Music Class and The Baby: The Eensy Weensy Spider Archetype
The Eensy Weensy Spider
Went Up the Water Spout…
What is it about that song? Believe it or not, we’d never sung it at home; we try to look cool by playing hipster stuff like Reggae for Kids and “Elmo Sings With the Goo-Goo Dolls.” So Boobaby had never met that fatefully wet spider until the first day of summer music class.
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Her very first time hearing Spider, Boobaby went wild, with the hand motions and the drying the spider when the sun came out. Boo loves music, but her reaction to Eensy Weensy Spider was bizarre and inexplicable, ecstatic, as if they’d laced the song with angel dust and goldfish (Boo’s current addiction of choice).
Then the song ended and Boo crashed hard, still in a pantomime of cramming the spider up that poor spout. I’m proud when Boobaby participates well in music class, but since the next song was a lilting lullaby and Boo was still speaking in tongues and wriggling like an Eensy Weensy Holy Roller — well, I was a little sheepish. (If you’re keeping score, this was that same first day of class when all the moms were looking at me like a crazy man, anyway.)
“Egads, what does that daddy do to his child?”
“Electric shock, probably. They really shouldn’t let men be parents…”
So I’ve concluded that there’s something instinctual about a love for Eensy Weensy. And, I’ll tell you, that spider has been a lifesaver. Boo getting rowdy in her high chair? Eensy Weensy brings her back into line. Need a distraction when she’s bumped her head? “Why, there’s a spider up that spout!” One memorable car trip, we sang it probably 30 times in a row, Boo cackling at each and every verse.
If you read the right promos, you’ll learn that early music class will enrich your baby’s life, give her a sense of rhythm, or set her up for a future as concert pianists. Whatever. All I care about is this: music class has given us four or five hard-wired songs that will entertain Boo no matter how upset or distracted she is.
Plus, it’s a lot of fun.