I spend a lot of time singing with my boys. I thought for sure that Aiden would grow into singing, but he’s been slow to begin it. Just like with his song actions, he became very reticent about developing his singing skills. For a few months, we heard him singing a line or two in his crib before bed, but it was not a phase that lasted long. Since then, we have encouraged him to sing or at least fill in the words in songs, though I didn’t want to press the issue (since he was obviously shy about it). Still, I continued to sing. Oddly enough, he still likes it when I sing children’s songs even though he quite dislikes any children’s music I play on the stereo.
Perhaps thanks to preschool, where all kids are encouraged to participate in circle time, Aiden has begun to open up with his singing. His hand motions came back last year when he began preschool and this year he has begun to sing!! Just recently I was able to coax him into singing twice in the bath (second time recorded below) and today he sang several songs with me in the car!
He’s not very confident of his singing yet – he says he doesn’t know the words – but I’m going to try to build up his confidence with practice. Damien loves to hear Aiden in the car so it will be a great time to do it.
I’ve been trying to capture Aiden’s fake laugh for a while now. When he does something he thinks is funny, he has a fake laugh that he thinks is hilarious. Here is a video where Aiden is “singing” (he prefers to sing gibberish to actual songs) and laughing at his own hilarity.
Aiden is making a lot of progress when he’s singing. He’s most likely to sing when not in the spotlight. His most common stage is his crib – he often sings before bedtime or in the morning.
Aiden doesn’t sing many songs from start to finish unassisted, but will sing bits on his own. The first two lines are most common before he gets distracted.
Aiden enjoys singing Twinkle Twinkle, Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck, Hello Everybody, Zoom Zoom and the Bananas Song. Sometimes a song he’s been thinking about will crop up, like the ABCs or Wheels on The Bus.
Just today, Aiden was in his crib when I hear: “Aiden want to sing The Wheels on the Bus. The wheels on the bus goes round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round. Awwwww wheels not working. Not working anymore. Probably not working.”
As you can see, easily distracted. He always ends up on a tangent in his pretend world making up stories.
Aiden will also make up songs. “Aiden shoes on. Aiden shoes off. Aiden shoes on. Aiden shoes off.” When he then said: “Mommy, sing Aiden’s shoe song!”, I clued in that he was doing more than just babbling. Super cute.
It’s clear Aiden wants to sing more. He will often move his lips when someone sings, trying to learn the words perhaps. Or lip sync? Cute though. He’s also participating more now that he’s started preschool once a week (my guess).
Aiden has begun to sing along to ‘Old MacDonald’!! He doesn’t know all the words yet, of course, but he chimes in (usually when prompted) for E-I-E-I-O and for the animal sounds. Because he has so many animal sounds, the song can go on for a VERY long time. He knows sounds for: sheep, cats, goats, dogs, birds, crows, cows, chickens, snakes, bees, horses, zebras, donkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, lions, monkeys, gorillas and probably a few others.
Aiden is a huge lover of music. We listen to kids music while he plays (he dances and points as soon as we come downstairs) and sing. A lot. We go to music class, sing at other classes, sing in the bath and in the car. When Aiden doesn’t have a snack and doesn’t feel like talking about what he sees outside the window, we sing.
First, I ask Aiden what he wants to sing. He’ll either say a word or use one of his made-up signs to tell me which song he wants. If he doesn’t, I’ll suggest one. He’ll shake his head or say ‘No’ until I get to one he wants, when he’ll grunt happily. Then we will sing it once or as many times as he wants – or, only partly, if he changes his mind.
Because we’re in the car, Aiden pays attention to his songs a lot more – not much to distract him, right? He is more willing to do hand actions to his songs: he can do all of Roly Poly, Wheels on the Bus and 2 verses of Head and Shoulders, as well as many others.
‘Old MacDonald’, however, is his first “song” attempt. He’s taking part in the words! Yay!! He was SO excited today with each verse, it was so cute!
Zayden has never been a big fan of personal grooming. You know the kid with the perpetually runny nose? The one with a little bit of his lunch still stuck to his face? The kid that you see and think, “Why can’t his parents just wipe his face?” That’s my kid. We try to keep his face clean; we really do, but it is hard because he hates having his face wiped. He screeches, cries, and violently slaps our hands away whenever he sees a cloth or tissue coming towards him. He also puts up a fight when it comes to brushing his teeth, changing his diaper and putting on his shoes and coat.
Apparently this is a common toddler issue as they begin to assert their independence and their new found love of the word no. But we have finally found something that gets us a little extra cooperation when it comes to cleaning his face and hands: The Alligator Song.
It is a song I made up on the fly one day while struggling to clean him up after a particularly messy lunch. Zayden loves music, so he responded well and we now sing it whenever we need to clean him up from a meal. He’s so familiar with it now that he will, on occasion, hold out his other hand to be cleaned at the appropriate point in the song. He still turns his face away when we clean his face, but at least he doesn’t cry anymore.
So if you’re like us and have tried everything to get your toddler to cooperate with basic personal grooming, here’s one more thing to try: The Alligator Song (to the tune of The Wheels On The Bus).
(While washing his hands)
The alligator goes chomp chomp chomp
Chomp chomp chomp
Chomp chomp chomp
The alligator goes chomp chomp chomp
And eats up all of the crumbs
(While washing his face)
The alligator goes lick lick lick
Lick lick lick
Lick lick lick
The alligator goes lick lick lick
And cleans up your dirty face
Aiden has begun to sing along to ‘Old MacDonald’!! He doesn’t know all the words yet, of course, but he chimes in (usually when prompted) for E-I-E-I-O and for the animal sounds. Because he has so many animal sounds, the song can go on for a VERY long time. He knows sounds for: sheep, cats, goats, dogs, birds, crows, cows, chickens, snakes, bees, horses, zebras, donkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, lions, monkeys, gorillas and probably a few others. 
Zayden has never been a big fan of personal grooming. You know the kid with the perpetually runny nose? The one with a little bit of his lunch still stuck to his face? The kid that you see and think, “Why can’t his parents just wipe his face?” That’s my kid. We try to keep his face clean; we really do, but it is hard because he hates having his face wiped. He screeches, cries, and violently slaps our hands away whenever he sees a cloth or tissue coming towards him. He also puts up a fight when it comes to brushing his teeth, changing his diaper and putting on his shoes and coat.