Captain Oblivious :: Kids Say the Darndest Things, Part 673

Saw this from Neil Gaiman the other day:

"Right, Dad. I'll be asleep soon, so you'll want to remember to take the tooth out from the envelope under my pillow and put the money in. Er, I mean, if you're talking to the Tooth Fairy you may want to make sure that she doesn't forget this time, right? Well, good night."

I treasure the way our children nurture our illusions. Or at least humour them.

It reminded me of my favorite unintentionally funny thing my daughter did. You may have heard this one before if we've met in person. Those of you who know me only through Notes/Domino or this site will probably be surprised to find out that I'm a pretty good singer. I've performed on stage, done solos with hundred voice choirs, and I've been paid to sing at weddings. I'm no Pavarotti, but I can carry a tune just fine, thank you very much.

One day when my daughter was about 1 1/2 (17 months, for the anal retentives among us), I was driving her home from daycare. I turned on the radio and started singing along with some song, and after several seconds my daughter started to cry. I turned off the radio and asked what was wrong (she had a few words at this point and she'd usually try to give me some idea what was going on). Silence. I turned the radio back on and started singing again. More crying. I turned it off again and asked if she was ok. Silence. I turned the song on again softly, but didn't sing along - I was just listening to see if she was going to start crying again. Silence. So I started singing along again. And she started crying again. I got a crazy idea. I stopped singing and asked her if she wanted Daddy to stop singing. From the back seat I heard, "T'ank 'Oo".

My daughter, the music critic...

Comments

1 - I once lived with some folks that had a "rule" about my singing in the house. It was not allowed. I think you know of whom I speak.

But in the "Kids say ..." category ... My family was playing croquet on Father's Day. Dad hit a shot, well, which wasn't to his liking, and exlclaimed, "Aw, nuts!". My 2 1/2 year old nephew's resonse: "Grampy, why you say nuts?". It was so darn cute!

Posted by Jackson At 07:18:09 AM On 07/13/2004 | - Website - |

2 - Ms. Five,

I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that you're completely tone deaf, but I could be wrong. Perhaps Bruce Almighty could explain it better, but that's my memory of the origin of the policy.

As for funny nephews, my wife and I were driving my nephew somewhere when he was 2-ish. She referred to me as "Robert" 'cause she does that sometimes, and the nephew said, "Why you call him Robert? That not his name."

Posted by Captain O At 07:38:39 AM On 07/13/2004 | - Website - |

3 - this may be a universal thing, my daughter (roan) would start crying whenever i played guitar, from a very young age (one-ish). and ya know, i play pretty good, everyone sez so.

a few months ago (she is 3.5 ish now) my wife was singing something and roan started yelling at her to stop, and crying when she didn't. same thing with me, i can sing anything either, she totally freaks out.

we finally asked her (duh) why, and she said it scared her. we figured out (as best we can guess anyway) that it had more to do with the change that comes over us when we sing. we sort of become different people. when you sing or make music you kind of change into this passionate animal. if that makes any sense. your face might kind of screw up, or whatever. your body is suddenly speaking another language that little ones aren't used to interpreting. in my case when i play guitar i can sort of go into a trance, i imagine i must look either very lost or like a complete lunatic, at least to my daughter.

anyway food for thought type stuff.

Posted by jonvon At 11:57:21 AM On 07/13/2004 | - Website - |

4 - Usually, she likes it just fine when her mother and I sing. We do it pretty often, too.

She's always been a pretty musical kid. She sings along with the normal 2 year old songs (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle, Twinkle) plus a little surprise her music teacher (that's what they call the woman at daycare who brings her guitar and sings with the kids) taught her: Take Me Out to the Ball Game. You haven't really heard that one until you've heard a 2 year old screaming "Root, root, root for the RED SOX" at the top of her lungs...

She just didn't like it when I sang in the car. I finally decided she likes it when I sing to her or with her, but not so much when I sing near her.

Posted by Captain O At 12:27:59 PM On 07/13/2004 | - Website - |

5 - I wouldn't say Jackson is totally tone deaf - it's more a case of "not so good with the pitch, or the rhythm" (and we won't even get into the Shania thing...

We've been teaching my darling first-born how to be polite, so she tells me "Please don't sing." So that's, you know, much better...

Posted by Bruce Almighty At 12:44:08 PM On 07/13/2004 | - Website - |

6 - Oblivious and Almighty,

HEY! I have rhythm!

It's probably a good thing to expose your children to those that might be less vocally talented than Mom and Dad. Imagine the shock if they someday (gasp) wind up at a karoake night! It'll be quite a shock to hear all those folks that don't have the nice girly-voices that the two of you have. Get 'em used to it now. I'll be over later to sing to my Shania CD's. (yes, CD's, plural)

Posted by Jackson At 02:10:23 PM On 07/13/2004 | - Website - |

7 - Actually, that was CD's, possessive. I believe you meant "CDs", plural.

(And no, to answer your offline question, I don't think our little repartee here is what El Capitan imagined would be filling up his site...)

Posted by Broochay (the artist formerly known as "Bruce Almighty") At 10:13:07 AM On 07/15/2004 | - Website - |