The Adventures of Baby Arthur

by Lincoln

I've been playing music for Arthur since a very young age. Not only do I enjoy good music, I've always felt it was a good way to stimulate him. Let him use his imagination a bit, hear the beat and let the music envelope him! Plus, it beats TV. When he was an infant, I found that the And Christmas For All! The Holiday Tribute to Metallica (Metallica in christmas bells!) was quite effective in putting him to sleep. Even today, sometimes I'll sit him on my lap and play some music to help him nap. Before long, Arthur was translating the stimulation into motion by bopping his head and shaking his body. Of course, the first thing I did was play him "Bang Your Head" by Quiet Riot! You guessed it, I am a classic-rock metal-head.

Eventually he was shaking to all kinds of classic rock hits and the Ramones.. "I Wanna be Sedated!" Trying not to be too prejudiced (though I still refuse to play him pop music, sorry Britney), I played him plenty of other genres as well, such as jazz and classical. There was always a mood for something. Our DirectTV subscription comes in very handy for this as it has all kinds of satellite radio channels with all kinds of music available.

Unfortunately, the day came when I decided to give hip-hop a try on DirectTV's Hip Hop Hits channel. Needless to say, I am not much of a hip-hop, gangsta rap kind of guy. To my chagrin, Arthur's reaction to the heavy beats was unlike any of his other reactions to music. His head was bopping, his body was hopping, his feet were stomping, his mouth was hollering and his fist was pumping! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Arthur would not be denied. My attempts to switch him back to classic rock were unheeded as he would nod his head in disapproval while saying, "Not this! Not this!"



You can't touch this!

We have since compromised with Bob Marley and an obscure Hawaiian group called Keahiwai.

Labels: parenting