Jammin at Old Town School

I'm a big fan of Old Town School's Wiggleworms, and decided to check out this past Sunday's Teddy Bear Hootenanny. This was a "pajama party rock show," featuring Old Town performers including Mia's past Wiggleworms instructor Rob Newhouse, who she loved.

We'd never been to a concert here and I had no idea what to expect. We ended up having a blast! The concert hall is small enough that every seat is a great seat. It's set up with benches, and there's also an upstairs balcony that we didn't have the chance to check out. The show was great, and most of the songs were in keeping with the Teddy Bear theme. Mia had danced and acted out all the Wiggleworms songs in her class, and I'd always believed that this was because she was familiar with the songs, from our CDs at home and from being in class. However, at this concert most of the songs were new to Mia, yet she still jumped and danced the entire time. She was enthralled! (measure of excitement: an unheard of 3 hour nap after the show)



This was a great show and a great venue. We got our will call tickets easily, got in and found seats with no problem, and exited without any kind of toddler stampede. We're planning to attend some of the other upcoming shows - they have some popular kids performers coming up like Justin Roberts and Ralph's World. You can get more information on their web site at http://www.oldtownschool.org. The concerts take place at the Lincoln Square location at 4544 N. Lincoln, Chicago.

There's a cow on my head

A few days ago, I announced this blog to the world - and then I didn't write for days. It's hard to get out and explore Chicago when the little one has been sick for a solid week.

So today I will blog about the one thing that helped us get through the week: our Laurie Berkner Band DVD. We rarely put Mia in front of the tv, but when she was feeling so horrible and nothing seemed to help, this was a phenomenal distraction. We mostly just listen to the music, but this week we watched the video as well. Mia LOVES these songs. I give this dvd full credit for Mia clapping her hands any time she hears the words "Clap your hands" - even if it's in the middle of a song she's never heard before. It's also the reason she says "Moo" or "Oink" any time he hears mention of a cow or a pig.

I don't play just baby music for Mia. We spend time dancing almost every day to my iPod, and she's getting exposed to a completely random mix - Britney, the Killers, Beck, KT Tunstall, Arcade Fire - and my personal favorite for dancing with Mia, Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire. Yet the songs on this kid DVD are catchy and fun, and while I don't really understand what Mia likes about the visual parts of this DVD, she can't take her eyes off of it.

As I write this, however, I wonder if I'm the last parent to learn of this DVD. We had friends over for dinner a few weeks ago (grownups), and found out that we weren't the only parents with "Victor Vito" constantly running through our heads. And just last weekend at the zoo, we overheard a mom singing "Let's go swimming" to her little girl.

The DVD came with a bonus CD which we keep in our car, and that has helped us with many grouchy car rides. And I should probably be embarrassed to say that on several occasions, I have found myself out driving by myself, only to realize about 10 minutes into the ride that I am listening to a baby CD. And singing.