AnchorMommy

Trying to be one of the cool kids

October 14, 2009 by Shannon

We seem to have developed a general policy in our little family: try to be one of the cool kids.

And by “cool,” I don’t mean snobby in the high school clique sense of the word. I mean rock star cool. Michael and I are not musicians — in fact, we’re really only wannabe rock star karaoke hacks. But we love music, and it seems Kellan has the bug too. So if there’s an all-ages show in our area before 8 pm, chances are we’ll be there. Yeah, it’s a little strange to have to ask your fellow concert attendee if he needs to put a pee-pee in the potty before the show starts, but you know. That’s the way life is with a 2.5-year old rock fan.

People tell me it’s a good thing that we’re exposing Kellan to as much live music as possible. They say music helps kids develop math skills. (And considering how miserable I am at mathematics, Kellan could use a little insurance in case he’s inherited my awful math genes.) A couple people have even come up to me and said my son is a natural-born drummer. (One woman, a musician herself, told me she watched him air drum — on the beat — through an entire song. I was too busy rocking out to notice.) It’s certainly too soon to tell whether his love of music is just a passing fancy or a lifelong addiction, but who cares? If it means Michael and I can take him to a few free shows and not have to worry about a babysitter, I’m all for it.

The only drawback to our family policy on coolness: the “gimme” factor. Kellan is now obsessed with anything and everything music related, such as:

• Microphones and microphone stands
• Guitars
• Keyboards
• Amplifiers and cords
• Stages
• Steps (which a musician would use to get on a stage)
• The difference between “A” stages and “B” stages at stadium/arena concerts
• Water bottles kept onstage for the musicians to sip between songs
• Drum sticks
• Drum sets

Kellan wants to possess each one of the aforementioned items, and already has many of them. But he especially wants a drum kit. In an effort to protect our eardrums, we tried to talk the Boise Rock School into accepting a 2.5-year old student (but really, he’s still a little too young).  So at this point, I think I’ll leave the drum kit question up to Santa. Hopefully he’ll tuck some earplugs in mommy and daddy’s stockings while he’s at it.