If I Could Get Her to Sing Her Commands, It Would Sound Better

There’s nothing cuter than hearing your 3-year-old singing behind you from her car seat. It makes me proud to hear her intonations on “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” any song from “Beauty and the Beast,” or the ever-appropriate toddler tome, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Yes, my daughter is a Beatles freak. She particularly likes the “Sgt. Pepper” album, which she clamors for. Not my particular favorite, but a classic nonetheless.

She has always had a very melodious voice – the kid can carry a tune. And she sings all the time. She may not get all the words, but who does? Any one of us singing along with the radio mangles the lyrics now and then. She just does it with gusto.

The other thing she still does with great gusto is boss us around. Yesterday, when she was particularly vexed with me, said, “I’m going to count … One! Two!...” I half expected her to say, “You don’t want me to get to three.” She did say, “Do you want a timeout?” I didn’t tell her I would love a timeout. 48 minutes all to myself. I could manage a nap in that time. Lovely.

Brigid had a Chaskey visit yesterday. He looked at her ears to make sure the fluid he saw last month had dried up, and it had. She’s in fine health. The stuffiness she experiences may or may not be allergies, but he wasn’t concerned because they don’t affect her daily existence. They don’t affect her speech, her eating, her sleeping. In other words, he doesn’t want to dose her with allergy medications if she’s functioning well.

Margaret is taking her friends to see “Star Trek” tonight as part of her birthday present, but I get to miss the festivities, which include a pizza party afterward, because I’ll have Brigid with me first, and then I go to dance class afterward. Can’t miss the next few weeks because the recital is right around the corner. Both Patricia and Margaret are also gearing up for the recital. They dance all four days of the event – every night they dance tap and on Saturday night they dance jazz as well. Next year all four of us will be dancing. That’s going to be a huge challenge for Susan and Nancy, the teachers, because they try to coordinate nights for the groups where multiple family members dance. For now, I just want to get through the next month unscathed. I think I’ll adopt Brigid’s outlook and just keep on singing.