Emerson has become pretty uninterested in toys lately. From the time she began to crawl, at six-months, her attention has been increasingly focused on exploring the world and finding a way to be a part of whatever mama is doing. This makes entertaining her, keeping her safe, and being able to get anything done…well….a challenge. To makes things even more challenging, there is no hope of getting outdoors here in the zero degree winter. Every day I gear up for a possible walk outside, I pray for sunny skies and temperatures above 30. Without fail, by the time Emerson has been fed, pooped, napped and I have a zillion layers of clothes laid out….the sky turns grey and it begins to snow….or rain….or sleet….or the wind howls furiously.
Enter, dance party.
I turned on some dance music the other day out of desperation, and a need to move my body (and warm up!). As I bounced around the living room, Emerson followed suit. For weeks I had been wondering why she had been moving her head and neck around at random. I freaked out about it one night and asked Alex if he thought she had some terrible debilitating disease. Turns out, she was dancing. She was mimicking the way I dance with just my head while listening to music or singing her a song. And, as I discovered, if I put on music while she’s on the floor, she will head over to a piece of furniture, pull herself up and start to shake her booty. So adorable, and a great way for both of us to let off some steam.
There are also the mama-only dance parties. Emerson, that lucky scamp, gets to enjoy thrilling performances while being fed in her highchair most days. I was born with an aching to be the frontman of a rock band, but without enough passion/talent to ever be anything close to one. That does not stop me from squealing and stomping around my kitchen like Robert Plant while feeding my baby. Or getting my groove on like James Brown in between bites. Or laying down the rhymes like Mos Def while washing the peas off Emerson’s face. Sometimes Emerson laughs uncontrollably. Sometimes she looks stunned and confused. Sometimes she bobs her head back and forth with me.
So, I thought that I’d try posting the soundtrack of this crazy life of ours. I’ve mentioned before that I have a soundtrack growing in my head as I journey through motherhood (here, and here). We’ll see how far I go with this thought.
Up first was yesterday’s pick. I’ve always loved the first verse of this Mos Def track. I’m not exactly writing rhymes over here (although, I used to…shout out to all y’all that remember my Rap Attack Pratt days), but I’m still feeling his words….
Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape
Now let it fall…
My restlessness is my nemesis
It’s hard to really chill and sit still,
Committed to page, write rhymes
Sometimes won’t finish for days
Scrutinize my literature, from the large to the miniature
I mathematically add-minister
Subtract the whack.
I love that Emerson was bobbing her head exactly to the beat of this one…
