To pick a favorite song, much less a favorite artist/band is impossible. So much depends on so much (said the most vague utterance ever). One group that I've stood by for a decade-plus, though, is Guster. They always make me smile and jam out. In fact, I've written about them before. And before, so if you've been reading along with me for a while, this isn't news. But lately it seems that my children have taken one particular Guster lyric to heart and are currently living it out loud as best they can.
While I have many favorite Guster songs, "Manifest Destiny" is one of my Most Favorite Faves. Thanks to the beauty of the interwebs, you can listen/see it here (please read the next sentence before you click on this, though, esp. if in the presence of wee ones!). Much as I love "MD" so, I hardly ever play it in front of my kids because of the random (and against their norm) f-bomb in the opening lines. I fully own and accept my own potty mouth but I also do my darndest (by using words like darndest) to watch my language in front of my kids. As it happened a few months ago, though, we were all cruising down the road together, and HD picked Guster to listen to next, so I popped in the Ganging Up on the Sun album and we just let it play. Ben knows me and my music well enough to know what words begin "MD", so as it started, I saw him giving me Uhhh?WhatAreWeGonnaDo? eyebrows from the driver's seat. The music was loud and the kids were jamming out, though, so we did what any quick thinking don't-want-the-babies-swearing-just-yet parents would do - we started coughing loudly over the f-bomb which surprised and delighted our kids to no end. I think they must have requested we start No.3 over four or five times in a row that day and they laughed hysterically every time we carried out our clever cough cover-up.
Apparently we should have kept coughing because to this day they want to hear "MD" all the time and it turns out that the potential profanity was the least of our problems. The lines that come shortly after it and that are repeated throughout the song numerous times and are therefore causing us all kinds of problems are as follows: "Do you want to change your mind? You can alwaaaaaaaays change your mind." Seriously. You should never ever tell a child that this is OK (even though it totally is).
As parents we deal with about a million and two questions/answers/decisions every day. I'm going to throw out another Seriously here because holy mother of wow are there so many Things to decide every day in life with Littles. And lately it seems that our answers and decisions are all up for discussion or flat-out defiance as HD and RL are walking, talking, occasional-tantrum-throwing examples of alwaaaaaaaaays changing their minds.
Perhaps you remember my post about Jekyll and Hyde Miss Raegan? Well she's still at it at all hours of the day. She wants her hair in her face. She wants it up. She does NOT want it up. She wants it up in three ponies. She wants it taken out. She wants the pink pony holder. She wants me to have it. And that is all in the span of three minutes with moods as up and down as her hairstyle. It is darn near impossible to keep up with her activity level much less the attitude.
Harrison is no different when it comes to decisions although thankfully his four-and-a-half-ness makes him slightly less volatile in emotional reactions. But man, the wishy-washies are getting me. It doesn't matter if we are talking about what to have for snack, what to wear, or what game to play, he is going to change his mind. And then change it back. The trickiest example keeps happening on weekends when he has the option to either go somewhere with Ben and Raegan or stay home with me while Lincoln naps. Of course he wants to go. He is a curious and active kid, so why wouldn't he want to go? But lately he keeps saying that he wants to stay home with me. While I'd like the quiet of nap time to myself some mornings, I feel bad telling him no so often I say, "OK; stay home." But then, as soon as Dad and RL are out the door, he starts saying that he really wants to go with them. Usually we can catch them in time and he can tag along, but sometimes we don't and then, well, then the emotions can be quite volatile. So why the yes/no/yes if really it is yes the whole time?!?!
At least the question of "what song would be playing on the soundtrack of my life right now?" (am I the only person who plays this game?) is an easy answer.
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