Blessing in Disguise

After being sick the last two weeks, I was excited to see all my friends at Jessie's. It was a small group but we had a great time singing a variety of songs, focusing on an animal theme. All the participants were under the age of one so we started with some tickling (The Flea Song), following with some songs about bugs (The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Poor Little Bug On The Wall). We then went to the water and sang The Turtle Chant using a beloved turtle puppet. Listen To The Water allowed us to practice some animal signs for frog, crocodile and duck. Crocky Crocodile and Six Little Ducks had us practicing some specific rhythms using the hands to snap/quack. To finish, we swam even deeper into the water for Baby Shark. Sensing a lull in the energy, I asked the grownups to lie the babies down for Sleeping Bunnies. Many were surprised when the song sped up towards the end, and as a result the energy picked up a bit as the grownups helped the babies "hop" up and down. We stretched our legs singing Elephants Have Wrinkles, finding all the body parts as we marched around. I always like to use this song as a way to make physical contact with each baby by gently squeezing the toes, knees, hips, ears, and nose.

After sitting, I demonstrated how to play the wooden frogs from Thailand. One grownup was familiar with the instrument and was very encouraging to a mom who seemed a bit shy about playing the frog in front of the group. To accompany the "ribbit" sound of the wooden frog, we sang Little Green Frog and Three Green And Speckled Frogs.

Jamming gave us the opportunity to sing a request of The Lion Sleeps Tonight and a new song, Rockin' Robin.

Luckily Jessie's has a smaller parachute that we are able to use for smaller classes and so we shook it out for Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog (Joy To The World) and went up and down gently for one of my favourites Puff The Magic Dragon.

After class, one of the babies sat beside me and strummed the guitar for several minutes. The mom was able to take some video and we got to chatting about her experience with music as a child. It was very clear that she has a deep love of music and is seeking out ways in which her daughter may have a similar experience. I love having moments like this when I can connect and get to know clients in an intimate way and so, having a small class sometimes turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Looking forward to next week!