Cranking (Toddler) Tunes
Many things change after having a baby.Ā And I have to say that one of the things that Iām the most sad to see change is the amount of music I listen to.Ā Baby nap times seem to encompass the whole dang day! I used to have iTunes running almost constantly.Ā Not that it wasnāt a battle with my husband over what to listen to.Ā No, I donāt want more Phish.Ā And thereās only so much hip-hop and Grateful Dead I can listen to before going insane. (Yes, my husband is a hippy with a secret love of 90ās R&B.Ā He compensates for this deficiency by being ruggedly handsome and having the miraculous ability to open jars and kill countless spiders.)
The interesting thing is that, aside from the specific bands, where my husband I deviate in our musical tastes is an actual love of music.Ā He loves music.Ā Phish, Dave Matthews, the Allman Brothers, and the Grateful Dead all have one thing common.Ā OK, take a toke and make that two things ā theyāre jam bands.Ā I hate jam bands.Ā Itās just giant swaths of useless music that take away from the important thing ā the lyrics.Ā I love the words. (Surprised?Ā Probably not.)Ā For me, music is like poetry with half the pretentiousness and way more shake-your-bootiliciousness.Ā And I like to play it ALL the time particularly when Iām working.Ā I find that music helps put me in the zone for writing and for design.
But with an in-home office and a baby, itās become a lot more difficult to crank the tunes through the work day.Ā I was excited when the baby hit two and it became easier to send her to daycare/babysitting and thereās only one nap to contend with, but it has also meant that sheās tons more verbal.Ā With a toddler in the house, I donāt feel quite so comfortable cranking up a few of the songs I love, like Donāt Shoot Me Santa by The Killers.Ā I am perfectly prepared to explain that boys have a penis and some people are in wheelchairs and sometimes boys marry boys and girls marry girls.Ā But⦠I am not at all prepared to explain why Santa is shooting that guy in the song.Ā Iām pretty sure I see headphones in my future.
***
Originally posted on 7.27.16 at The Stiletto Gang