For the Children

Your eyes and ears start to notice different things when you're expecting a kid. When we're out we notice pregnant women and like to watch cute kids do cute kid things. Our long wooden stairwell seems a little longer now when I picture Noli at the top. And I'm always perking up when I hear songs for, about, or by kids.

Be warned. Even my beginning forays into this arena have alerted me that there are a lot of ways kids music can go wrong. But sticking with artists I know, I've come across some fun things for us and eventually for Noli.

Music by children

Potentially the most dangerous genre of them all. I've heard of some pretty awful ideas out there, like children singing the Now! That's Music compilations of top 40 songs. But here's one really cool class rap project that samples Jens Lekman.

Music by cool bands for children

I consider this a little safer since I know I like the bands. Here a few promising ideas:

They Might Be Giants "Here Come the 123's"--Chris and Debbie got us this one. They have a few albums geared at kids and this is the newest.

Rockabye Baby! "Lullaby Renditions of U2"--Mel got us this one. Again, I think there are a few of these out there. Haven't listened to it yet. Curious to hear what a lullaby version of Sunday Bloody Sunday sounds like.

Barenaked Ladies "Snack Time"--just heard about this one and might check it out. Isn't great when bands you like get old and have kids too?

Regular songs with parent connection

Actually, a lot of my interest now is more about songs that have to do with being or becoming a parent. Even tangentially. Take these gems that Laura included on Mon's birthday mix this year.

"Knocked Up" Kings of Leon
"The Obvious Child" Paul Simon
"Mama Wolf" Devendra Banhart
"Mama You Sweet" Lucinda Williams

I also found a couple listening to some of my back catalog this week that put a smile on my face :

"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" John Lennon
"Goodnight" Rembrandts--great for bed time: "Goodnight my sweet angel. It's time to close your eyes."

But here are my absolute favorites right now.

"Magnolia Mountain" Ryan Adams--the lyrics have nothing to do with parenting whatsoever. But the chorus is good for obvious reasons. It's like when the band inserts the name of your hometown into the concert banter. "Whoo-hoo! He said Magnolia!"

"San Bernadino" The Mountain Goats--Bittersweet song that hit me for two separate reasons. First, the drive they take reminded me of our drive up the California coast in Dec. '05. Second, I love the way he references the roadsign they saw after she gives birth to their new son: "San Bernadino Welcomes You."

"Daughter" Loudon Wainwright III--Brilliant song about having a daughter (and being wrapped around her little finger). Let's just agree to ignore the fact that his daughter had a song about him on her last album called "Bloody Motherf***** ***hole". (I'm not kidding.)

"Wonder" Colin Meloy--So sweet. Must be a little dusty in here, my eyes are tearing up...

FEAR

With the pending birth of our baby, some people seem to think this is a good time to regale me with horror stories of the birth process - as happened to them, their mother, or their aunt twice removed. I'm not sure if the intention is to prepare me for the worst, and therefore seen as a service, or merely a sadistic ploy to illicit panic.
Generally I don't wish to be prepared just in case my baby turns out to have 11 fingers and toes; I'd rather just deal with problems that arise than worry about problems that may not even happen. Guess I only have to deal with this problem for a few more weeks!

The Privledged Few

I have gotten used to a few entitlements that are going to be hard to give up. You see, the larger I get the more sympathy the general public has about my "condition." I have decided not to be ashamed that I use this mercilessly now for certain things. My favorite use of the pregnant belly is trying to cross a parking lot/street. I do this little lean back and rub my rotund tummy and cars will actually slam on their breaks to let me cross. I have tested this theory over and over. Last week I came up to a group waiting for a break in traffic, I arrived, did my maneuver and instantly traffic gave way. People are just so kind when you are pregnant. I've been offered the next place in line and a chair more times than I can count. Generally, I do a nice little "Oh no really I'm fine" which endears people more and they just insist I go first.

Sadly I figured out how often the deference comes into play this weekend when I went to AT&T for a cell phone problem. I had to wait for about 45 minutes which felt really weird. Two factors did play a part, 1) people were really impatient to get their cell phone issue taken care of and 2) there was another pregnant woman there. We don't seem special when we are gathered into a group.

I did get offered one of the only 2 seats in the place. Guess who sat in the other one...

Nature or Nurture? Part 1

As far as we know, Noli is quite an active person. She seems to move all the time. Of course, we don't know how much normal fetuses move. But some have already joked that Noli will take after her mom and be a do-er.

That begs the question, is Noli's personality already set by her genes or will Noli develop a personality as she interacts with us and her world? Don't take the easy answer of "both." Sure that's the right answer, but which do you think has more influence--nature or nurture?

I lean toward nurture. I think the raw materials of personality are there early on, but those raw materials can be used in an almost infinite number of ways depending on the environment.

What do you think?

Coolest Nursery on the Block

It's been a while since a post, but we've been awfully busy lately. Part of what we've been up to is finishing the nursery. Mel came out and painted and brought all of the decorations she'd gotten as our "personal shopper." The room looks fantastic! Just what we wanted. I keep stopping in when I walk by just to look.

I've got a couple more posts in my head as soon as I take some time to write. Keep a look out.

Swaddle Practice

Which Sounds Longer?

2.5 months

10 weeks

70 days?

This is the conversation Mon and I had the other day. Why? That's all the time we have left before the due date! It's starting to feel pretty close. We're already scrambling to re-read all the important parts of the books we read 6 months ago to tell us what to do when she gets here. We are pretty prepared, but are you ever ready for something this big?