Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

Recently, both Julia's teacher and our lead therapist asked me if I had video recordings of Julia to see how she is growing and progressing.  I admitted that I had not taken video of her since David died.  He did most of the video recording/movie making, and, well, I just didn't feel like doing it.  But 21 months is a long time in the life of a child and I don't really see progress day-to-day.  

Singing has become part of our morning routine before the bus comes.  After we do our strong sitting, Julia wants a song.  The Baby Tree, with words and music by Rosalie Sorrells is the song I sung for Cheshire when she was little.  I heard it years before I had children sung by the Jefferson Starship on the album Blows Against the Empire.  I'd been singing it to Julia for about a month when one day she started singing it with me.  Its not her first song -- I could be almost embarrassed that, other than Chinese songs and a some fractured Christmas carols, Julia's favorite singing is from the Chipmunks movie.  Those songs tend to be pretty inappropriate.  I've played kid songs and musicals for her since she's been home but she has not picked up much of anything.  She does like the songs from the musical Shrek and sings it loudly when we play them, but there are very few of the words that she really knows.  The Baby Tree is different -- as it was for Cheshire.  She is also much more comfortable being recorded with me than by herself.  That did not work at all.