Live. Laugh. Love.: Licensed to Drive

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Licensed to Drive

For Will's first Easter (at 9 months old) I filled his basket with some children's music CD's and a coordinating book by a musician named Jim Gill. I ordered them online after seeing Jim speak at a seminar for "children's music, movement and play". There are several CD's each with a collection of silly songs that you can dance and sing along with. Check them out at: http://www.jimgill.com/new/home.html

When he was a baby, Will loved the "Toy Boat" song (those are the only two words in the song and it's really quite boring, but it's a tongue twister when sung faster) and he had a toy boat that he used to bounce around with. Now his current favorites include: "Toe, Leg, Knee", "Yes, No, Maybe", "May There Always Be Sunshine", and "Driving Here, Driving There". It's hard to tell, but he's dancing here (holding his barrel of monkeys):

The book is just a written version of the "May There Always Be Sunshine" song and it is definitely my favorite. I know I've mentioned it on here before but it's a song about favorite things and people that you want there to "always be". So Jim created the song's simple concept and then lets the children fill in the blanks when he sings at his concerts. In the back of the book, he has a cute list of lots of things children have come up with. So if the words to the song seem strange, it's just the beauty of a child's thoughtful mind. Who wouldn't want there to always be skyscrapers? :) http://www.jimgill.com/new/see_maythere.html

I sing that song a lot with the kids. Sophie obviously doesn't get it yet, but she snuggles right down on my shoulder when I sing it to her at bedtime. And Will is pretty fun about filling in the blanks. He often likes to sing "may there always be us", which is really cute. Last night I put him to bed first and then he heard me singing to Sophie across the hall. As I was rocking her, I could hear him through the door sing "may there always be us". After laying her down, I went back into his room and whispered "may there always be us" into his ear and gave him another kiss on the forehead. He's such a good boy.

Okay, onto clarifying the title of this post... The "Driving Here, Driving There" song brought back memories for me of playing "car" with my cousin Molly when we were kids. We had chairs set up with one in front of the other and we took turns being the driver and turning a frisbee for a steering wheal. I'm pretty sure I have pictures of that day in an old photo album - we're decked out with hats and handbags with very important places to go.

So I decided to set the scene for Will too. First we pretended to go to the grocery and pick up some milk, grapes, and eggs. But Will drove too fast and broke the eggs. :)