This morning as I drove to work, listening to the "Wicked" soundtrack, I heard a little voice singing along in the back seat. Obviously she wasn't copying the exact words, but she was making "ooh" sounds when appropriate, such as when she'd hear the word "good" sung. It was so cute.
I knew she loved music. She's been dancing along since before she could even crawl. She'd sit on the floor and bop along, rocking forward and backward in what children of the '80s would refer to as head-banging. It was hysterical.
When she was small enough to still jump in the door-frame jumper we had, we'd play songs for her to jump to. She'd jump to "Yeah" by Usher a lot because her jumping seemed to go just to the beat of the music. After a while, we discovered she loved it when we'd turn on the song. She'd start jumping with renewed fervor and just go nuts, smiling and jumping.
Now her dancing has become more advanced. She moves her feet and her arms. Sometimes she twirls. She dances to just about anything and she has special little things she does for each kind of song. For the Ohio State Marching Band's "Hang on Sloopy" she claps her hands while moving from side to side and then she'll put them in the arm when Daddy does his "O-H-I-O." For Earth, Wind and Fire's "Shining Star," she does this little bend at the knees, too. And when "Stayin' Alive" or Bear in the Big Blue House's "Bear Cha Cha Cha" comes along, she sings along with them, too. With "Ice Ice Baby" she bounces from side to side in a way that makes you think she's trying to imitate Vanilla Ice himself. That's both funny and vaguely disturbing, the thought of imitating Vanilla Ice. And if you play "If You're Happy and You Know It" she really does clap her hands, stomp her feet and turn around.
Autumn doesn't discriminate with music or with dancing and I love that. If nothing else, it's good fodder for the video camera!