Aiden could Roly Poly before he could point. He could do the whole song just after his 1st birthday. He could correctly do the hand actions to 6-12 songs by the time he was 15 months, including more complicated ones like Head and Shoulders. It wasn’t so long ago that he loved to show off his skills. I was smitten – so CUTE!

In April, Aiden became a cuddler. Rather than run around during storytime or music class and do all the motions to a dozen or two songs while he was playing, he parked himself in my lap and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Sometimes he even wanted to lay down in my arms like a baby.

Since then, we’ve only been able to get Aiden to move to songs in the bath or carseat, and it’s rare. He’s picked up a whole lot of new movements (like pretending to be an airplane or a cat or a bird), and loves to show us those, but is not interested in song participation. I miss it.

I’m sure, given Aiden’s development in this way, he could easily pick up new songs or participate with most songs during a storytime session, but he refuses. He listens and he enjoys himself, for sure. I know this is fine too.

I’m just getting to the point where I can sometimes encourage Aiden to sit on his own for a storytime, as sitting in my lap makes him relax and lay down, which doesn’t seem to be as engaging, lol.

Still, I can’t help but miss the very outgoing participator that we had for so long!