Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

musician in the making


i don't imagine that i need to spend much time reinforcing hendrix's obvious musical connection.



he comes from a musical family, and he seems to be fully aware of that as he has enjoyed music in various aspects since before he was even born.


we have made a leap this past week from just singing, dancing and pounding on the piano; to also strumming on daddy's guitar.  he has a little elmo guitar that he got for christmas, and i think he just made the connection between it and the one that daddy has. 



i have been serenaded a lot lately.  

i know these thoughts are very premature, but there is a little part of me that is already imagining a full drum set in my garage for my boy to have 'jam sessions' with his friends....

good thing his father-in-law works for a music shop and can get us the hookup on instruments ;)

Monday, September 26, 2011

the iGeneration


my son loves gadgets just like his daddy.  his new favorite is our iPod.  He gets really possessive of it and wants to run around our upstairs holding it and dancing to the music.  



he looks at the screen and pushes the touchscreen on it with his little finger just like he watches us do.  if for some reason he manages to pause the music (this happens alot) he wants us to fix it, but give it right back. 


he seems to have such an interest in music - between listening to it, dancing to it, trying to play it (on the piano, drumming on anything and everything, and now clapping).  do we have a future musician on our hands?


give him just another few years and he is going to be teaching me how to use my own technologies. 


how early is too early to start limiting 'screen time'?  lol

Thursday, September 8, 2011

12 months = one year

Now that my little peanut had his birthday I suppose it is time for a little 12 month update.  How long do I still refer to his age in months before it just becomes 'blank years old'? Another thing about toddlerhood that makes me a lil' bit sad...

Hendrix is getting better and better with his walking and balance and recently mastered getting himself to a standing position from the middle of the room without pulling up to anything. It has now been a few days since i have seen him crawl and I think those days may be over.

He weighed in at 21 pounds and 5 ounces at his one-year-well-baby visit and was super brave about his shots (all 6 of them....whew!) though he was really getting grumpy with us by the time we got to the finger prick for the hemoglobin test. Who likes to have their finger poked and then squeezed???
His doctor was really impressed with his achievement of developmental milestones, and said a couple times, "I think this kid forgot that he was born early!"  That was super encouraging.  He is only in the 25th percentile for height while in the 50th percentile for weight, so he might be short like his momma.  poor kid.

He is doing awesome at being apart from his mommy as he is going to the babysitter two mornings a week.  We have successfully finished our second week of that routine now and he barely cried when I dropped him off this morning. My good friend, who has a daughter very similar in age, is the one watching him and that sure has made it easier for me to leave him.  It's been a month of changes for all of us, that's for sure!

He is doing alot more talking. In addition to his earliest vocabulary of mama, dada, kitty, dog and ball; he has added hot (he learned that at his birthday party while being warned not to touch the fire), go and uh-oh. 
In addition he has started babbling something that sounds like 'ah ee ah ee' over and over again while he is playing...not sure the meaning of that yet.

He still loves his signing movies.

He is busy. While visits to the library used to be relaxing, now I have to watch him like a hawk or he just disappears. He is so quick.

Another favorite activity right now is drumming. He likes to pound kitchen utensils on bowls and pans to make racket.  Since that has been so much fun he has also found other items in his toy box to experiment sounds with. His newest instruments have been his wooden puzzle pieces - he loves banging them like cymbals.   
He also likes to sing opera when daddy occasionally plays it for him. He really gets into it and is hilarious!
 What a little musician we have! Lol

Oh and we finally had a breakthrough with sleep habits! He is sleeping all through the night in his own bed! Hooray! We did have to use the crying it out method of sleep training, and it was painful (especially for mom and dad) for a couple nights but our perseverence and consistency paid off and now he is soothing himself to sleep which seems to be better sleep for him and obviously for us too.  It was so worth it!

He has discovered drinking fountains and now we can't walk by one without stopping to take a drink and do some splish-splashing.
He has recently started 'panting' when he gets really excited. It sometimes sounds like he is hyperventilating. very silly.
He loves stairs.

He loves slides.

He loves playgrounds.

He got his first haircut the day after his birthday.  If I had let my hubby pick it would have been months ago so he would never again be mistaken for a girl, but I had a hard time parting with those little curls that were finally starting to form in the back.

I did it myself, and no, he didn't sit very still.  
That is why it isn't very straight. ;)  
It is nice to see his eyes a little better, and I know that it will grow back. 
Won't it?!?!

Oh and is finally getting some top teeth - four of them all at once. Wowzers!

He may be a toddler now, but he will always be my sweet, baby boy. ;)

and then, she {snapped} 

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Monday, June 13, 2011

stealing the show


My father-in-law plays the bass in a music group called the Too Many Strings Band.  Hendrix got to see him play for the first time last weekend during the Grinnell College Alumni weekend.  


He was very fascinated with the instrument, and of course, watching his Grandpa. ;)


I think the feeling was mutual. 



He was dancing all over the place and flashing his wide smile to everyone who would look at him.  It was really fun!






Tuesday, April 5, 2011

seven months already!


This little peanut is seven months old. 


He is getting stronger and more coordinated at sitting everyday.  He can lean pretty far to reach for toys and still right himself without toppling over.


He has this funny habit of picking up his toys, one by one, and throwing them back behind him where he can't reach or see them, and then he hollers.  :)

He also started doing this really funny "head bob" movement thing today.  I have no idea what that is all about, but it sure cracked me up!


The other big thing that I have been noticing is that he is a lot more vocal these days.  He likes to babble and blow bubbles and holler.  He can be really emphatic but he still isn't very effective at letting me know what he means or wants.  I often have a hard time telling if he is grumpy, excited, frustrated or just confused.  



Hendrix really likes music.  He has always seemed to be noticeably soothed and entertained by the music that we listened to often while he was in the womb (Bob Marley, Howie Day, the Beatles, Israel Kamakowiwo'ole....).  

But now that we have been going to the baby and toddler times at the library, his music repertoire is growing and changing.  He is especially partial to ToeKnee ChestNut and  Skinnamarink.  He recognizes the beginnings of these songs and he holds his face out there waiting for me to touch his nose.  If he is unhappy in the car, all I have to do is belt out one of these songs while I am driving, and I have a quiet audience.  I do wonder what the people I pass think when they can hear me through my cracked sunroof. ;)

Each day brings something new and we love it all!