Rowan loves music. It's becoming more and more evident lately. Unfortunately, it's mostly evident when the television is on, and he recognizes commercials. His favorites are the local commercials that tend to sing their phone numbers: 800-588-2300...EMPIRE (for Empire carpets); 1-800-244-1963...Windows Unlimited (for a window company), and much to Kenny and my disappointment, the cheesy Channel 11 local news station, "Stand up and tell 'em you're from Pittsburgh."

I'd like to think he recognizes these jingles not because he hears them over and over (we'll get to that later), but because he appreciates the sounds of music. His favorite toy is a little piano and he makes us dance with him when "Rockin' Robin" and "Oh Susanna" are played through it's tiny speaker. And he won't give Kenny a moment's rest when he wants to sit down and play his keyboard, or bodhran, or D whistle (the tiny tin whistle has become Rowan's own instrument because it's pint-sized, like him, and he recently learned how to blow into it to make a note. It's also really sticky with toddler finger prints all over it).

So we'll soon cultivate his love for music in some way, and begin music lessons in some form or another in a few years. Will he play an instrument? Sing? Dance? Who knows...

One of my fears about his recognizing these commercials is that I have the television on a lot during the day. It's actually hard to sit down and watch a program, but I like to have the noise on in the background. So, I've been keeping the television on PBS all day long. Rowan really only recognizes Sesame Street, because he loves Elmo, and he ignores the other cartoons. But he actually watched a good portion of Bob Ross last week. I love watching Bob paint his "happy little trees" and obviously he caught Rowan's attention. He even fell alseep for a few minutes on my lap watching the last part of Bob Ross a week or so ago. Unfotunately, he stayed asleep on my lap after it ended, so I was stuck watching "Sit and Be Fit" for a good 10 minutes until he woke up.

Now that it's the "Christmas Season" (okay, okay, it's actually Advent. And we're celebrating Advent in our home with our Advent wreath, and Advent calendar...), I've been keeping the television turned off and playing Christmas music all day long. It's a nice change, and hopefully I can keep the television off come January.