Thomas was playing with the MT CDs and discovered that the same song (Toot! toot! Chugga choo choo choo, toot! toot! etc.) appears on two CDs (a summer collection and its collection). He was excited and after much deliberation, put one of the CDs on and started the song. Then either he or Alex (wearing one of my Birkenstock clogs) said, "quick we need to make a train" and as the intro music came on, they grabbed hands and Alex started stomping somewhat to the beat while Thomas kept saying, "not yet", the song began, they started marching and Alex started singing "This train is bound for glory!" (while the CD was playing "Toot! toot! Chugga choo choo choo, toot! toot! etc") It lasted for about a minute until Thomas got annoyed with Alex for singing the wrong song (he also doesn't care much for "This Train is Bound for Glory").

Winter 2009

"You'll be happy to know that in our travels this summer your CDs - especially flutes, sticks, and maracas - have been getting a lot of play. Claire loves the Hello Song so much it is even her preferred lullaby!"

"Yes, it is pretty exciting [just finished 9th semester with Winter 2008 Sticks Collection]! Both boys have enjoyed MT since the start, but this semester was special because they both started singing the songs in the collection, starting with Don Alfredo Baila -- I thought it was interesting that Thomas would choose the Spanish song of all the choices, but I have to admit, it's a fun one. And, then of course, Pop goes the Weasel! And Alex will take a shoe off just so he can sing to himself "Deedle deedle dumpling my son Alex ..."

Even though music was an important part of my childhood, MT has really given me a new perspective on it and lowered my inhibitions, so now I'm not afraid to break into song anytime -- and I see my children doing that too. Ok, so we're the crazy family on the block, but who cares, we're having fun! Thanks for giving us that gift! We're looking forward to repeating the Maracas collection in a few weeks!"

"Yesterday Samuel and I were reading a book that was a song and the music and lyrics were in the back of it. So I started to sing it to him. Then he started tapping his knees and saying "hewo! hewo!" (Hello! Hello!), so I put the book down so we could sing the Hello Song. But he didn't want that...he wanted to look at the music of this other song WHILE we sang "hello"! So he doesn't quite
understand that the notes are different for each song, but he is definitely making the connection that written music is very important for a song!