Sammy and more songs

We have progress! Sammy will now do sign language (still prompted a little) for more, please, thank you, all done, ball, eat and sometimes help on a fairly consistent basis. Luckily the prompting usually just consists of asking, "Sammy, do you want more?" And then he'll sign more or all done. We've also added light to right there, oh yeah and daddy for spoken words. Man. It's like pulling teeth and it is NOT coming easily, but progress is good!

Isaac and I both commented yesterday that his face is filling out and looking more little boyish rather than babyish. He's gotten so funny lately with his prat-falls and fake laughing and his incredible love of his stuffed monkeys! Oh, the love. Especially this little tiny one my mom got him that has magnetic hands and feet. It doesn't leave his side.

Now, to more music!

Some songs may not make my top 25 list, but they would still rank somewhere in the top 100. This is one of those songs. I remember one of my first concerts in college. I went to see The Ocean Blue. I'm thinking I went with my sister and her now husband, but I could be wrong. The timing is fuzzy in my head. But I loved it. And Drifting, Falling stands out in my mind. It may be the obvious song choice to list from them, but it's the one that reminds me of that time of my life and always will. No matter what other songs I like by them, I always throw this one on my mixed CDs for travel.

Speaking of college, one of my best friends just had a birthday. Our birthdays are only a month apart and our other friend follows in about two months. Because of this, this time of year usually gets me thinking about my two years at Ricks and how much fun we had (and how I'm grateful we're still friends!). One song that will always remind me of Ricks is Toad the Wet Sprocket's Walk on the Ocean. It's one of those that will not make a lot of favorite lists, but it's on mine because of the memory it holds: playing the disc full blast in our dorm room on a Saturday, cleaning a little, laughing a lot, not a care in the world or knowing what was in store for any of us. It makes me feel close to my friends, even now, when we are all so far away from each other. And it always makes me smile.

Music is Good for the Soul

I love music. LOVE music. It's always on. It's what I identify memories with. It's a link to my past and I love playing fun music for my son. My mind works funny. I can tell you what I was listening to at any given point in my life and for the big stuff, tell you what song I associate it with. Because there is ALWAYS a song associated with the big stuff.

I, like my sister, tend to judge people based on what they listen to and, of course, feel my music is superior (who doesn't?). Well, to everyone but her. I bow to her on a regular basis!

And because she made a list of her favorite songs of all time, I thought I would occasionally blog about mine, as well as blog about the songs from memories that just won't go away. I don't know that I could sit down and do a complete favorites list right now. I would want to change it as soon as I finished! My sister and I agree on a lot, disagree on some and our lists will be definitely different, but I love that we have basically the same taste in music. Of course, she'd say that was totally her doing to begin with! (Gotta love playing name that tune instead of sleeping...)

Anyway. On to song #1. The top spot on my list in constantly in battle. There are two to three songs that will always make the top five and a couple of them are interchangeable for number one. So, I'll include both.

1. Sunflower by Paul Weller. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. Isaac and I drove up to LA in September 2005 for his concert. Seeing him live had been on my "list" for so long, but he is so rarely in the U.S. I didn't know if it would happen or not. I'm so glad it did. He is amazing. The show was amazing. And when the opening strains of Sunflower started, I cried for joy. This song makes me incredibly happy and the only way to sing along is at top volume. Often.

2. Distant Sun by Crowded House. My blog is named from lyrics in this song. I wanted to name my son after Neil Finn. My car's name is Finn. I LOVE Neil Finn / Crowded House more than anything. I've been so fortunate to see him, as well as his brother, in concert several times, both in San Diego and Portland. There are two main reasons that I am just a little sad to be moving. One is that I'll miss Target. The other is that Finn concerts will become scarce.

My favorite lyrics from this song would be "I don't pretend to know what you want, but I offer love" and "wise enough to carry the scars without any blame". Love it. I could never get tired of this song.

More to come as I get bored...