going to the fountain at Jamison Square, going to the park, going to the pool, etc., etc. - I kept having this thought in the back of my mind that would creep out every now and then: What will you do when winter comes? How are you going to occupy your two-year-old then? I mean, let's face it - there are just some days when this kid makes the Energizer Bunny look like a couch potato.

I did not mean for this to happen on this particular day (not to mention so soon after winter started). Really, I didn't. But I did suspect that today might be a little "off" because we changed our schedule a bit. And you know how I like schedule changes. So, this morning Jeff watched him while I went downtown for a "meet and greet" with an agency to talk about opportunities to work with them on a freelance basis. It was about 10:30 a.m. when I got home and, as usual, it was raining. Just one of those days where we woke up to the sound of rain pouring down the downspout outside our bedroom window and it hasn't really stopped all day. Not even for a schizophrenic sun break.

The whole way home I had been thinking, "Okay what are we going to do today that's inside?" (Though, in the back of my mind what I was really thinking is: Here we go, that winter creativity is now officially being tested!) OMSI? Ugh. It will be packed because it's Veterans Day and every school kid in town will be there. Children's Museum? Another ugh. Same thing. The Forestry Center? Mmmm....sounds kinda boring. Open play gym at the rec center? (Which is what we normally do after Tuesday sports class anyway, which by the way, was canceled today because of the holiday.) Well, it's wet outside and I don't really feel like driving over there. Plus, Ian seems to be developing yet another case of the sniffles, so perhaps it's not a good idea to have him around a lot of kids.

Once Jeff left for work, I started checking email and taking care of things around the house while still pondering this yet-to-be-determined grandiose event we were eventually going to undertake today. Meanwhile, unlike the typical craziness that ensues if we aren't out doing something by mid-morning, he actually seemed to be quite content playing with his trains, cooking up some gourmet meals and other activities. And before I knew it - it was lunchtime! So of course we couldn't go out at that point because we needed to make lunch. Maybe afterwards we'd do something, I thought. You know, before afternoon "rest time". But lunch was finished and I just kept looking outside. And it looked dark. And chilly. And wet. And the bottom line was that I just didn't feel like dealing with it all. Plus, Ian still looked as though he was surviving just fine playing inside the house. So, that's what he did until it was time to go upstairs.

In other words, what I'm really trying to say is that it could be a long winter.

Until I write again.
PS - Even Zach looked depressed about the weather today. And he's usually pretty upbeat.

When did that happen?

We looked up the other day and realized that Ian talks now. Like, in somewhat full sentences. For instance, last week he came flying into the room from upstairs and said, “Mom, I can’t find my cooking stuff.” Just like that. And I said, “Did you look in the cabinet where we keep your cooking stuff?” And he said, “No, okay. I look there.” Then I did a quick double take and realized that I had sort of just had a real conversation with our son. You know, like one you could envision having with an adult.

And I have to say that it’s the neatest and most fascinating thing to watch your child develop like that before your very eyes. For nearly three years now, almost every week brings something new – whether it’s smiling for the first time, sitting up, walking, saying first words, saying new words he didn’t know the day before and then before you know it – talking in sentences.

Of course don’t get me wrong – there are still plenty of language missteps and general confusion when we are trying to explain something to him or he’s trying to communicate a thought to us. Like today I was trying to explain to him that Aunt Jill was going to have a baby soon and that the baby would be his new little cousin. Well, he looked at me like I was from Mars. And then he said, “Oh, yay! We see baby Aunt Jill cousin!” (Or something incomprehensible like that.) Then he was suddenly convinced that talking about Aunt Jill meant that we were going to see her today. “Mommy, we going to see Aunt Jill? We see Aunt Jill today?” At which point I spent the next five minutes explaining that unfortunately we were not going to be able to see Aunt Jill today. This eventually ended with his sad voice version of, “Oh, okay.”

But we also appear to be making some sudden and significant progress on the letter recognition front. I have no idea where he got this from, but I can only assume that preschool thing might be paying off. Last night Jeff was sitting with him playing games on his “laughtop” (which he loves – thanks Dad and DeAnn) and Jeff said that he was recognizing the letters enough to score big points in the game – and saying the words that matched the letters.

Then today, he got some new books that we ordered through school. One is a really cute letter book called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Two pages at the front just have big alphabet letters and I pointed to one and asked him what letter that was – positive he’d never know in a million years – and he got it right! Thinking perhaps it was beginner’s luck, I tried again. Again, he got it right. And another. And another. Before I knew it, I was online checking into Harvard’s early admissions process. Just kidding. It was just Oregon State. But seriously, the last time I focused on Ian and the alphabet, it was a couple of months ago and I was searching for articles on BabyCenter about normal development because I read somewhere that a few kids his age “knew the alphabet” already (which really meant they knew how to sing the alphabet song). Finally I decided I was being a paranoid parent and stopped worrying about it. Then suddenly we turn around and he’s recognizing letters. Now that’s just crazy. I can’t wait to see what develops next.

Until I write again.

PS - Today's picture has absolutely nothing to do with talking. I just didn't have a good picture to go with this post and like that picture because it exhibits the great joy he had the day his mother won him his first stuffed animal at the state fair in September.