Dancing in Circles

Over the weekend, H and I bought Tali some new toys. One of them is a piano, and it has quickly become a new favorite. She likes to press the music keys and dance in circles until she gets dizzy and falls down. It's very funny to watch.

Here's some more. Post fall.

Dancing with the Bass

Thanks to Great Uncle David, below is a video of Tali dancing with the bass at Commander's Palace.

Music

If you know my husband, you know that when he decides to do something, he becomes completely focused on that project. Last weekend, H decided to update Tali's music collection. Tali loves music so this was a great project for him to take on. In one weekend he added approximately 100 Jewish songs to her iPod. So all week we've been singing and dancing to Jewish music in the house. Tali's had a great time and I've had a lot of fun listening to songs I haven't heard in years.

In addition to the Jewish music, H also added the Barenaked Ladies kids album - Snacktime -  and put it on a CD for me to play in the car. (If I had to listen to the CD from her music class one more time I might have just driven into traffic.) This CD is hysterical! It's typical of the group - lots of word play and humor. Honestly, I think the songs were mostly written for adults who couldn't bear to listen to another kids CD. If you have kids, I highly recommend this album. Actually, I have quite a few kid-less friends who would love this album too (Ilana, Paige - I'm talking to the two of you). There are 24 songs on the album, ranging from a love ballad to the eraser to a song about raisins. (Can you link raisins to Canada in one verse? They can!) The CD is so much fun that I caught myself listening to it when Tali wasn't even in the car. I have one more week before Tali's music class begins again and we get a new CD. Until then, I'll be singing along to the Barenaked Ladies. Thanks, guys!

The Ants Go Marching

For the past four months Tali has had a favorite song. No matter what else I sing, The Ants Go Marching is the only song that can cheer her up when she's in a bad mood. It can actually turn tears into laughter. I'm not sure what it is about this song that's so magical. I don't make funny faces or voices when I sing it. I just go from one-by-one all the way up to ten-by-ten and she has a blast. Nothing else works like this song. The Wheels on the Bus might be okay for a verse or two. Old McDonald's farm animals don't even stop the tears (yes, I make the animal noises). And Alouette (one of my favorites) only works when she's really sleepy but I can never remember the word for neck in French so I make it up. So if you are planning on spending any time with Tali, I recommend you brush up on your ants. Click here for the lyrics and tune. 

Tali (with Anyu) bouncing and smiling to

The Ants Go Marching. Seconds before, there were tears.

First Concert

Before the concert

When: Saturday (July 25)

Where: Caramoor

Details: This past Saturday we took Tali to her first concert - Peter and the Wolf. Since she loves music and being outside, we thought this would be the perfect thing for her. Unfortunately, it was pretty much a bust. We decided to get there early and have a picnic before the concert. In order to work with Tali's schedule, we left right at her nap time so she could sleep in the car. Well, she cried for most of the drive and only slept for the last 20 minutes. As soon as the car stopped she was up (she's good at that now). Once we got there, we grabbed a quick snack (the lunch food wasn't out yet) and then walked around with her, hoping that she'd fall asleep. Unfortunately, she never fell asleep. Then it was time for everyone's lunch so we all ate (Dan and I had sandwiches, Tali got breast fed) and then put Tali on the picnic blanket so she could play before the concert began.

The concert was scheduled to begin at 4:00 and with only a 20 minute nap (usually it's 1 - 1 1/2 hours), Tali was a bit tired. Caramoor had broken up the audience into two areas - children under 6 and children over 6. Naturally, we went to the under 6 area but we should've snuck in to the older kids group. This wasn't really a concert but more of an interactive story telling for the kids. There were three musicians (violinist, pianist and flutist) and within the first half hour there was about two minutes of music. The rest of the time was interactive story telling. For example:

Violinist/narrator: What instrument is this?

Kids: Violin!

Violinist/narrator: How do you play the violin?

Kids: With the bow!

Violinist/narrator: How does the bow move?

Kids: With your arm!

Whenever a musician would actually play a few notes, Tali would stop whatever she was doing (bouncing on my lap, pulling my hair, grabbing H's glasses, etc.) and focus. But since there was so little playing and she was very tired, we left. We were very disappointed because Tali would've really liked an actual concert. Oh well. Guess we'll go back in three years when she can identify instruments and body parts.