Assume the Perpendicular

When I was little I had trouble going to sleep. I had a security blanket, a stuffed bunny, a night light, and a lullaby tape - all were essential bedtime fare. I can remember listening to the lullaby tape in the dark of my room (although it wasn’t really all that dark because of the night light). Sometimes I would stay awake long enough to reach the end of the tape. I always felt sad when I heard the very last song come on. I would climb out of bed, flip the tape over, and listen to it again until I finally fell asleep. The songs became precious markers of my childhood.

They were special to my mother as well. She sang them to me during the day and often rocked me while they played at night. The day we brought Eleanor home from the hospital I was laying in bed with her, when I heard the sounds of my lullaby tape coming from the other room, and my eyes filled with tears. I would have thought that the old tape was gone for good, it was over 20 years old, but my mom tried looking for it on iTunes (now in mp3 form of course), and it was there! She downloaded it so that she could share it with me.

I had such an emotional connection to these songs that it was difficult for me to listen to them at first. I would just cry and cry. I would try to sing them to the baby and cry even harder. We’ve been listening to the album for Eleanor’s entire life, and I can get through most of it without tears now, but a few of the sappier songs still get me sometimes. 

All nostalgia aside, I’m really happy to have this album for Eleanor because the songs are so darn cute. I don’t know a lot of kids songs that I can sing to her, and these are top notch. They are simple, just a female vocalist with guitar accompaniment, with educational lyrics, a mellow tone, and sweet, catchy melodies. I love singing them around the house to Eleanor, and I know that as she gets older they will help her learn everything from manners to alphabet sounds to the months of the year. (Disclaimer: I could go on and on about how much I love these little songs, but I know they won’t appeal to everyone. My husband finds them really annoying. He doesn’t mind it so much if I’m the one singing them, but he kind of hates it when I put the album itself on. But what little kid music isn’t at least a little bit annoying? He’ll just have to get over it.)

I thought it might be nice to share this album, which is called Sounds Like Fun by the way, with all of you. If you’re looking for some cute songs to sing to your little one, you might really enjoy it. A few of the quieter tunes might even make you cry. You can download it here.