Iris Music Thursday: Tighten Up

Iris really likes the Black Keys. We discovered this fact on a trip out to the country(ish) to check out a supposedly awesome foreclosure last week. It was awesome but moldy, so I guess it was not very awesome, but it wanted to be. The house, that is; the house was moldsome. Iris' love of the Black Keys was FOR SURE awesome. She did a lot of dancing and demanding that the dancing return in-between every song.

We tried to show her some of their videos online the other day, which is when we discovered that the visual accompaniment to the music is usually kind of violent or sexually inappropriate or just kind of obscure and funny (but only to adults, probably).

So anyway, here: watch the kind of violent, mildly funny video. Know that Iris busts out her hippiest windmill arm dance every time it's played.

Take a Gander...

...And throw him down the stairs. That jerk totally deserves it after what he did to that old guy. We don't have a new song this week since Iris is still firmly in love with the Farmer in the Dell, but she did expand her horizons to include Goosey Goosey Gander sometimes. I'm not saying I approve of this behavior (*cough*kylestopshowingherthestupidvideo*cough*), but it is what it is, so here you go. I guess we do have a new song, just try not to watch it around children.



Okay, why is he in his lady's chamber? Why would a goose who is seemingly intent on checking out some lady's bed care one way or the other if some old guy was praying or not? Are we really teaching the youth of India (and elsewhere, I suppose) that violence is okay if you don't follow the rules? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy threatening to cut my co-workers if they chew too loudly or play with their clicky pens too frequently or like, breathe really loudly, but that's FUNNY because I would never ACT on it. Probably. But that goose is seriously just rude. Don't you think that old guy was kind of frail? Has he no concern for osteoperosis? Why is this a children's song?



TELL ME WHAT TO DO

Iris is fully potty trained at school. She initiates her own visits to the bathroom and almost never has accidents. She naps without a diaper and has for weeks. I think her last accident happened like two months ago, seriously. At home, her response to "do you have to pee" is always "NO." If you force her to sit on the potty, she will sit for hours and hours and insist the entire time that there is no pee. Then she'll stand up, pull up her pants, and pee on the couch/floor/your lap. She will wake up in the morning with a dry diaper and hold her pee for hours after waking. I have seen her go over 14 hours without peeing. Help me.

Iris Music Thursday: Somebody Hug The Cheese!

I'm really very sorry to be doing this to you. I really, really am. As someone who has lived the reality of this song on repeat for days, I can tell you with pristine sincerity that I am completely remorseful to impose this earworm on you. In the spirit of honesty though, I'm required to share.

I don't know how to explain Iris' love of this song. She wants to sing it or hear it all the time. She likes the predictability of the lyrics, for sure. She bops her little butt around to the tune, while nodding her head in time with the beat in a very serious, musical connoisseur-type fashion. She's cool with the farmer, the wife and the child. She's fairly ambivalent about the nurse, but by the time we get to the dog part, she knows that the cat part comes right after, which directly precedes the mouse, and she is not pleased with the mouse. The mouse takes the cheese, you understand, and the cheese stands alone!

Iris: Mommy, da cheese crying!
Me: Yeah, the cheese is alone, isn't he?
Iris: Yeah, he sad. He crying.
Me: Well yeah, there were a couple of tears, but look, they dried up! I think he feels better. I, for one, don't really mind being alone. It's kind of nice sometimes, really. Refreshing, you know?

Iris: ...

Me: What?
Iris: Mommy. Da cheese sad. He need a hug. Why he sad? MOMMY! Da cheese SO SAD!
Me: Hey, why don't we go watch something a little more uplifting like Elmo, or Gabba Gabba, or like shark week or really anything else...

Iris: NOOOOOOOOOO MOMMY, FARMER DELL! FARMER DELL!

ad infinitum...



