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.

If Ava had an iPod...

... this would be her playlist.

1. The theme from Elmo's World
2. She's A Rainbow, by the Rolling Stones (Rob's ringtone on my phone)
3. The Darth Vader theme (my dad's ringtone on my phone)
4. The Rainbow Connection (still my default lullaby when bedtime is hard)
5. The theme from Two and a Half Men (♪♫Men men men men manly men men men ooooooooooooooo♪♫
6. Enter Sandman by Metallica (it comes on the radio, I turn it up, we headbang, and it's awesome)
7. Mysterious Ways by U2 (it kind of bounces and she likes music that kind of bounces)
8. Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder (on at least once a day on 105.7, and it's about the moment when Mr. Wonder laid eyes {um... you know what I mean} on his newborn daughter)
9. The theme from Bonanza (ideal for when she's sitting on my knee and bouncing anyway)
10. The Trolley Song from Meet Me In St. Louis, club mix (see above RE: bouncy)
11. My Favorite Things (as long as it's not the version I sing at the top of my lungs when Sound of Music comes on, because she hates my version of it and cries just as loud as I sing)
12. You Are My Sunshine by Ray Charles. Nuff Said.
13. Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys (won't let the beat nnnnnnnnnnnndrop!)

These are the songs that Ava is starting to know. We're in the car together a lot, and since she no longer naps on the ride home, I have 45 minutes (more on a bad traffic day...) twice a day in which to entertain her. And then we get home and watch Sesame Street so there's more music there. Ava loves to dance. When a song that she knows comes on, she'll STOP IN HER TRACKS and look around and then she'll put her arms out and bounce up and down. I'll catch it on video as soon as I can.

Seriously, Two and a Half Men. Best theme song ever.

She has interesting musical tastes.

Yeah, given the fact that her father is a dyed-in-the-wool easy listener and I'm the queen of 80s top 40 pop radio, it shouldn't be such a shocker. The song that makes her the happiest? Rosie the Stripper.

The Stripper - Joe Loss

Awesome.

But now, thanks to Rosie the Stripper, we have proof of her teeth, because when I sing the song to her, she laughs.



We're all very proud.

It's a day just for mothers. And that means me.

It's been a wonderful day. I'm blessed, and that's really all there is to it.

Ava's big gift to me was lots of sleep this weekend. Between her reasonable midnight-to-five sleep schedule, and Rob's willingness to take care of that first early bottle, I slept until almost 9 both days. Booyah.

And then this morning, I got up to open cards from one supercute daughter and one awesome husband. Evidently Ava also snuck out and procured a gorgeous azalea plant and a gift card to Dead Poet Books, a fantastic used/vintage bookstore that I drool over every time I drive past.

Here is evidence of her early morning subterfuge:




I'll teach her later about destroying all photographic evidence.

We went to breakfast at our neighborhood Jewish deli and it was really nice. I really like this place. As an added bonus in honor of the day, mothers received a free piece of breakfast cake. NOM NOM NOM DELICIOUS CAKE. That's one of the percs of being a grown-up: I can have cake for breakfast and ain't nobody gonna stop me.

I've decided that becoming a mom has been like joining a cult. In a good way, of course. But all of a sudden, the other cult members start conversations with me about Ava (how old is she, does she sleep, etc), about our family (is she our first, our last, our everything?), about my pregnancy (a week overdue? Goodness! I'm a trooper!) and stuff like that. I first noticed it at the pediatrician's office, when we were all sitting there with our infants discussing poop and breastmilk. It happens a lot. Today's cult meeting took place at breakfast, when the mom at the table next to us struck up a conversation involving her daughter (probably 2-1/2?) and how neat it is to have a first Mother's Day. And then our daughters met (well, hers met ours while ours slept peacefully...) and for just a few minutes, we were all part of the great Circle of Life.

After breakfast we visited Dad & Florence and had a lovely visit, dominated of course by Ava's babbly charm. Seriously, the kid chatters like a parrot and it's the sweetest sound I know. We've been getting the occasional giggle out of her as well, usually by taking advantage of her tickly belly. She freezes up when we turn on the video camera, but I'll get a shot of it eventually.

I'm so glad to be rediscovering holidays (even unofficial ones like Mother's Day, which, let's face it, was created and is promoted in order to sell greeting cards) that I've ignored for years. Rob and I have embarked upon this parenting thing with a clean slate--we're not going to carry over family drama and let any of it cast a shadow over Ava's future memories. As far as we're concerned, we're batting a thousand for joyous holidays.

We have a new feature over to the right --->. It's Ava's Playlist, which is going to be how I keep track of what we sing to her before she goes to sleep at night. Rob and I both know about a bajillion songs between the two of us, but we don't always remember the words at crunch time. So far, these are the ones that we knew off the top of our heads. We'll add more as time goes by.

Happy Mother's Day to my fellow cult-members, past, present and future.

And now, a musical interlude...

No Ava no cry
No Ava no cry

I say I remember when we used to sleep
Every time the sun went down
Sometimes we’d stay up and watch some Jon Stewart
And sometimes we’d read magazines
Good sleep we have oh good sleep we have had
Along the way
Say in this great future called life, we want for you to sleep
So dry your tears, I say

No Ava no cry
No Ava no cry
Here little baby, don’t shed no tears (clap clap)
No Ava no cry

I say I remember sleeping very late
And feeling very rested
And then we’d go to brunch because we were too late for breakfast
And sometimes see a movie
Now we’re up so late, driving you around
Streetlights burning through the night
Then we mix one more bottle and some Gripe Water, well I mean it
Of which will help you sleep, yeah!
Our feet is your only carriage
And so we’ve got to push on through
But while we’re up

Everything’s gonna be all right
Everything’s gonna be all right
Everything’s gonna be all right
Everything’s gonna be all right

No Ava no cry
No Ava no cry
Here, little sister, don’t shed no tears (clap clap)
No Ava no cry

And now, a musical interlude.

The "4AM Feeding The Baby With Nothing On TV But News and Informercials" Song

Slow down, you drink too fast
You've got to make the bottle last
Just sucking down the Enfamil
Looking around and feelin' burpyyyyyyyy

ShamWOW fella, you're a moron
It's just a rag, it's not freaking cold fusion you imbecile
Why are you on every channel?
You make me want to throw a hammer at the TV
Ba da da da da da da
Feelin' crabbyyyyyyyyy

Why is there a traffic report right now?
It's 4:27 and who goes to work at 4:27?!
Ava's finished and sound asleep
I'm wide awake and feelin' like a zombieeeeeeeeee
Ba da da da da da da
Like a zombieeeeeeeeeeee

My apologies to Simon and Garfunkel.