31 for 21: Mix Tape

Fluff for today...I am totally telling my age, here, but if Elise were to make a mix tape...these would be her Top Eleven:



1.  Switchfoot:  Meant To Live

2.  Despicable Me 2: Pharrell: Just a Cloud Away

3.  Brad Paisley: I'll Take You Back

4.  Chipmunks:  That's How We Roll

5.  KT Tunstall:  Black Horse in a Cherry Tree

6.  Austin Powers:  Daddy Wasn't There
     (The irony is her Daddy played this for her and she thinks it's hysterical!)

7.  Enchanted:  Amy Adams:  Happy Working Song

8.  Northpoint Kids:  Your Love For Me

http://www.youtube.com/v/P7ZWweFvR3k?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&autoplay=1&autohide=1&attribution_tag=VEX_CexxnzxhgX3hwQnnSQ

9.  Shrek:  Smash Mouth:  I'm a Believer

10.  Heart:  Barracuda
(Another Gift by way of Shrek)

11.  Queen and the Muppets:  Bohemian Rhapsody

And one to grow on:

 

 

(And yes, these are all on her iPod shuffle!)

 

31 for 21: The Fox Does NOT Howl!!

This has gone rather viral...and it's clever as all get out.  I was hyper amused...and yet was wisely disinclined to let my kids watch it...because then the begging...OH!  The begging!!

But I finally succumbed to the temptation of letting Elise watch "The Fox" by Ylvis, because she loves The Wolf Song, you know, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs- Lil' Red Riding Hood?  I cannot stress LOVES enough...

I can't tell if she likes the song or the sound effects...  She was completely obsessed with wolves for 2-3 years, anyhow....again, I am not sure if she likes them or *feels* her brothers and sisters as they converse in howls:

She talks about them, draws them, threatens to have wolves bite you if she doesn't want to change clothes or do homework, pretends to be them, reads about them, plays computer games about them.  It's a very well-rounded obsession.

So, you understand why I totally had to share this with her:

Really, I had no choice.  At all.  I swear.

I asked her if she thought that they howled like a wolf?  She looked horrified!!  And waggled her body at me, telling me that "WOLVES howled!!  NOT foxes!!!  ACH!!!  WHAT????"  The scorn was palpable. 

And then she asked to watch it again!!  I couldn't say no.

Music for the Hump Day #1

LOVE this song...and thought it might brighten your Wednesday!

Thoughts on Heaven repost...

More Musical Mulling

I have been mulling this one over for almost a month...trying to figure out how to say it and make you realize that I am really not being negative!!!

When I was little, music was my absolute life. I listened to music completely non-stop. If I had my way, my record player was never silent. I sang my daily requests to my mother, "Can I have grilled chee---ese for luuuuunch?"I had big dreams of trying to make a profession of it when I was an ancient 15 year old. And again, my tape player was never silent. In college I realized that I only had a medium-ish voice and that I would be much more successful in teaching or one of the therapy fields...And my CD player was never silent.

I listened to folk, classical, blues, rock, alternative, punk, jazz, yodeling nights on NPR, and even had a brief flirtation with rap...I discovered Country music about 2 years before I had Elise...and when I got pregnant with her, story songs were a very common thing for the country music stars to do...I boo-hoo-ed over these story songs...so constantly that I cut myself off...

When I had Elise, I fairly abruptly stopped singing my way to work...mind you, I listened to it...and it was like therapy running over my head...but I found my life and our now uncertain future (like we had any certainty before-hand?) very heavy...and it had weighed me down so much that I didn't have the energy to sing...

When we met Elise's open-heart surgery head on, my speakers in my Camry blew...randomly, with no warning and for absolutely no reason. I was astonished...and somewhat relieved. It was not fixed...we didn't have the money and the Camry had far bigger problems than the speakers...and we weren't sure it would even be worth it to fix them...

The peace in my car allowed me to chat with my baby girl to and from work. After her surgery she was not allowed to return to the daycare that she and my son had been attending, and a friend who lived (miraculously) 5 minutes from my school was able to watch her for me...

