Endless Toddler Tunes

I enjoy music by Raffi, the perennial children's favorite. Really, I do.

However, five consecutive hours of listening to this jolly man sing his favorite tunes is enough to make even the most cheerful parent beg for mercy.

This week we took a road trip to visit Grandma and Pop. As we headed onto the highway to begin our trek, Amy begged to hear her favorite CD, a Raffi collection that we received many years ago from Uncle John. We happily popped the CD into the stereo, and sang along to the 16 wonderful songs. We laughed when we noticed that Amy was loudly singing "she looks like a cigarette...dum de dum!" instead of "She looks like a sugar in a plum, plum, plum!". After he finished his repertoire and the CD began again at song number 1, I hit "eject" and reached for another tape.

Amy began to shriek. "No, no! I want to hear it again!"

Well, why not. All the girls were happy and content, so Dan and I allowed them to hear it through once more. We stopped for lunch, and when we returned to the van we changed the tape to another children's music collection. Wails arouse from both Beth and Amy, as they pleaded for us to return their favorite music to the player.

Dan and I gritted our teeth and put good 'ole Raffi in once again. And again. And again.

You see, listening to "Eight piggies in a row" and "There's a little white duck" over and over and over is far preferable to hearing hysterical children crying, especially when you are captive in a van for five hours. So listen we did, until we knew each song by heart, and could predict which song would come next. We finally arrived at Grandma and Pop's, and the girls then convinced us to bring the CD into the house. After all the greetings were exchanged and some gifts were opened, we once again heard the sounds of Raffi singing "Let's make some noise!". We went to bed that night with his voice in our ears.

We had a few Raffi-free days, while we visited with the family, and then today we headed back into the van for the return trip.

I bet you'll never guess who sang to us the entire ride home. Oh, yes. Raffi. The entire...ride...home.

But were the girls happy? Yes, they were.

So were the parents happy? Yes, they were.

Thanks, Raffi.