Hey Diddle Diddle

Absolute cuteness.

The range of songs and rhymes this child has memorized is completely amazing.

Just off the top of my head, she knows the Alphabet Song, She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain, Hey Diddle Diddle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I've Been Working on the Railroad, Happy Birthday, Jingle Bells, Rock-A-Bye Baby, Hickory Dickory Dock, To Market -To Market, Pat-a-Cake, Polly Put the Kettle On, Humpty Dumpty, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Little Boy Blue, Jack and Jill, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Old McDonald, I'm a Little Teapot, Three Little Kittens, The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, Here We Go Round the Muberry Bush, Pop Goes the Weasel...

And the she can actually carry a tune. It's cute.

I know this is the result of singing to Freyja since she was born...and reading to her daily. Now that she knows so many of the songs that she just listened to for so long, we sing together. Sometimes Freyja busts out her little play piano, shakers, or horn.

Singing, in turn, helps her to learn language, and along with experimenting with instruments, it develops her sense of rhythm.

The newest song we sing together is My Favorite Things...the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from The Sound of Music. I picked up a beautifully illustrated paperback with the lyrics scattered throughout the pages and the sheet music in the back at a thrift store for 25 cents, and its been worth every penny. She doesn't know all the words yet, but I hear her singing little parts here and there while she's playing or dancing around...

Things I Love: Swinging

I took Freyja down to the park (which is only a block away) this week to take a ride in the toddler swing. She loved it! As you can see, it's still quite cold here and more like winter than spring. But, Freyja has always been an outside sort of baby no matter what the weather, and she had a great time anyway. I can see that when the weather is nice, we'll be doing a lot of swinging...

So, this is Freyja, swinging and giggling, and being tickled by me...

And here is Freyja waving...a new skill that she's all too happy to demonstrate with people and all kinds of random objects. We're still working on the high five.

~

It's a Video Clip!

I thought people might enjoy seeing Freyja playing in a video, since no one actually gets to see her in person. There isn't any sound...but she's screaming and babbling the whole time she's messing with these stacking rings and tossing her legs about. It was pretty funny....

What does she keep looking up at on the left? That would be the cat. She is immensely interested in everything cat-related, and where she is at all times. Peanut doesn't quite know what to make of it. It's like she's thinking, "Hey! You weren't even interested in me for the longest time, and now you won't leave me alone!" Freyja just loves to pet her and check out everything she does...

Oh, I also want to add that I feel pretty cool, since I figured out how to load a video onto my blog.

EDIT: Okay, so there IS sound. Enjoy!