Best day of his life

We started doing Music Together classes when B was 3 or 4 months old and I'll confess we had pretty bad attendance. B liked looking around at the kids and liked the music but it seemed like he got just as excited about staring at me and hearing me sing at home. Why would I drive 20 mins each way with a kid who hates the car and push him past his nap time just for this mediocre experience? Exactly. I rarely did.

Well I boldly signed us up again, this time at a location closer to home which is nice, and what a smashing success. The way the class works is all the moms and babies/kids sit in a circle and a very excited instructor leads us all in song. It's a very free-spirited atmosphere where people take off their shoes so naturally the kids are encouraged to move around and interact with others to enhance the "musical community that we are building". I don't think B is quite ready to join a musical commune but I do think he would love to live in a giant house with the rest of his music class.

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The teacher made it clear that it's normal for the kids to be a little hesitant at first but by the end of our 7 week session they would probably be happy to move around and play with others. As she predicted, no kid was very enthusiastic today and none of them even ventured out of their moms' laps. Oh, except one kid. Within seconds of entering the room, B was squealing with delight and crawling all over. He would crawl right up to the other kids, wave, smile, and then try to touch them and wipe his snot all over him. Judging by their reactions, the other moms weren't comfortable with his mucus faucet getting that close to their babies so I would intervene. At one point he was tugging on a little girl's dress which she didn't appreciate, but for the most part he was just an overly friendly kid with no boundaries rather than a bully.

When he wasn't invading other people's bubbles, he was sitting in the middle of the circle with his hands in the air, rocking his body back and forth (sort of) to the beat. The class emphasizes that "you are your child's first musical teacher" so it's really important that you sing and do all the silly movements along with the instructor. For all the other moms who had babies on their laps, the singing and the dancing seemed fun and nurturing. For the one mom whose baby was smack dab in the middle of the circle all by himself, me, the dancing felt a tad ridiculous but I went with it.

He may have been tired after class but his hair kept dancing.

I'd like to apologize in advance to B's future co-workers. He will for sure be that guy that walks up to your cubicle to tell you about his weekend when you are in the middle of a phone call, have a deadline in an hour, and are super hungover from your own weekend adventures. He will completely miss all of these social cues and keep talking without taking a breath. Oh, he'll also probably stand way too close for your comfort and pat you on the shoulder a lot. Please be nice to him, he means well.