Our son is a little dancer. He loves dancing to any type of music that might be playing. Popular radio stations, classical music, and even country music (a rarity in our home) — all of this makes him dance and dance and dance. He puts two of his fingers in the air and twirls them about while bouncing up and down and wiggling his hips. If popular video sharing websites are any indication, then he’s in the majority of babies who love to dance. We enjoy his dancing so much that we encourage it. We truly love dancing with him.
Recently my favorite band put out a new album. This gave me reason to dust of the guitar, change the strings, and learn some new material to play around the house. The music isn’t overly difficult, but it is somewhat rhythmically complex. While our son has been raised on a wide variety of musical types he seems most content with a somewhat standard 4/4 time signature with heavy bass beats. The most recent song I learned as syncopated, off-beat, and to top it off had a frantic drum patter in the background. Not something I thought he’d immediately connect with — I was wrong.
Now, every time I pick up the guitar and play that song he immediately starts dancing. His fingers go up into the air and his knees bend and his diaper sways from side to side. He turns in circles, looks at me, and even starts clapping. I’ve written recently about how my wife and I desire to have our children surrounded by music. This truth is impressed more firmly upon us each day our son demonstrates some new joy concerning music. In some ways it all started with a wooden train whistle… but that’s another story entirely. What’s next, harp? Bugle? Who knows. Life’s little adventures.