Music Together

Yesterday I was getting the kids out of the car when my neighbor came strolling along with her 18 month old. We exchanged pleasantries and chatted about this and that, and she told me that she just started attending Music Together classes with her daughter. She asked if I had heard of it. "Heard of it," I answered, "We did four semesters! With the same instructor!" She was amazed that I was the one who attended classes with Grace. Why? Read on.

If your unfamiliar, Music Together is a national chain of baby-and-parent music and movement classes that, I’ve got to say, are really well done. As you may know, I was a musician in my former life, and was introduced to music at a very, very early age. So, I wanted to do the same for my kids. When you sign up for a Music Together class, you and a number of other parents and little ones (classes are kept pretty small) are  given a CD of music to listen to for the semester, sheet music and some informative literature. You’re expected to listen to the music together and get to know the songs. Then, once a week, you all get together with the instructor and sing, dance around, play instruments and so on. It’s all very structured, well planned and even fun. Grace loved it, as did the other kids. Now, why was my neighbor amazed that I attended these classes for two years?

Imagine yours truly, Grace and about 8 or 9 other women with their kids, all of us holding nylon scarves above our heads, skipping (yes skipping) in a circle and singing aloud. Or doing little fingerplays. Or enduring the special type of hell that is "free dance."

But it’s not about my own personal humiliation, Grace loved the experience and got something beneficial out of it (I SWEAR to this day that she can keep time). The Music Together classes are very well done and worth the money. I recommend it.

Just be prepared to leave your testicles at the door.

File under CREEPY CREEPY CREEPY

I’m sure that most people (and several monkeys) would agree that, given a choice, babies would prefer to be held in the hands and arms of their caregivers. I’m guessing that this was the idea behind the Zaky Infant Pillow, but all I’m getting out of this image is a serious case of the willies. It’s like a lost scene from an old episode of The Addams Family:

"Oh, Thing, will you and your cousin mind the baby while we’re out?"

[Found at Daysitter]

How time flies

I was backing up photos tonight (as I do weekly) and started browsing some of the older sets as I waited for the operation to complete. I found a bunch from when Grace had her helmet. Boy, that seems like it was sooo long ago, though it was only a couple of years. I know that people say "…it sure goes fast" to you over and over again, so much so that it’s annoying, but it really is true.

Incidentally, if you want to read about our helmet adventure, you can do so here.

Daddy blogging: am i exploiting my kids?

As one of my nine regular readers, you probably know that I consider pretty much anything to be fair game for the blog. Heck, I even have a T-shirt that says, "I’m blogging this." If the kids do something funny or touching or gross, I tell you about it. Sometimes I even post a photo. Or a video. You know my kids’ names and what they look like. I share my experiences as their father with you, freely.

But they have no say in the matter what so ever.

I realize that I’m the adult here, and that I make the decision. But is it right? Do I really have the right to tell you about the huge turd William made at the dance studio, or the time Grace fell down the stairs and went unconscious? At what point do they have the right to say, "You know what, dad? Enough. No more." I don’t know if the line can/should be drawn when/if they can demand it verbally, or if I should really draw it for them.

Sometimes it’s really fun for me to share my stories with you. Sometimes it’s theraputic. Sometimes, maybe, I can help another parent somewhere else in the world deal with their situation(s) just a little more effectively. Sometimes, however, I feel like I’ve turned them into modern-day Dionne quintuplets, and that I should stop immediately. I don’t know.

Fez is Handy Manny?!?

While watching the end credits to Handy Manny this morning, I noticed that WIlber Valderrama supplies the voice for Manny! That explains Gracie’s fascinaiton with Manny, as Fez has a bit of a way with the ladies.

HP’s new camera for fat people

Here’s a tremendous way to send a bad message to your kids…especially our young girls! The new HP Photosmart line of digital cameras feature a new, in-camera "slimming" filter. All you need to do is take a photo of your subject, then navigate to the "artistic" menu. From there, select "slimming" and, as the website says, "Instantly trim off pounds from your photo subjects!" It actually compresses the image from both the left and right, making it less wide.

Whose brilliant idea was this? "Mommy and I don’t like the way you look, honey. You’re just too fat. Luckily, this new camera from HP can make you look more the way you should. Of course, you’re still a horrible ogre in real life, but at least we can pretend you’re a good, thin person with our new HP camera. Now say ‘cheese,’ orca."

This is obnoxious and obscene. The whole thing just makes me feel iky.

See?

I just wanted to preserve this moment for myself as proof that yes, they actually can get along. Sometimes.

The big day

Well, the day has arrived. Tomorrow (Sun the 17th) I’ll be doing the Jimmy Fund Walk in Boston, along with the dads from Noodad. I’m glad to say that I personally raised over $500 for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Team Noodad has cracked $2000! Thanks to everyone who chipped in.

Wish us luck (and no blisters!).

Update: I’m back. It was tremendously fun. More later. I added some photos to my Flickr. By the finish line, I totally felt great. I was amazed. Around mile 6 I felt the beginnings of a blister on a couple of toes, so I stopped and put my vaseline on. It worked great. There were "refueling stations" every couple of miles or so, at which you could grab a water, banana, orange, apple and so on, or use the john. The weather was beautiful and I got to Dana Farber just as the patients, their families, the doctors and nurses were joining the throng. Pretty amazing.

I totally loved it, and can’t wait to do it again next year.

Scranton boy and Steve Jobs

Again, this one isn’t about parenting. Apple released a slew of cool new stuff today, but the biggest news of all is that Scranton native John Legend performed at the end of Steve Jobs’ speech! Cool!

It’s Friday

You know what that means, folks. I’ve got another story up at The Parenting Post. This time around, I work a little magic.