For the Love of Music

Zeben's winter solstice gift from Lena and me was a "gathering drum" made by the company Remo Kids. The drum is big enough for several kids to bang on at once, and sturdy enough so that there's no worry of it getting knocked over. All three boys love it. I have a good amount of fondness for it myself. Turning on the music and banging on the rawhide for a few minutes can quickly and seamlessly transform grumpiness into peacefulness. I don't know if it's just that my kids are particularly musical or if all kids are pretty musical (I think it's the latter), but music really affects them in wonderful ways.

Zeb has discovered the joy of putting his wooden peg people on top of the drum while Luke and Jaz are drumming. The peg people bounce and flip, and Zeb squeals with delight while furiously working at keeping them from jumping off the drum all together.

Music is pretty much required to get each of the kids to sleep. Luke and Jaz prefer us to sing to them at bedtime ( "The Circle Game," is a favorite) while Zeben has grown accustomed to falling asleep to the song, "Little Potato" playing on our iPod stereo (on repeat). At the moment, all three boys share a favorite daytime "dance" song, "MmmBop." Zeben actually requests "Bop!" whenever we try to play any other song on the stereo during the day, and then spins gleefully in circles when we put it on. I often will play it in the morning while I'm making Luke and Jasper's lunches for school to help get the kids out of their morning slump puddle of neediness. It is amazing the difference it makes. And despite the fact that we have no idea what the words are or what the song is even about, Lena and I kind of get into it too. Here is a clip from a couple months ago of Jaz and Zeb dancing to it:



Writing this post has made me a little nervous about our upcoming trip to Taos, New Mexico for my little sister's wedding. What will we do without our usual musical outlets? Yikes!