Then we had to watch the cancer coming...and then deal with the treatment...and on the times I drove my husband's car, I would turn on the radio and RANKLE under the songs...the insipid words and the unreasonable values they celebrated...the pointlessness that chirped from those speakers as we were fighting for our baby's LIFE...and I turned it off voluntarily...and listened to the wind whistling by my open windows...and was at peace.

After she had come home healed and whole, and I finally got a new vehicle, I listened to an excess of children's music...and occasionally listened to country...which was the only music I could suffer for years...the songs may still twang a bit for some folks, but as a whole, it celebrates common life...love, family, struggles...the little stuff that is really the Big Stuff...

Elise LOVES music and it was one of my posts for her "31 for 21" in October.

It is interesting how this all happened...I mean, I still love music. It still moves me. As a matter of fact, I am doing a Christmas Carol each day leading up to Christmas over on my personal blog, Sticky Elephants...but I hear more... Elise has sharpened my awareness on many levels...I wrote about smell last month...It appears that I may have to hit the others of the 5 senses... I'm teasing...but seriously, how I hear music has changed for me.

I have a hard time listening to songs that value the "wrong" things. I get absurdly moved when I find a song that celebrates life or the little things that I actually see...the things that got lost before I had to look for things to celebrate...health, mini miracles, answered prayers, "normal, boring" life. I got treated to Elise singing "Ave Maria" last night with Josh Groban, and about wrecked the car from crying over the purity and joy of the song...

I have heard a quote that said being a mother was "like taking your heart out of your chest and watching it walk around"...for me...my music runs around along with my heart...Elise houses the music of my life...I think it makes me appreciate and enjoy it more. One more way I feel that I get to experience the "More" with that bonus chromosome...sometimes I wonder if that extra 21st affects me and our family more than it actually impacts her...and I am Thankful for the "More" in our lives....Really.

31 for 21: #14 Music

Sorry I missed a post yesterday. Half days at school are always crazy and last night Gabriel had a band concert.

Which Elise enjoyed thorougly. She's a tiny band groupie. She's who band directors should hire to come to concerts to start the cheers. :)

She LOVES music. Like it's in her soul. She is not picky either, she loves Veggie Tales, Hip-hop, Country, Bible songs, Hymns, and Big Band. Anything, really. She will dance and cheer when the radio gets turned on and sing at the top of her lungs.

For someone who really struggles to talk, she has a great voice. Kinda husky and night-club-y, but she carries a tune really well.

Ethan took her to school a lot last year, she started about the time he had to leave and he went right by it, so she would groove with him all the way there. I admit, I wasn't really aware of what they were listening to so when Kanye West came on the radio and she broke into Gold-digger with it, it really surprised me. :)

I guess it shouldn't. She would sing Brad Paisley, KT Tunstall, Cake, The Chipmunks in my car. She particularly enjoys "Flyflies" (Fireflies) by Owl City, right now.

I look forward taking her to her first concert. I can't think of anyone who would enjoy it more. I would also love to go with her to a symphony. I may try to find a Christmas music spectacular this year. She adores Christmas music...she tried to talk me into it all summer. I admit that I put my foot down...but we did dig out the "White Christmas" movie with Bing for a July showing.

I have found statistics that a very large proportion of kids with Downs play multiple instruments. At first, I was fairly surprised, but am no longer. We got a piano from a friend for Gabriel's birthday and Elise can be found at it every single day.

I have hunted as many learning videos with music as I can, as they are amazingly effective. She retains so much more if it is seeped in music.

She will have a hissy fit if you try and turn stuff off before it has finished...even its last strains, she shares my irritation if a radio DJ jumps in too early.

I wish you could listen to music with her, her joy is contagious. She received a second-hand iPod shuffle last Christmas and while I like to watch her listen, I love it when she breaks out into song. I don't think anyone enjoys it as much as she does...and she loves to share it.

Due to our move and change of schools, Ethan can no longer take her to school...I'm a lucky girl that I get to share a car ride with Elise with the music dancing through the sunshine. I wish I could share her...no, I really don't. Nah, nah, boo-boo! :)