October
2009
Mi mi mi mi10
On an unrelated note, I have made a discovery: Dorrie really likes my singing. I sang to her some when we were still in the hospital, but I have rarely sung to her at home, because there have rarely been situations where (a) she is awake, (b) I want her to sleep, and (c) I do not have an audience besides her. (Because I am kind of shy about singing in public.) But a few weeks ago, I finally gave in and decided to try singing to Dorrie at bedtime, and darned if it didn’t quiet her down like magic. I even glanced at her sat monitor while she listened, and her heart rate had dropped down to the levels we normally only see when she is sleeping soundly, even though she was still awake — a sure sign that she was very, very relaxed.
And I was amazed by this, because frankly, I have a terrible time trying to get her to respond when I talk to her. I’ll try calling her name, clapping my hands, making that popping noise with my lips that she seems to like, and usually she totally ignores me, but when I start singing to her, her reaction is almost instantaneous. And I know she is really listening, because when I sing what seems to be her favorite song from my repertoire (“Z Y X”, from Here Come the ABC’s), not only does she become very relaxed, she almost always breaks into a smile when I hit this particularly high note near the end. And of course, this also makes me feel much better about her hearing in general — her refusal to respond when I talk to her sometimes makes me worry, but if she is hearing me clearly enough to recognize a tune, she must be hearing a lot more than I have been giving her credit for.
That’s great that Dorrie is responding to your singing voice!
(October 26th, 2009 at 4:22 PM)
I wonder if there are any songs she doesn’t like. There are a few I sing that she’s less interested in, for sure.
(October 26th, 2009 at 5:03 PM)
That’s pretty nifty.
It occurs to me I don’t think I even know good songs to sing to babies.
(October 27th, 2009 at 3:54 PM)
It seems like pretty much anything I sing to her calms her down, but that one is the only one I’ve noticed her cracking a smile at.
Of course, all of the songs I sing to her are by TMBG, so maybe that has something to do with it. ;)
(October 28th, 2009 at 4:25 AM)
Heh. The one song that it did occur to me to sing to a kid was “The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas.” :)
(October 28th, 2009 at 2:28 PM)
Congratulations!!! It’s always awesome when you find something that works – and the price is right – FREE!!! Keep up the good work. You’re awesome parents.
(October 29th, 2009 at 9:19 AM)
Yay! Timestamps!
(October 29th, 2009 at 11:47 AM)
It turns out they were always there if you hovered over the name of the person who posted the comment. What an incredibly stupid place to hide them.
(October 29th, 2009 at 4:34 PM)
Weird.
(October 30th, 2009 at 9:22 AM)
Great!
(October 30th, 2009 at 8:50 PM)