The Intrusion of Sound

This blog usually contains several sections, the first being something or other that’s been on my mind lately.  After that I write a little section on each of my children, commonly documenting something they’ve done or said that’s of note for the day.   Over the past two weeks though, the main thing on my mind has been my daughter’s eyes, so her section has ballooned into the focus of my daily posts.    I think we can all agree, I hope her eyes will go back to their unremarkable selves soon, but for now, she’s front and center…

The Tiny Girl Audio Update:   My daughter has, fairly suddenly, been much more interested in music.   She’s always liked songs and singing, but she’s been intent on both hearing and singing songs of late.  It is not coincidental in my mind that her recent intense interest in songs has coincided with the decline in her vision.  

I’m not saying she’s doing that thing where one sense overcompensates for another, but she has put more thought into hearing things while she’s not able to do much with her vision beyond the range of six inches.  

My daughter’s been asking for specific songs and when I play them she’s been intent on singing loudly along.   When a song is finished she’ll say things like, “I know that song now,” or “I’m going to tell dad I know another song,” or  “I can do that song too.”  It’s been as if she wants to collect songs into her repertoire.  

She’s been getting better at singing songs but she needs help with the lyrics.   I’ve been trying to help her with some of the words, but when I tell her what the lines are, she complains at me because she wants to sing the words (or the sounds) she thinks the singer is singing instead.

The Always Tactful Big Boy Update:   My son was talking to Nana at our neighbor’s Labor Day bar-be-cue this afternoon.   Nana was going to go back to the house to get another drink but changed her mind when my son told her, “no, Nana, you don’t need another drink because you’re starting to get a little fat."