Day 231: He's Going the Distance

Have I taken the opportunity to declare how proud I am of my son? Definitely not often enough. So, can I just take a minute to brag and tell you how proud of that 3’3” tall 3 year-old I am? Not only is he a big boy and new going to school 3 days a week... but he is adjusting amazingly to this new adventure of our... he can count and knows his letters... he’s making friends easily... and he has amazing taste in music. Right now he is obsessed with the song “The Distance” by Cake... which is one of my favorite bands.

I know what you are probably thinking... one of your favourite bands... of course he is going to attach himself to a song if he hears it all the time. Not true. Those of you who know me we know that I have a very eclectic music taste and I have no problem putting my entire music collection of shuffle and simple enjoy what I hear.
So, how did this obsession begin? Well Grayson and I really enjoy “Rocking Out”. And cute as it is... that is what we call it, “Daddy? Can we rock out?” It’s awesome. And frankly, rocking out is pretty much what it sounds like: loud music and lots of dancing.

I can’t remember how it all started, but I am pretty sure I was trying to distract Gray from bugging Serena while she was making dinner... and I wasn’t interested in turning the TV on... I think I was in the mood for listening to music. Anyway, I don’t like silence, so I wanted music and whenever I would ask Gray if he wanted to listen to music he would say “no”. So, this one evening, instead of asking if he wanted to “listen to music” I asked if he wanted to “rock out”... this new phase instantly intrigued him. “What’s rock out”. Me: “I’ll show you”. So, we ‘rocked out’.

Really, all I do is scroll through my iPod and play fast upbeat music... it is also a great way to tire him out at the end of the day. Most of the time when we ‘rock out’ we don’t finish any of the songs... when I start to see him getting bored I change songs... and sometimes he doesn’t like songs and he requests a change. A couple weeks ago we were doing this and I played “The Distance”. Now, you need to understand that I did not tell him the name of the song... he figured it out on him own. We danced and listened to the whole song... and when it was over, he asked for it again. I think we danced to it about 4 times. And that was it... so I thought. The next day Gray kept asking for something... and finally I realized that he was asking for “a distance”... and then quickly realized that he was referring to the song. I have to admit it is a very catchy song... but I didn’t realize how attached to it he had become until this afternoon, we were out running some errands and on our way home I heard Gray singing in his car seat, and the following quote is not an exaggeration, Gray was singing “he’s going the distance, he’s going for speed, he’s all alone, all alone, in a time of need.” Once Serena and I realized what he was saying the car erupted into the rest of the song. It was awesome. And I love the fact that Gray even included the “all alone” echo from the back-up vocals. It is really great and terribly cute. I will have to shoot some video of it.

-JP