As much as Lee and I love music, I’m quite pleased that Camille seems to really enjoy music too. To be honest, I don’t know any baby who doesn’t perk up to the sound of a song, but I’m glad all the same.
Some of Camille’s favorite toys are musical. Right now she’s really into percussion (she probably just really likes hitting things, but it sounds better to call it “percussion”). She also got a baby piano for her birthday, and loves to play. And for whatever reason, when she’s really getting into a particular song, she likes to look skyward and raise a little pudgy hand. She reminds me of someone in a church praise band. She stands up, bending over the keys, but with one palm lifted toward the heavens. When she does this, I say she’s “testifying.” Lee caught it on video the other day.

Camille Plays Piano from Ginger and Vimeo.
Her affinity for music was the main reason we chose a rock-n-roll theme for her first birthday party. As a party gift, we gave our guests a CD compilation of Camille’s favorite songs (well, everyone was supposed to get a CD, but we were so wrapped up in the party that I didn’t remember to hand out the CDs until half the guests had already left. I still have several to distribute).
I’ve been listening to the CD in the car quite a bit, and reflecting on some of the songs with special significance. I thought I ought to write it all down before I forget.
There are 3 songs on there from a Rocky Mountain Holiday tape featuring John Denver and The Muppets. We started playing this tape when Camille was a tiny baby, and just fell in love with the fun, upbeat songs and silly lyrics. “Down By the Old Mill Stream” and “Grandma’s Feather Bed” are 2 of our favorites, and they regularly get stuck in my head. But the best is the song that closes out Camille’s compilation CD, “No One Like You.” It’s a sweet lullaby about how much a child is loved, and how the child should feel special because there is no one else like her in the world. When Camille was a newborn, I spent an entire evening with her in the nursery, rewinding the tape over and over until I learned the lyrics. Now, it’s one of the songs I sing to her nearly every night before I put her to bed.
Lots of the songs, like “Pull Shapes,” “Rock-n-Roll Radio,” and “Get Rhythm,” made the cut because they’re upbeat songs from artists Lee and I enjoy listening to. They’re not children’s songs, but Camille hears them a lot anyway and they’re just fun.
“C is for Cookie” made it on there because it’s a fun song, and because “C” also stands for Camille.
“Vega-Tables” is from Brian Wilson’s Smile CD, and while the CD isn’t a kid’s CD, the song seems very much aimed at children. It’s one Lee and Camille listen to regularly while playing together in her room.
“The Wonder Pets!” had to be on there because I’m addicted to the little creatures. I was introduced to the Wonder Pets cartoon when visiting Allen and Missy and the kids in Fayetteville. The chick, turtle, and hamster are so cute, and I just fell in love with them and their zany songs. I find myself singing them all the time.
“I Will” by the Beatles has the sweetest lyrics about loving someone for a lifetime, and seemed very appropriate.
“The Moose Song” is a cute and silly little sing-a-long song that Grammie picked up at one of her 4-H camps. She started singing it one time when she was visiting, and it stuck.
“Squib Cakes” is one of my favorites. It’s a jazz number by Pancho Sanchez. When I was pregnant, Lee and I were cleaning the house one Saturday and we had the radio tuned to a jazz station. We’d been working so hard, and both collapsed onto the sofa for a quick break. When the feisty, fun opening beats of “Squib Cakes” came on, all of the sudden Camille lurched inside my belly. It was the first time Lee and I were able to actually see her movements on my stomach, not just feel them. She danced and danced throughout the song, then quieted again when it was over. We immediately bought it on itunes.
I guess we knew then she was our musical girl. And so far, she still is!