Photos

Today I made all of the kid's pictures on Flickr available only to people I deem as friends or family. I might make them public again after the mess with Orkut gets straightened out but until then you will need to email me so I can make you friends and family so you can view the photos. I don't mind doing this so just drop me a line. Email is in my profile.

Not your typical kid's music

Not sure if I have ever mentioned the fact that Jaida has musical abilities. This fact surprises me because she came from my womb and I am assuming shares at least a portion of my DNA. I have no musical abilities .... zero, zip, nada, none. Not a single person in my family has the slightest amount of musical abilities. It really is quite pitiful. Jaida however is simply amazing ... not in that young musical prodigy sort of way. She simply can carry a tune when singing, she can point out when others are not carrying a tune, she can listen to a tune and change the lyrics around on the fly all the while staying in tune, she can remember lyrics to fairly complicated songs, etc. She has even learned how to play several little songs on the piano we received from freecycle. Being completely tone deaf and not having a memory for lyrics AT ALL I find this simply stunning. She even sings in the youth choir at our UU church. The music director often compliments Jaida on her ability to stay focused, sing clearly and loudly, good breathing and posture, etc. We often find Jaida singing to the cat, herself or Jax . It makes us happy to see this.

I have not been the best at introducing Jaida to tons of children's music although we always have adult type music playing in the car and often at home also. I was never one to sing to her as a baby ... it just wasn't my thing. Especially since I am tone deaf and cannot remember lyrics to even the most simple diddys. Takes some of the fun out of it. Lately Jaida has been enjoying exploring her collection of children's music on her own ... she definitely has her favorites. The Giddy Up song (not sure of the real name) is one of them.

Jaida absolutely loves two songs that are not typical kids music. First is Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer. She actually knows a fair amount of the words to the song. I have to say it is a little strange to hear a four year old (any four year old) singing it.

Waiting On The World To Change lyrics

Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could

Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change

Now if we had the power
To bring our neighbors home from war
They would have never missed a Christmas
No more ribbons on their door
And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want

That's why we're waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

And we're still waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

The other song she loves and routinely requests that Joe play in his car is Fine Knacks for the Ladies from Sting's Songs from the Labyrinth. I do hope Jaida's love of and interest in music continues to grow along with the rest of her.

No fun at all

The appointment was not a disaster but it was less than ideal. Jaida woke in a dentist angst induced foul mood. She finally snapped out of it in time for her appointment but then chomped down and refused to open her mouth for Dr. Sona. After much pleading and promising on my part it was clear she had dug her heels in and was not planning on cooperating. She finally kind of opened her mouth enough to get the little bite thingy in and then we just sort of held her in place while Dr. Sona worked as quickly as possible. Luckily, no nitrous oxide or novocaine was needed. We got through it, eventually. As her prize for semi-cooperating she chose a Beck doll (Disney Fairie) that sits on the back of her Chipmunk friend, Scamper. It is pretty cute. Not sure why I like the Disney Fairie toys so much considering I am not at all fond of Disney stuff in general. Anyways ... that is how it went.

I might have promised her a car

or maybe it was a pony or a cute little pink pig that can live in our house and drink from a baby bottle ... not sure. I have a feeling I will be buying something big if this all works out though. This is what happens when a parent relies on bribery as a means to get the child to do something they don't really want to do .... but oh well.

Jaida has a dentist appointment tomorrow to finish the work that was not finished the last time. And since the last visit was such a raving success I imagine this one will be loads of fun (hence the bribery). We decided to not do the sedation with versed since it made Jaida twitchy and screechy last time. Even though there is not much to do I imagine the short 20-30 minute dentist visit is going to last a freaking eternity for all of us. Wish us luck .... loads and loads of luck. I think we are going to need it.