Not So Tiny Tunes

Sabine, when she was first born, at Kaiser hospital in L.A.

Before I had Sabine, I would ride in cars with friends and their little ones, listening to children's music. I hated it. It drove me cah-razy. The music was bad or annoying. And usually the adorable peanut in the backseat wanted to hear the same song over and over again. I promised myself that I would never listen to children's' music while someday hopefully driving around with my own backseat nugget. I figured that if I stuck to my music, nugget would like it, never knowing what he/she was missing (at least for awhile).

I'm proud to report that I've actually achieved this for the time being. I'm shocked and grateful. Driving with loud music, the windows down and the wind in my hair is one of my most favorite things to do (and was greatly missed during my New York City subway-riding days).

Luckily, Sabine has always loved music. When I was five months pregnant, we took a family trip (with my in-laws) to St. Thomas. It was Carnival and Kadin's mom was super excited to take us to the parade. I was excited, too, until I arrived and saw there was no seating, no shade and a lot of walking in the hot sun along the parade route (Who am I kidding? I hate parades. I just never admit it because everyone else seems to love them and I don't want to be called "jaded." Again.). I was crabby and miserable until I felt Sabine start to kick inside my belly. It was one of the first times that I REALLY felt her kick. The other times felt more like indigestion than a growing human being moving around inside her little aquarium, also known as my gut. But it was as if she were kicking to the beat of the music. She wasn't really, but she was moving consistently and A LOT and she stopped when the music stopped. And since then, she starts moving her body every single time she hears music. It doesn't matter where she is or who is around, she starts dancing and smiling.

Now, remember my "What Do You Do All Day?" post, when I said that I would tell you why I was lucky to be Sabine's mama even though I went on and on about her insanity? This is one of the reasons. When we climb into the car together and I turn on music and roll down the windows, Sabine starts kicking her legs and moving her arms. She throws some clapping in there once and awhile and smiles the whole time. And when I stop at a light, I do the same thing and her smile grows even bigger. And we don't care who is watching in the car next to us. If we're in a store and hear a tune we like, it's the same thing. We dance as if no one is watching. And it feels really good to be that unselfconscious--that free--for the first time in my life.

Here's our current playlist (This is music we agree on. She's a tougher critic than I'd like her to be):

1. Sex on Fire--Kings of Leon (by far, her new favorite)

2. Annie Waits--Ben Folds

3. Zak and Sara--Ben Folds

4. I Feel It All--Feist

5. Sealion--Feist

6. Let England Shake--PJ Harvey

7. August Day Song--Bebel Gilberto

8. They Say Vision--Res

9. Sunday Morning--K-OS (definitely her all-time favorite)

10. Anything by Gorillaz

11. Breakdown--Handsome Boy Modeling School

12. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots--The Flaming Lips

...and if she's not into **THIS**, I will seriously lose it. Modest Mouse and Oukast? Found out yesterday and thought I'd died and went to music heaven.