Sunday, June 10, 2012

Top 5 Grown Up Songs I Sing to my Kids*

Who doesn't love a list?  No-body!


The other day as I was prepping Daffy for her bath, I noticed the song I was singing her might have been a little...ummm, inappropriate?


You see, I was waxing lyrical to that great classic Nelly song (remember him?  Baseball and Philly?) Hot in Here**.  Because, you know what, it WAS getting hot in the bathroom, and Daff WAS getting all of her clothes off.  So I kept singing it. 


But it got me thinking, what kind of songs am I singing to my kids?!  And should I put the kaibosh on it, or just change up the lyrics?  I thought about it for, oh, about 10 minutes, and came up with this list:

1. Nelly-Hot in Here


2.Bill Withers-Lovely Day

How can you not sing this song to your kids everyday?!?  When I look at you/then the world's alright with me/just one look from you/ and I know its going to be/ a lovely day!  It is the soundtrack in my head when I wake up every morning. I find the bass at the start is kind of perfect tossing-off-the-sheets music. Plus, its just an awesome song.  Try and argue against that fact.


3. The Beatles-All My Lovin'

Ok, this one is kind of a reach, because the song is fairly tame.  But I do sing it all the time, and I'm pretty sure this isn't a Beatles song that was specifically geared towards children (although the verdict is still out on Octopus' Garden, Yellow Submarine and countless others).  I also love the version of this in the movie "Across the Universe".  Le sigh.



4. Elton John-Bennie & The Jets/Rocketman/Your Song/ Daniel

I pretty much sing the Elton John songbook whenever I get a chance.  For instance, this morning when I thought I had tuned the radio to CBC, I had actually only made it to the Eazzzzy Listening station, and they were playing Daniel, so I sang along to Daff as she ate her breaky.  Bennie & The Jets is my go-to, tried and true Karaoke classic, and Your Song is just the sweetest.  Rocketman is fun too.  Dear Elton, thanks for the hits, love, us.


5. Young, Wild and Free-Wiz Khalifa and Snoop D. O double G.

This one is probably the most kid-inappropriate, am I right?  I used to crank this while going to my 6:30 AM yoga class, to try and wake myself up, otherwise, you know, it's zombie yoga.  Clearly, this is a song about a specific lifestyle.  Considering that, I changed the lyrics to suit my lifestyle:  "So what we work out?  So what we drink tea?  We're just having fun, and we don't care who sees!  Living as a young mom-my!".  I like to imagine that if Snoop dizzle ever heard my lyrics, he would officially retire this song, and never sing it again.  A big Wah-wahnnnnn!





So, in conclusion, I guess I'll keep it up with whatever song I feel the need to sing, and can exercise my brain by trying to re-write the lyrics to make them a little more, erm...kid friendly?  

*I also sing "Hazel" by Bob Dylan because that is the song that we named Hazel after.  And, funnily enough, I change those lyrics too, from "dirty blond hair" to "pretty brown hair".


**(as a side note, way back in the day when my bestie and I both worked at a bakery that became unbearably warm as the day went on, we would sing a poorly translated version of the song in French, which went a little like this: "Sa devient chaud ici, enlever tous tes vetements...sa devient si chaud, j'enleve tous mes vetements!"  This is essentially what 13 years of French Immersion education will get you).

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Rainy Days and Museums = Made for Each Other

(all photos from my instagram)

While today is dry so far, yesterday there was so much rain in Toronto that the subway flooded.


I for one enjoy the odd rainy day, as it gives us all a chance to chill out, relax, and do something inside.  Like going to the museum.  


We headed to the Royal Ontario Museum the other day and checked out the sites.  I was really impressed with how engaged our 3.5 year old was.  She didn't get bored once.  She did however want to get the heck out of the bat cave as soon as possible. 


Personally, I was really into all the jewelry from ancient Rome.  And can we talk about that gift shop?  I had to  put my blinders on just to get out of there with my wallet intact.







(can you imagine having this dressing mirror in your house?)


(Reading teepee...complete with fake buffalo skin pillows.  
Shouldn't we all have a reading teepee?)


When I was a kid we had a framed German poster in our house about museums being fun.  I thought it said museums can be space machines (since I don't understand any German).   Those Germans are right.  Museums are fun.  Especially when you get to experience them with kids.

Our museum adventure was followed by a delicious lunch at C5, the restaurant in the newly added section of the museum.  What a space, and a fantastic, laid back menu.