Saturday, March 05, 2005

Little Orphan Bitty?

Bitty Man has been enjoying Gymboree Half-Notes music classes for several months now. He took to the class like a cheesehead to a Packers game. Bitty is, in the words of his beloved teacher Miss Kim, 'a model student'. For 45 minutes he's engrossed in all the activities -- dancing with hoops, copying rhythm patterns with the shakers, exploring different musical instruments and the like. (Meanwhile most of the other 18-24 month old students are more interested in trying to escape from the music room.)

Yesterday Daddy had the pleasure of attending class with us. He beamed with pride watching his little protege in action. Miss Kim put on a song that began with a piano solo and Bitty immediately called out, 'Daddy! Pia-blo! (Piano in Bitty-speak.) Daddy singing!'

But the most amazing sight, and sound, came during the last activity of the class, the music free-for-all. Miss Kim puts on a song and the kids are supposed to do whatever they like while she blows bubbles. This month the theme is 'Broadway' so the song was 'Tomorrow' from the musical Annie. As everyone knows, this is without a doubt the most grating, annoying tune ever composed for the theater. So the tune begins and we begin to dance around, silently wishing the song would hurry up and end.

Until the chorus.

Bitty Man is very shy in a group setting. We can't shut him up at home, but as soon as other people are around he clams up. So Daddy and I, along with the rest of the class, were startled when all of a sudden we heard Bitty Man singing loud and clear (and on pitch I might add),

'TOMORROW!... TOMORROW!... LOVE!... TOMORROW... WAY!!!!'

He was standing in the middle of the room, belting it out for all to hear. He held out 'WAY' for a good 8 counts. Daddy and I, who have heard him 'sing' at home and in the car for months, were cracking up (and shaking our heads in disbelief that we've produced such a cheesy little ham). The other parents and Miss Kim stared at Bitty Man with wide-eyes and dropped jaws.

So now, 'Tomorrow' has replaced the Wiggles' 'Fruit Salad' as Bitty's favorite tune. And for today, it's my favorite song as well.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I see a drum in his future.