2004-05-10, 9:28 a.m.

I will have a musical child!

Note to self: try to keep the baby from drooling all over the computer's keyboard...

My brother called from China on Saturday to wish me a happy birthday, and in the course of the conversation, mentioned (in a wistful sort of tone) that I had not added anything to this blog in a week. Talk about motivation - if my brother is looking forward to updates, clearly I have a duty to write regularly, and not worry about the potential patheticness of my own navel-gazing.

Leon is going to end up a very musical child, if Christopher and my friends have any impact on him. Never have I known a child with so many clever songs written just for him. Don't get me wrong, I love all the creative singing. It's just that I can't compose a rhyme to save my life, a defect of character which Christopher never quite believes - he's always making up songs off the top of his head and then saying 'Now you add a verse'. Um, I can't....

So contained in our arsenal of small-child-taming songs, we have one that seems to calm Leon down, almost no matter how upset he is (Christopher wrote it, of course). Unfortunately, the ditty doesn't say much for Leon's musical appreciation, since it goes like this:

Bounce, bounce, bounce,

Do de do de do,

Bounce, bounce, bounce,

Do de do de do.

It's an alarming catchy toon - I find myself singing it randomly all day long. In fact, saturday night at my birthday party we had a room full of people over the age of 30 all singing it, while Christopher bounced Leon on his knee, trying to calm him down (he was fussy from overstimulation - really tired, but there was just too much going on to go to sleep...). Luckily, this was a bunch of musicians, and they managed to make the tune quite melodic. But I bet they're all going around singing it to themselves today. Bounce, bounce bounce...Another tune Christopher wrote for a fussy boy goes something like this:

Oh shucks, oh darn,

I don't know what to do.

My name is Leon James,

And I've got to think it through.

I'm handsome and I'm smart,

I know it's true.

But shucks, darn,

I don't know what to do.

I believe that one was inspired by the charmingly furrowed brow Leon often gets when trying to decide whether or not to cry. And it's almost as catchy as the bounce song. Then there's the song Jocelyn - a true musician 'cause she's got a doctorate - wrote for Leon the day he was born:

Leon, Leon, welcome to the world,

We're so glad to see you!

Leon, Leon, welcome to the world,

Now you get to be you!

That one is very catchy, too, and I especially like the way it captures the wonder of the fact that when Leon was born he really was suddenly HIM, not just this idea-of-baby we'd been living with for 9 months. And Leon himself has a vocalization which he says a lot, too:

Lah!

I think that's my favorite of all.