All the Talents in the World

While boogie boarding in Hawaii, Anders once said, "Now I have all the talents in the world except singing and dancing!"  That is one of my all-time favorite quotes. 

We are determined to help Ever develop ALL the talents in the world, especially singing and dancing.  We spend so much time singing and dancing with her, in fact, that it's hard to get anything done.  It begins first thing in the morning.  Before changing her diaper, I sing, "What's goin' on in your pants, Dolly Girl?  What's goin' on in your pants?" - repeated about 10 times.  Once we discover what's going on in her pants, we also sing about that.  Other favorite songs similarly consist of one line repeated ad infinitum, such as "Your mama [or 'daddy,' depending on who's singing] loves you" and "Hey, my little love, my little love, my little love."

For a long time, we had post-change dance parties on the changing table.  She loved dancing. 



(Jim's bedhead is my fave.) 

Of late, she seems to have outgrown this sort of dancing and doesn't smile and laugh as she used to.  But there's still plenty of signing and dancing around the house. 

Music is optional.

Sometimes, though, we take breaks from our song-and-dance training to talk...

... and eat...



... and hug it out.

I love her laugh.  Once, I entertained her for several minutes by saying the word "stroganoff" over and over in a loud, weird voice.  She was in a particularly silly mood, apparently, and she laughed so hard for so long that her face was red and she had tears in her eyes.  I recorded a little bit of it on my phone but can't get the file to open on my computer, unfortunately. 

We want Ever to know how wonderful and talented she is, so Jim has been announcing the daily winner of the No. 1 Baby Award.  Amazingly, Ever wins pretty much every time.