What The Boy Wants, The Boy Gets

My son is like an onion.  Oftentimes, peeling back an outer covering exposes an outsider to some offensive vapors.  However, right now I am focusing on the fact that he is a man of many layers; tiny, adorable layers.  For example, sometimes he is content to cuddle in with Mommy or Daddy while we make various cooing noises over his hair, ears, eyes, or whatever aspect of his being captures our attention.  But in the span of a hummingbird’s heartbeat, his mood will change to that of an uninterested emperor and woe to the jester that is too slow to inspire his whimsy.  One of the ways he differs from his older sister is his range of emotion and the speed at which he traverses that range.  This has led to an ongoing search for various activities and distractions.

His favorite activities can be summed up in one category:  grabbing things that are fragile, expensive, or dangerous and firing off a million-dollar smile as Mommy, Daddy, Sister, and sometimes the dog scramble to get it before he breaks, ruins, or swallows it.

I should note that, out of all of our family members, he is the only one who enjoys this pastime.

Like all parents, I am often called upon to entertain and enrich our baby’s young life.  And like all parents, I would settle for five minutes of solid distraction.  He loves colors and music, so we will often find videos on YouTube and watch them together.  It was during one of those sessions that I was searching for music cartoons and came across this:

This has become my son’s favorite thing ever.  He dances.  He sings along.  He LOVES this video.

Apparently this Gummibär has been a bona-fide internet phenomenon since its debut in 2007.  That song alone has been viewed nearly sixty million times.  All the songs by this bear are in the same house/techno style and have seen similar popularity on YouTube. 

I’m not sure how to feel about it.  I have a very high opinion of my own tastes in music, and I’ve tried to pass them on to my children.  (Note to parents: this is a difficult battle and you will never approve of all the music your children love.  After all, compare your tastes to that of your parents.)  I know this is throwaway bubblegum phenomenon but he loves it so much and is absolutely adorable to watch while he dances along.

I suppose the best I can hope for is to not find myself humming the song hours later.