It's a small world?

Well, summer is over! It is official. There is a coolness in the morning air signalling the end of summer and that autumn is on her way. How many people have you run into who asked you what you did over your summer vacation? We have two perspectives...we can look at them and honestly say...not much. Stayed in Franklin mostly. It was too hot to do anything anyways. Or we can have the perspective of our children. One of wild wonderment. If you listened to any of your Kindermusik cd's this summer you can say you visited the world! We went to Germany, Japan, Israel, and Russia. What? you may ask...well, yes! On our Zoom Buggy CD alone we have the Polovtsian Dance by Borodin which takes us to Russia, Zum Gali Gali takes us to Israel, Suliram takes us to Indonesia. With just a tad bit of research you can find that Borodin is known for his famous Russian opera "Prince Igor". Now, both of my kids are little...but you can simply show them a map as to where Russia is and tell them that the man who wrote this piece lived there and show them pictures of St. Basil's Cathedral, of some of the animals that live there, and even pictures of snow. This all started because I am a little familiar with Hebrew and noticed that Zum Gali Gali sounded Hebrew and had Hebrew words so I looked it up. The lyrics are wonderful and full of lessons for toddlers. Teamwork, everyone has a place, and to sing while you are working. This goes inline with our simple "toys away, toys away, it's time to put our toys away" song that we learned in Kindermusik. If you go to church you can even teach your kids that Moses, Joshua, King David, were all Hebrews and that Jesus was Jewish of Hebrew descent! This will bring some relevance to this song. On the Fiddle Dee Dee CD there are lots of places to visit. Japan (Usagi, Usagi & Komoriuta), India (Bangara Dance/Bhangra dance), France (Ah! Lesjolis papillons), Britain (Sumer is icumen in Latin). I encourage you to think outside the box as far as "travel". Utilize your child's imagination. Build a castle and call it Britain, drink some "tea" (juice) in your little girl's tea set and call it Japan, wrap some scarves around your body and wave them with your hands as you dance wildly in your living room and go to India, put a beret on and teach your child please and thank you in French and call it France (and while you're at it drink some fancy french latte or something). Don't let your wallet dictate where you take your children. Let your creativity dictate it. Don't count yourself poor by the world's standard! Count yourself rich in imagination and rich in blessings! Music is a gift to your child. One you can afford to give every single day! Zum, gali-gali-gali, Zum gali-gali, Zum, gali-gali-gali, Zum gali-gali, Pioneers all work as one Work as one all pioneers Pioneers all work as one Work as one all pioneers Zum, gali-gali-gali, Zum gali-gali, Zum, gali-gali-gali, Zum gali-gali, Pioneers all work as one Work as one all pioneers Peace shall be for all the world All the world shall be for peace Zum, gali-gali-gali, Zum gali-gali, Zum, gali-gali-gali, Zum gali-gali, From the dawn till setting sun Every one finds work to be done. From the dawn till night does come There's a task for everyone Zum gali gali, gali, Zum gali gali, Zum gali gali, gali, Zum gali gali, Pioneers work hard on the land, Men and women work hand in hand As they labor all day long, They lift their voice in song Let us work, my friends as one Let us work 'til the task is done.

Mr. Crocodile

So, back in Jan. we had to make several trips to Asheville in the car with our girls and we spent that time listening to our "The Best of Kindermusik vol 2" cd. My husband hadn't really spent any time listening, but when we came to track 11, he thought the beat was funky and turned it up..."5 Little Monkeys sitting in the tree, teasing mr. crocodile relentlessly." So he starts laughing when monkey number one gets eaten by the crocodile. I of course, with the heart of a mother, declare how i don't think this song is suitable for kids as young as ours. So, this sparks a conversation about the crocodiles of life. Drugs, sex, drinking...just living dangerously. How you can't tease the things that can kill you and you better watch out who your friends are and what they are encouraging you to participate in. He believes that while we should only subject our young kids to age appropriate things, to shelter them from the realities of life is very dangerous to them. One of the ways we can protect our kids is to warn them of the crocodiles. Life isn't a game and there are serious dangers that we as parents are called to warn our children about. To love them and be aware of who they are hanging out with. I know Kindermusik is geared towards babies and toddlers and young children and hopefully they aren't living dangerously at such a young age...but it is a good reminder that there are teachable moments in silly songs and that we should take advantage of those moments even when our kids are young.

All but one of those monkeys met his demise by teasing that crocodile and not running while they still had a chance, thinking that the croc couldn't catch them. Let our kids not even be one of those silly monkeys teasing that croc...but if they are I pray that they have the wisdom to get out of the tree before they fall prey to the dangers in our world.

