Musical inclination

Riley's always been able to identify melodies, even from the time he was a toddler. I remember one time in particular, right before Christmas, when he was just under two years old, we had checked out A Charlie Brown Christmas from the library. He loved the movie and watched it over and over the entire time we had it on loan and was sad to see it go back. He asked for it repeatedly and I took to avoiding the music lest it bring about despair. One day, while he and I were driving, I found myself humming the "Christmastime is Here" melody--actually I caught myself after only the first three notes of the melody--and from the back seat I heard R call out sadly "Charlie Brownie!!". Busted. 

So anyway, that's how it is for him. He hears a melody and he remembers it, but the other day he really cracked me up. We had gotten in the car one afternoon and the radio was playing the theme song for Talk of the Nation before the program began. I turned the radio off and later, as we were driving, I heard Riley in the back seat, humming the theme song. Hilarious! 

Who knows what he'll be interested in as he grows, but it's pretty clear to us that he has an innate ease when it comes to music, humming even intricate tunes perfectly. Robbie and I have had to put a lot of stuff on the back burner, including much of our music playing, but I think we'll see the day when we'll all be down in the music room playing music together.