Good Things: Music

My apologies for the lack of baby posting lately--we got a new computer (a Macbook, for those who care about those sorts of things), and the photo editing software had a bit of a learning curve for me. Especially since I watched 30 minutes worth of tutorials for the wrong version. We have iLife 08. I watched the videos for iLife 09. Sigh. At least I'll know how to use it when we get the updated version later this month.

Next up (pause to admire how the computer keyboard just lit up--it seems to do that around 5:20 each night--probably programmed to, but I'm going to pretend it just knew it was getting dim in here...) on the baby good things list: more music! I figured I would keep going with the music theme for a bit...

Because we knew we would most likely be listening to the same songs over and over for a good 3-5 years, we decided to search out some "non-annoying" children's music for Lincoln. Behold our finds:

We'll start the reviews starting at the top left and progress in a clockwise manner:

1. Snacktime by The Barenaked Ladies: At the moment, I am currently only able to review up through song 7 of this CD. I can, however, tell you that we love love love this CD up to that point! We use this CD during each and every diaper change--in particular, we use song #3--Pollywog in a Bog. Lincoln can be crying and upon hearing the beginning "bum bum, bum bum bum...", calms down, and sometimes even smiles. Which is a shame, because that means we have to miss out on song number 2--the Ninja song. This song is hilarious, at least for adults. I suppose some children might find "The ninjas are deadly and silent. They're also unspeakably violent" cause for a night or two of nightmares. But if they get past that line, they'll discover that the ninjas also, "speak Japanese and do whatever they please, and sometimes they vacation in Ireland." See, not so scary! They're hanging out with the leprechauns! Going back to the Pollywog song...this song has been stuck in my head for about a week now--replacing the Lollipop song from last week. When you hear it, oh 10-12 times a day, it is bound to. We especially love the pollywog rap in the middle "Ribbet Ribbet, a tadpole exhibit, it's a transformation no one can inhibit..". Highly highly recommend this CD. So much better than Raffi.

2. & 3. These 2 are part of the Rock-a-Bye baby series that takes popular albums and remakes them as wordless lullabies with soothing instruments like the glockenspiel, xylophone, and mellotron. Aunt Lindsay bought these for Lincoln before he was born and he has become a big fan of them. We have the Beatles and U2 albums. We may look into adding some more of these to our collection--they have quite a variety on the website that look interesting!

4. Here Come the One, Two, Threes--They Might Be Giants. Unfortunately, I can't review this one just yet. I'll have to come back to this if Lincoln ever tires of the Pollywog song. Can't see that happening anytime soon, though, so maybe I'll stick this one in the car...

"Its a pollywog in a bog, swimming on a soggy log, one day he'll be a frog, a pollywog in a bog..."
(Lucas is currently changing the baby, so a brief snippet of pollywog for you. Wouldn't want you to be left out.)

I think we made a good choice going with these CDs versus day after day of Baby Beluga. If you are looking to do the same, you won't be sorry!