Do you hear the people sing?

"When the beating of your heart echos the beating of the drum..." is a line from a song in Les Miserables. If you are like me and your TV stays on either NickJr or PBS maybe you have seen the running of the 20th Anniversary of the Broadway musical Les Miserables. I have been so blessed in life and have had the opportunity to see Les Mis on stage. Music is such a vital part of our lives and memories are stirred when we hear even just one line of a song that has entered into our hearts. I am so glad that we have started introducing our girls to music at such a young age through Kindermusik. I have always thought that people who let their kids bang on pots and pans were either brave, crazy or deaf (haha!) and this lead to me not ever allowing a single drum in my house for fear of reckless & noisy banging. However, one morning in Kindermusik Miss Cyndi took out a bag of drums and let the kids play with them and when it was time to put them away, we put them away and moved on to something else. It was very organized (as organized as you can be with kids all under 18 months old!) and my child began to learn that drums are not just simply things to bang on...but a true musical instrument. Very quickly this became her favorite part of Kindermusik and she actually began to cry inconsolably when we had to put them away. She got a drum for Christmas (at Dollar General for $4!!!) and absolutely fell in love with it. She only has access to the sticks if we are in the room and when we are done playing the drum...we put the sticks away and move on to something else. It is so fun to see my child experiencing music in all different ways (drums, shakers, bells, and of course singing) and the song that is in her heart is echoed out through the beating of her drum. I encourage you to introduce new instruments to your children and allow them to make their own music so that you can hear a little bit of the song in their heart.

Enjoy the silence.

Decided to borrow the title to a Depeche Mode song. :) I'm not sure how all of you are in the morning, but this momma of two little ones needs her coffee and some time to wakey up. So my routine (up until recently) has been...roll out of bed, microwave some milk for my toddler, put it the sippy and go get her out of bed (waking her up with a song of course!), do the diaper change and sit her on the couch with her milk and Meredith, Al, Matt and Ann (yep! the Today show) while I go and get her baby sister. After I get her diaper changed and bottle made and my morning coffee I sit down for the only real bit of news outside my home that I will see all day. Well, my husband didn't turn on the Today show one morning when he got them up and later was telling me how much more the girls talk if there is no other outside stimulus. He suggested that we don't turn the TV on in the morning until Sesame Street and see if this helps them with their language and social skills. So, I agreed (with a little bit of inner selfishness in that I like to hear what is happening around the world rather than just in Yo Gabba Gabba land and on Sesame Street). They now make declarations (not sure what those are since they don't really speak English yet, they are still in toddler speak), they talk to the cats, to each other, to their toys and bring books for us to read. Overall...turning the TV off in the morning has been a good thing. We pretty much limit what they watch anyhow but have decided to take it up a notch and limit what we are watching too so that there isn't as much outside stimulus and the silence in the room actually spurs them to hear their own voices. So I encourage you to turn off the TV and have a little more quiet in your house...the silence won't last for long. :)

With a song in my heart....

If any of you have ever received an email from Miss Cyndi, you know her signature includes "with a song in my heart". I just think this is the coolest thing. It is so important to have a song in your heart and this is one thing that Kindermusik does for our family. I am married to someone who always has a song in his heart and he has more joy to share with those around him as a result. We have two little girls and they both really love music and of course love to come to Kindermusik.

We are currently in the Fiddle dee dee class which meets on Fridays from 9:30-10:15 and one of our favorite songs lyrics are "when dogs wake up in the morning they always say good day!" and it goes through all sorts of animals. Miss Cyndi asked how we wake up in the morning and we went around singing. But this got me to thinking, we always wake up our girls with a song. It is a song my husband made up on a whim and it has turned into our "wake up" song.

Wakey Up Sweet...
Wakey up sweet in the morning, wakey up sweetie sweet.
Wakey up sweet in the morning, wakey Boober d (this is what we call our oldest)
Wakey up sweet in the morning, wakey up sweetie sweet!
Wakey up sweet in the morning, wakey up sweetie sweet.

It's fun when you wakey up sweetie sweet.
With a song in your heart, it makes you light on your feet...sooooo...
Wakey up sweet in the morning, wakey up sweetie sweet.

It is true that when you wakey up with a song in your heart, it makes you light on your feet and really, it makes your whole day start off right. I hope that you continue to have a song in your heart (one that doesn't drive you crazy like Row Row Row Your Boat! haha) and that Kindermusik is blessing your home as it is blessing ours.