Happy Noises

Most of the time I like quiet. I grew up as an only child...our house was quiet. Okay, maybe my mom might say different but the noises I made as a kid pale in comparison to the noises my kids make. She'll agree with me there.

From the minute they are awake, there is noise. Oh, some might consider that talking...but I hear noise. It's mommy this, mommy that, I want that, I want this...and then the proverbial "W-H-I-N-E!!!!!!!!" I remember a time when my mom said that she changed her name and was no longer answering to "mom". I didn't understand it then but I do now.

Anyway, we are driving home from school today and the chatter volume is on 10...mostly coming from the third row from Dallen & Austen. Then, it starts. The Alphabet Song. It's a family favorite mostly because Austen has learned it and learned it well. And Austen, for all intents and purposes, dictates the direction of our family. In his loud, slightly flat, monotone way he starts singing. "ABCDEFG...HIJKLMN...OPQ...RST...UVWXYZ...now I never will forget, how to sing my alphabet". "Sing it again" suggests Dallen. And then they do, all of them. Dallen & Austen sing all the words while Brennen in the middle row comes in on all the last phrases "G", "N", "Q", "T", "Z", "et", "bet".

What a success! "How about another one?" I ask.

Next, we move on to the "Wheels on the Bus", another family favorite. This time, all of us join in and we sing - again with Brennen coming in on the final phrases of each line. Those are the happy noises I will remember all my life.