Review-a-Day August!

I thought I'd try something new here at Kids' Music That Rocks: a short CD review every day during August. Now, maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew, but I'm going to look at it as a way to exercise my writing chops. Just don't get all "I told ya so" towards the end of August when I start posting single-word reviews like "Great!" or "Existential."

Three Little Cajun Pigs

We really enjoyed this one the other night. It's by Mike Artell. The three little Cajun pigs, Trosclair, Thibodeaux, and Ulysse, move out and build their own houses in the heart of the swamp. They better watch out when ol' Claude the gator comes along. Based on the original Three Little Pigs, you'll love the rhymes and Cajun twists of this book!

Lisa Loeb live @ Bartos Forum, NYPL!

Last Wednesday I attended Library Journal's first annual Publisher Presentation Day, an opportunity for twelve children's and adult publishing houses to show off some of their new titles for the fall.

Highlighting the day for me, though, was a short performance by Lisa Loeb to kick off the festivities that morning. She was promoting her Camp Lisa CD, and who better to get a quick preview than the librarians of The New York Public, Queensborough Public, and Brooklyn Public Library systems who might possibly purchase her album for their circulating collections.

Loeb played "Best Friend," "Peanut Butter and Jelly" (that's her smashing the peanuts in the photo above), and "Going Away" from Camp Lisa, and her 1994 hit, "Stay," which sounded a thousand times better this day as a solo performance than the original Reality Bites soundtrack tune. I think tweens would really dig her delivery, personality, and stage patter, and Camp Lisa seems perfect for that crowd, as well.

Friday Free-for-All # 17

Brian Vogan, Little Songs

Get familiar with the name Brian Vogan, folks, 'cause this dude's gonna hit big time! On one of the best kids' music debuts I've heard in a while, Seattleite Vogan and band present family-friendly folk and rock tunes about the seasons, Valentine's Day, the ABCs, and pumpkins. Make sure to check out the rockin' "Firefighter," the worthy-of-early-Sesame Street "The Listening Song," the prog rock/doo-wop epic "Chess," and THE perfect kids' TV show theme song, "Say Hello." Bound to be near the top of 2008's "Best Of" lists everywhere!


Dawnie's, Dancing in the Schoolyard

If your little ones like the dance pop of, say, Kelly Clarkson, then they'll dig Dawne Allyne's third CD for kids, Dancing in the Schoolyard. Lots of guitars and dance grooves accompany tunes about dancing, spiders, dancing, hopping, dancing, fishing, and ... more dancing! New Jersey-based Allyne is involved in the bluesy, rootsy music scene in the Northeast, and you can hear it in her tunes for kids. An album full of movement songs for kids who like to shimmy and shake.

Yummy Play Time

Here's a fun way to work on your child's language, fine motor, and creativity all at the same time!

Peanut Butter Play Dough

Ingredients:

1 -18 oz. jar of creamy peanut butter

6 -tablespoons of honey

3/4 cup non-fat dry milk

Mix the ingredients together, using varying amounts of dry milk for desired consistencies. Knead with fingers to form the desired shapes. You can decorate your creation with other foods like M&Ms raisins, or nuts for added fun! The best part is that you can eat your creations for a healthy snack.

Autism

I know there is a lot of concern and talk about autism these days. The number of diagnosed cases has greatly increased in recent history. I was doing some reading on the subject today and found what I thought to be a pretty thorough description. I decided you might like to read it as well.



Autism is a developmental disability that causes problems with social skills and communication. Autism can be mild or severe. It is different for every person. Autism is also known as autism spectrum disorders.



What are some signs or symptoms of autism?
Children with autism may have problems with movement, communication, social skills, and reacting to the world around them. Not all behaviors will exist in every child. A diagnosis should be made by the child's doctor or other professional with experience in working with children with autism.


Movement:

• Problems learning to crawl, walk, or run
• Problems using their hands to pick up small things or write (for older children)
• Clumsiness
• Problems controlling arms, legs, or mouth muscles to do things they want to do (apraxia)

Communication:

• Not speaking or very limited speech
• Loss of words the child was previously able to say
• Difficulty expressing basic wants and needs
• Poor vocabulary development
• Problems following directions or finding objects that are named
• Repeating what is said (echolalia)
• Problems answering questions
• Speech that sounds different (e.g., "robotic" speech or speech that is high-pitched)

Social skills:

• Poor eye contact with people or objects
• Poor play skills
• Being overly focused on a topic or objects that interest them
• Problems making friends
• Crying, becoming angry, giggling, or laughing for no known reason or at the wrong time
• Disliking being touched or held

Reacting to the world around them:

• Rocking, hand flapping or other movements (self-stimulating movements)
• Not paying attention to things the child sees or hears
• Problems dealing with changes in routine
• Using objects in unusual ways
• Unusual attachments to objects
• No fear of real dangers
• Being either very sensitive or not sensitive enough to touch, light, or sounds (e.g., disliking loud sounds or only responding when sounds are very loud; also called a sensory integration disorder)
• Feeding difficulties (accepting only select foods, refusing certain food textures)

You should keep in mind that this list is meant as a reference only. If you child has only a couple of the items on the list, it is unlikely that your child has autism. A pediatrician, neurologist, or other appropriate professional should be consulted for an accurate diagnosis.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Factory Tested Kindie Rock

Just so's ya know, music is factory tested here at the Kids' Music That Rocks Laboratories. Here's our little Steamboat diggin' The Terrible Twos' Jerzy the Giant ...

Baby Talk

I love watching young children. They amaze me, especially the babies. There are so many skills that they acquire in the their first year. They go from little bundles that cry, eat, sleep, and make LOTS of dirty diapers to crawling, walking, running, babbling, finger-feeeding bundles of energy. I am convinced I could never learn that much in a year!

In as little as the first three months, you may notice that your baby already recognizes your voice and quiets or smiles when they see or hear you. By 4-6 months, your baby is likely noticing sounds and visually tracking the direction of the sound. He will have a variety of sounds that he can make, including some consonant sounds like p, b, or m.

Somewhere around their first birthday you will see that they have progressed to playing peek-a-boo, responding to simple requests such as "come here" or "hand me the cup", and will even begin speaking their first words.

In order to help with this amazing progression, try some of these suggestions:

• Play finger plays and other games with your child, such as itsy bitsy spider and patty cake


• Talk, talk, talk to your child


• Reinforce your babies attempts at communication by mimicking their sounds and maintaining eye contact


• Play around with animal sounds