Mia's Dance Moves

I’ve written a few times on my blog about the various musical aspirations I’ve had for my children. Toby was the first one to dupe me by PRETENDING to be a fan of Kanye while in the womb and then staring at me DUMBFOUNDED when I introduced him to real life hip hop music that wasn’t obscured by amniotic fluid. He then went on to prove to me that what kids ACTUALLY like are Raffi songs and Old MacDonald had a Farm. It took some getting used to, but almost 4 years into it, I now more often than not find myself bopping along to “Baby Beluga” for at LEAST 5 minutes after letting Toby off at daycare. It takes a while before noticing that I have regained control of my radio again.

OK FINE, that’s not the whole story. The truth is that a lot of times now I don’t even BOTHER to turn it off. Whoever WRITES these catchy songs for kids probably has a side job in Vegas because they draft the most ADDICTIVE and CATCHY tunes imaginable. After a few times you don’t even NOTICE how ridiculous the lyrics are you have so EMBEDDED the tune in your brain you just can’t suppress the urge to whistle, hum or sing it. Over. And Over. And finally HEARING the song again after whistling, humming or singing it to yourself all day long at the office is like finally scratching that spot on your back that has been itching all day long.

And then there was Mia.

Having learned NOTHING from Pregnancy #1, this time, Mia’s in utero musical selection had me convinced that she was a Drag Queen. (I guess the very fact that her default genitals are female immediately disproves my suspicion.) Mia didn’t seem to react AT ALL to music while she was a wee zygote. In fact, all of the addictive Raffi tunes in the world (and even Toby’s month long Frosty the Snowman kick) didn’t jolt her into a few kicks. It wasn’t until I was at the musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert that she proved that not only could she hear, but also that she LOVED that particular genre of music.

Since her birth I have PURPOSELY not brought out my Stayin Alive CD in the hopes of delaying the inevitable.

The real Mia is a serious little girl. It used to take a lot to get her to smile but she is realizing that life isn’t always so intense and has started grinning away mischievously and laughing loudly at anything and everything her idolized big brother does in front of her.

Just a few weeks ago, though, she showed us she could dance. At first we thought she was just shaking her head, “no” a lot, but then we seemed to put the pieces together and realized her very unique style of dance that was being demonstrated to us; head banging.

For the past while we thought her “head banging” was one dimensional – side-to-side in only the horizontal direction. But last night, when we brought out Dance Mix 2011 for our after dinner dance party, Mia’s dancing took on a WHOLE NEW LEVEL.

She started bouncing her head…

(Wait for it)

UP AND DOWN.

Now, I know this doesn’t PROVE anything - -I have been duped before and I will be duped again by my own offspring. But is this video not a PROMISING sign that MAYBE, just MAYBE I have birthed a child who finally APPRECIATES hip hop music?

I leave the question for you to ponder as you enjoy the uniquely hers dance moves of my sweet little Mia.

(Don’t judge me for owning Dance Mix 2011. It was a Christmas gift…from Santa.)