What's on your playlist?

Just recently, I got inspired to create a new music mix for the kids and I to listen to. I hadn't made a new one for a while, so I had fun brainstorming different songs that L and I already had in iTunes.

Don't get me wrong -- I love some of the kids' music that's out there right now. Dan Zanes and Barenaked Ladies are probably the ones I can listen to the most without having annoying earworms at all hours of the day. As I've talked about before, some is better than others, but sometimes I just want to hear something a bit more mature.

I made a couple CDs two years ago or so that included Jimmy Buffett, the Beatles and Bob Marley, plus a selection of showtunes. Those are fun, and they're still in regular rotation. (Side note: If we're out somewhere and hear any of the aforementioned playing, one of the kids will invariably say quite loudly, "This is MY music!" Always garners an amusing response from surrounding adults.) With this CD, I was striving for musical variety -- styles, decades, etc.

So here's the latest playlist. You would probably be surprised to know which songs are their favorites.

Dancing Queen, ABBA
Walk Like an Egyptian, The Bangles
If I Had $1,000,000, Barenaked Ladies
Stand by Me, Ben E. King
Let's Go Crazy, Prince
The Tide Is High, Blondie
Take the Money and Run, Steve Miller Band
Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks
La Bamba, Los Lobos
Iko Iko, The Dixie Cups
Grease, Frankie Valli
Great Balls of Fire, Jerry Lee Lewis
I'm Yours, Jason Mraz
Mother Nature's Son, Sheryl Crow (from "I Am Sam")
Livin' la Vida Loca, Ricky Martin
Hey There Delilah, Plain White T's
Blackbird, Sarah McLachlan (from "I Am Sam")
Supersition, Stevie Wonder
Soak Up the Sun, Sheryl Crow
But Anyway, Blues Traveler
Everyday Is a Winding, Road Sheryl Crow

Help me start my next playlist: What songs do your kids like?

One for the ages

Plenty has been said about the significance of yesterday's presidential inauguration. It was one for the ages. But was it one for the ages of... 3 1/2 and 1 1/2? In our house, the answer was "yes."

I broke my cardinal rule of no TV during the day, and during lunch the girls sat front and center of the TV to watch the oaths and speeches. They know who the president and the first family are by name and sight, and they seemed to glean at least a little comprehension of what was happening.

I love that when they witnessed those events, they saw a president and his family, not a black president and his black family. Obama stands for hope and change, and if yesterday was any indication, those things are coming.

I knew the inauguration made an impression when I was getting Peanut ready for her nap shortly afterward. She said, "Barack O-mama goin' night-night." She went to sleep with the president on her mind.