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Raising a musically eclectic child

I think we’re doing it right.

She likes the typical little kid music like Twinkle, Twinkle and Wheels on the Bus.

She also likes Classical and can sing snippets thanks to Little Einsteins. She remembers her first symphony concert and going to see Peter and the Wolf (and I plan to take her to more!). Side note: It was fun finding that link to the Little Einsteins theme song! We listened to it in Japanese, Spanish, German, and French!

She likes Christian (pop to traditional hymns) and dances in the aisle during rehearsals. I’ve already warned our pastor that we might get into interpretive dance in a few years (now that I think about that, I’m not sure how the Lutheran church - Missouri Synod feels about that. hehe).

Her favorite XM station is Flight 26.

She likes pop (Hannah Montana, Leona Lewis, and Natasha Bedingfield). I feel it necessary to add that when I started the Leona Lewis video, she hadn’t even started singing and Taylor was able to name the song.

Her daddy introduced her to Evanescence and she loves them.

And now, a “for a short time only” XM station that she likes and it made me proud when she told me to turn up louder: XM 51 Mandatory Metallica.

That’s my girl!!

August 30, 2008, 7:24 pm | Comments Off

Taylor story

We were talking about lunches and I learned that she gets chocolate milk (no surprise). I asked if she ever got white milk and the answer was no. I told her I’d like her to get that every once in awhile and she mildly complained then came up with a compromise. She told me that she’d have chocolate milk at school and white milk at home.

Later, she told me that she wanted to eat breakfast at school. I said, “Okay. But you have to get white milk or juice - no chocolate milk.” She groaned and said she’d eat at home. Now, I don’t even know if chocolate milk is available at breakfast time - I hope not, but you never know. At any rate, I couldn’t help but smile at her innocence. It hasn’t occurred to her yet to say, “Yes ma’am.” and then get whatever she wants. I know the day is coming, but I’m enjoying the innocence while it’s still around!

August 21, 2008, 11:56 am | Comments Off

Catch up time!

Okay, so most everyone knows that our baby girl started Kindergarten. She’s also riding the bus (started on the 2nd day and didn’t so much as wave to us!). The downside to the bus is that it’s now arriving 15 minutes earlier than it did before. We really don’t want to have to wake her before 6 but this morning was a challenge to get her fed, dressed, and out there!

As for school itself, I’m excited about her music class. Bummed that it’s only one day a week, but oh well. The teacher is Orff-Schulwerk certified (here and here for more info). I studied this a little at Georgia College and if they have at least some of the equipment (or even if they don’t!) she’ll have a BLAST!

One of the things done involves xylophones with removable bars. The bars are generally set up in a pentatonic scale (black keys on a piano) and basically, anything the kids play sounds good together! There’s no such thing as “wrong” in this set up.

We’re also adjusting to her new schedule. She’s on the bus pretty early - about 30 minutes before we have to leave for work, in fact. The first day, we walked into the quiet house and I said, “Um… now what?” I had a similar reaction the first night we had her bedtime at a strict 8pm. I’m actually awake enough to watch TV or socialize with my husband! (at least for an hour - I’m usually asleep in the recliner by 9, much to his dismay)

We also started dance class back up and received some news that made us proud! Her teacher asked to talk to me after class and suggested that we move Taylor up to the next class! It’s a bit more challenging but the teacher believes she can handle it and noticed that she’s been paying more attention, etc. SO! Brian, who works for a wonderful employer, has adjusted his schedule for Mondays so that he can get her to dance class in time!

And I think that’s it! For now anyway

August 20, 2008, 12:31 pm | Comments Off

Mental Day

So I’ve twitted on this a little bit already. I took a “mental” day today because my house was making me mental. Additionally, Taylor wanted her mommy and promised to help clean and stayed home too.

She helped me start laundry then we went to her room. First, I introduced her to the joys of cranking up the music while cleaning. That was interrupted by a faulty CD player, so music’s on hold doggoneit. then, we cleaned up around her toy baskets and I proceeded to her closet. She is now discovering the joys of cleaning out the closet! She’s finding long lost toys like her Care Bears, Minnie Mouse, some of her pom-poms, and Duck-Duck & Bullup. I can’t find the original post on those, but they’re bath toys she had as a baby. “Bullup” was her attempt at making a frog sound.

And now - the sadness. She has changed Duck-Duck’s and Bullup’s names. Duck-Duck is now Smiley.
Bullup is now McCala. When I said, “Noooo!” she walked off with a “I’m not a baby anymore…”

Sadness indeed. Now back to work!

August 4, 2008, 9:06 am | Comments Off

Ten years

Tenth anniversary clock, originally uploaded by bmcalist.

Ten years ago today, I walked in the doors of al.com for the first time, wearing shorts and sporting hair way too long. It was my first time in the building, as my interview was done over the phone. My first task: typing up anecdotal information from all SEC football stadiums from a book. Cleaning out the junk closet recently, I came across the dated 3½” disk I saved it on. It sits here beside me, though I don’t have a single machine at my desk that can read it.

July 31, 2008, 2:15 pm | 2 Comments »