At the very worst, she'll hate bagpipes

Pretty much since we brought our daughter home, we've played music for her while she sleeps. Well, not music, per se... it's more like a playlist of nature sounds. Rain, waves, forests... that kind of thing. It was an attempt to try to soothe her while she slept with white noise that wasn't annoying.

She's got her own iPod, too. Really, it's my old 2GB iPod, but that's beside the point.

I've been noticing over the last week or so that the playlist I've got for her to sleep to just isn't cutting it anymore. Like most people, she's quite possibly bored of what she's been forced to listen to for the last 6 or so months every time she's been put to bed. So I've started a search, yet again, for nature sounds to create yet another playlist.

I haven't been playing music for her that much outside of bedtime, which I regret. I have tons of kids music available for her, but don't do anything with it. I wonder if it's because I'm not interested in hearing how the wheels on the bus went round and round over and over again. I do have a playlist (mainly pre-1970 Disney songs) on my current iPod for her to listen to in the car, but that's becoming rarer and rarer.

So I've decided to make her a real music playlist - no kids stuff. Songs I like (and her dad, too, because he's going to have to listen to this too). I think with her rapid development over the last few weeks (sitting, teeth x 2, crawling, standing{!!}, chattering) it's time to start treating her more like a real person than just a baby. I mean, we've never talked baby-talk to her, but I think she's way more aware now of everything around her than she's ever been before.

First song to go on the playlist? Jump Around by House of Pain. It's in a Telus commercial on almost every Canadian channel right now and Maddy LOVES it. I don't know if it's the pygmy goats are what attracts her or the song, but anytime she hears it (it's also in the Bridgestone Tires Super Bowl ad) she stops what she's doing and gets quite excited. So it's a start.

And really, she's got a mom (and grandfather) who are quite eclectic in their music selections. It wouldn't hurt to start introducing her to different musical choices. Her dad likes more classical music than I do, so I'll leave it up to him to introduce her to that. I see no problem at all in letting your kids listen to music - any music, not just Dora and Barney - from an early age. The least it will do is teach them a bit of rhythm an appreciation of music and the last time I checked, those weren't bad things.