Bedtime Dance Party

A few nights ago, the kids were getting ready for bed, when I noticed Ben's t-shirt - a sky blue shirt with a dark blue graphic of an electric guitar and the parts of the guitar carefully labeled.

Now, Ben is a very physically affectionate child who loves being touched. "Hey, Ben," I called, "Come here for a second!"

Ben wiggled across the room to me. (The kids get very silly at bedtime.) "What, Mama?" he replied.

"I just got the urge to play the guitar," I told him, scooping him up in my arms, holding him sideways across my body, and "strumming" the guitar on his shirt.

Of course, as I intended, this tickled him very much. Through peals of laughter, he yelled, "Stop! Stop! Please, stop!"

I plopped him down on the carpet, laughing. "OK, Ben," I said. Flashing me a silly grin, he simply said, "Do it again!"

This game went on for several minutes, before we both felt too tired to continue. As I helped him out of his t-shirt and into his pajamas, Ben began asking me question after question about electric guitars. Josh plays his acoustic guitar most of the time, especially at home, so Ben knows very little about the electric guitar. I read him all of the parts labeled on his shirt and tried to explain how to play the guitar and what the various knobs and bars do. However, I know very little about electric guitars as well, since I do not enjoy the noise and distortion that typically accompanies an electric guitar. At this point, Daddy enters the story...

Josh came up right around the time I finished tickling Ben. As he heard me faltering for words in answering Ben, he tried to explain a few things as well. Then, he said, "You know..." and glanced at me with a sly look in his eye, "this would be a lot easier to show you than tell you." He added, seeing the pleading, it's-really-past-their-bedtime look in my eyes, "Just a few minutes... really..."

I finished getting the kids ready for bed, while Josh set up his electric guitar and amp in the living room. Then, in their pajamas (and Becca in her sunglasses), the three kids hurried downstairs for a bedtime dance party. They love to dance!

Josh played his guitar for quite a while, much longer than the few minutes he predicted, but I did not mind because we were having so much fun.

Becca always dances with full abandon, but she did pause occasionally to adjust her stylish shades.

Hannah danced with her favorite stuffed animal, Puppy, whom she had dressed in appropriate attire for the occasion.

Ben danced around for a bit, before discovering the pedal Josh uses to adjust the sound while playing. Anything electronic captures his attention at least as much as anything musical.

Finally, after at least half an hour of jamming and dancing, Ben revealed that he does, in fact, take after me in some ways...

"Turn it down, Daddy! Turn it off now! It's too loud!" he yelled, until we all decided that the kids needed to dance themselves back up the stairs and into their beds.

Although bedtime happened quite a bit later than normal that night, we all enjoyed the opportunity to have fun, laugh, and be silly together while listening to just the right amount of slightly-too-loud music. We'll have to do it again sometime!

The Chimpette

Josh has a wonderful childhood nickname that his dad still uses whenever he talks to him - "Chimp." This nickname originated from an episode that occurred when he was just a toddler. In his family's house, an elegant staircase ascends from their living room to the second floor, with a railing along the outside edge of the stairs. One day, Josh's mom walked into the living room and discovered Josh hanging from the outside of the railing, up near the living room ceiling. He had climbed all the way up the outside of the staircase. As their house is an older house, the ceilings are easily ten feet high. Needless to say, Josh's mom panicked but quickly got him down.

Becca, our fearless little daredevil, is becoming known as the "Chimpette." After she broke her skull last summer, I thought she might learn to be somewhat afraid of climbing or falling. Instead, she remains a risk taker, eager to prove that she can do anything her older siblings can do.

Earlier this month, we had a picnic in the park in New York to celebrate Josh's dad's 60th birthday. We set up near the playground and socialized while the kids played with their cousins. As I talked with my sister-in-law, I heard Becca yell, "Mama, watch what I can do!" I looked up to see Becca, hanging from the monkey bars, swinging her feet and asking me to help her get down.

Now, we have a Little Tykes playset in our yard that we purchased from a friend.

Becca loves it! Initially, she wanted me to help her on the taller slide, because the first time she tried it, she flew off the bottom a little too quickly for her comfort. Once she figured out how to slow herself down a bit, it is the only slide she uses. Now, half the time, she stops herself and leaps off the bottom.

Did I mention that she also swings at the top a few times before she slides down, too?

Additionally, she does not just climb through the tunnel - she climbs on top of the tunnel and up the back of the playset to get to the slide. Who needs the ladder, right? That's what slides are for...

Ah, little Chimpette... I fear that we will be good friends with our local ER before you are grown and out of the house!