I'd also like to note as a point of extreme awesomeosity, that when this video finishes and that little list of YouTube inspired suggestions pops up, the same production team who brought you this fine specimen offers another nursery rhyme called "Goosey Goosey Gander." We watched it after the very first viewing of this video because hey - it's a nursery rhyme! Says so right here! I don't really know nursery rhymes, American or otherwise. I'm sure there was a part of my life that was absolutely full them, but that was like 25+ years ago, so you know... I don't know any nursery rhymes.
Anyway, "Goosey Goosey Gander" is an Indian nursery rhyme about an old man and a goose. The old man decides not to say his prayers, so the goose grabs his leg and throws him down the stairs. Twice. The end. That was just a freaking excellent way to bounce back from the sad cheese incident.

Toploftical

Aside from being cranky, large, constipated, cranky, tired, and cranky I'd also like to announce that I am smug. Okay, not really, but this clip is too funny not to share (you've probably already seen it before, but watch it again anyway). Also I happen to know what tomorrow's musical offering is and trust me, you're going to want something awesome really nearby to cleanse your brain of the numbing repetitiveness that is the um, agronomist in the ravine.
I told Grandma K. the other day that when I find out the sex of the baby on Monday, I will tell everyone except HPD (who has been asking me if I know the sex of the baby yet every day since she saw the calendar which clearly states the date of the appointment as MONDAY MAY 23RD). Blah. Anyway, I plan to tell HPD that we know the sex of the baby, but we're not telling anyone. I giggle every time I say that.

FBK is officially a kicker or a dancer or like, a future color guard champion or something. Don't think I don't feel you tossing that little fake wooden rifle around in there, kid! I am not afraid to ground a fetus! There is historical precedent here! Anyway, s/he is very active, traditionally after meals and through the entire night. Yayyyy. This is the destined dream-sleeper child, so I'm glad s/he's getting all that activity out now. Gotta be prepared for all that sleep that's going to happen. Allll that sleep. Yeah....

Iris Music Thursday: PB&J

Peter Bjorn & John, of course. Iris really has a lot of things to say about this song. "Dey dancin' Mom? Dey singin songs. Da Mommy an da Daddy say 'WHOOOO WHOOO WHOOO' an dey whistle. Da Daddy pay uh-tar." Yep. They do that, kiddo. All adult men and women are Moms and Dads in Iris' opinion, and this video does nothing but reinforce that all Daddys play guitar (uh-tar).

Someday I'll get a video of her listening to these songs. She actually has slightly different dances for each one. The dance for this song is a subtle bob of the head with some general bouncing all over thrown in. It's a rather serious "hipster at a show" move if I do say so.



P.S. I was a little unclear in that last post. No idea what flavor FBK is. Child would not wake up and so the only thing we could see was the face/elbow. All sorts of crotch-shots will happen next month, I'm sure.

Iris Music Thursday: The Beginning

Also Known As: Hey! Hey! Hey!

Are you sensing a pattern here? Iris likes repetitive sounds. I think it might be a baby thing, or perhaps a human thing, because I don't know a lot of folks who are opposed to repetitive sounds in the form of a good beat (except for myself when we're talking about minute eleven of some awful jam band's solo). Ahem. Let us recall the relative flexibility of the term "good."

Anyway, this song is Iris' first musical love. This song is the first song she ever sang along to, and this is the song which inspired her very first word ever: "Hey!" This is the song that we used to calm Iris down in moments of parental terror (so she's been crying for 40 minutes/is about to lose her sh*t in public/looks like she's about to cut someone - PLAY THE SONG). It was a lifesaver.

Please to enjoy Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk."

Iris Music Thursday: LA! LA! LA! LA!

Welcome to the first episode of (insert you know, like, booming voice of importance here) "Iris Music Thursdays!"

There are quite a few songs that will make Iris stop everything and drop her booty. This is the most recent, but in the next few weeks I plan to go through all of them, then of course update with the newest as they become available. Your Thursdays will never be dull or awesome-less again!

For today's inaugural Iris Music Thursday Experience, we bring you The Aquabats! with "Pool Party." Please picture Iris bouncing around and shouting along very loudly to the refrain, "LA! LA! LA! LA!"