According to What to Expect When You’re Expecting, our twins can now hear and respond to noises and music. Experts say it’s good to play music for babies in utero because it helps them to develop their musical sensibilities. So if you want your baby to appreciate Beethoven and Bach when he grows up, play it for him while he’s in your belly.
Well, Keith and I have a different idea of the music we want our twins to love. So yesterday, we bought huge headphones, waited until the boys seemed calm, then placed the headphones up to my belly and hit “play” on Keith’s iPod. Naturally, this is the album we played for the boys:
Cue feel-good, beachy, genius California music! By the second song, Matt and Nate were making their daddy proud. We started feeling light kicks on both sides of my tummy, and before we knew it, there were full-on acrobatics taking place. It’s as if they were saying, “Yeah, Dad, play us more of that!” Keith didn’t even need to put his hand on my belly because we could see the babies flipping around in there. It was amazing!
As the album—one of our all-time favorites—played, Keith and I realized just how kid-friendly Brian Wilson and Beach Boys songs are. And we decided, who needs kids’ music when there are so many catchy, upbeat grown-up albums that little ones can also enjoy? Tonight, we are going to play the boys Brian’s latest masterpiece, Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin. We’re hoping the boys will love it enough that we won’t need to play gag-inducing Barney tunes—or whatever it is the kids listen to these days—on car rides. Instead, we can pop in some Brian when we need them to calm down, and we can all sing along and enjoy it. I also plan to play a lot of Brian Wilson—Keith’s favorite artist—for the twins while he is deployed so that they can feel closer to their daddy.
Parents: Did you play music for your babies while pregnant? And, did they seem to enjoy that same music after they were born?
Musically-inclined friends: Can you recommend any other kid-friendly adult albums we can play for the boys?
