The Rainbow Connection

When Ava was Very Very Small, we discovered that she liked it when we sang songs while rocking her to sleep. So we began to expand our repertoire of Songs that Can Be Lullabies. Really, slow any song down, and it can lull a baby to sleep.

We kept coming back to one song. I didn't even know that I knew this one all the way through, but evidently when it's 2AM and you're grasping at lullaby straws, you find treasures at the bottom of the barrel. Ava's go-to lullaby is The Rainbow Connection. I've sung it (...doing quick math... 22 months times 4 weeks per month times 7 nights per week... equals....) one billion times now.

A couple of months ago, she starting humming along. She recognized it when it came on in the car (it's on my iPod because it's awesome; see also "Bein' Green" and "C is for Cookie"). This morning, after we hit the Maximum Number of TV Shows For a Toddler (two in a row...) I turned on music so she could dance. The first song on the Pandora station? The Rainbow Connection.





I KNOW.

She's learning songs at school, and she really does love to sing. She knows Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABCs (my whole life, it didn't occur to me that these were the same melody, thank you Mozart.), Itsy Bitsy Spider, and so many more that surprise us (um, Paparazzi by Lady Gaga? Boogie Shoes? Check.).

This week we had our first Official Parent Conference. Holy Nervousness, Batman. I mean, I know she's brilliant, but do others realize it? Yes, apparently they do:

"Ava has a growing sense of independence. She is always trying something new and is very, very smart. Ava is quick to figure things out for herself. Ava has a very close relationship with Ms A and Ms A, but gets along well with the other teachers she knows. Ava is a very popular child, smart and talking, with all her peers. She is very well liked."

There are a couple of euphemisms in there, I know. "Quick to figure things out for herself" has been previously discussed here. "Gets along well with the teachers she knows" may be interpreted as "utterly disregards those teachers she does not know". And don't even get me started on "very very smart". Two words, my friends: Criminal Mastermind.

They also sent us home with a binder full of the milestones she hits, according to their curriculum blah blah blah. So all that time I spent guilting about how I stopped doing the baby book in February 09? Wasted time, that. They did it for me. Awesome.