The ABC Song

I was really really hoping that Jackson would be musical. And happily, he's showing evidence that he might not have inherited his PapaJohn's...uh...lack of pitch sensitivity. To PapaJohn's credit, there's a wonderful resonance to his voice. But my compliments will have to stop with his speaking abilities.

The first evidence of Jackson's musical sensibilities came as a surprise a few months ago. He was in the charge of his Auntie M while Ian and I had dinner out. When we came back, M said that he had hummed the tune to "Skip to my Lou" along with her. I hadn't heard him do that yet. Hence, the surprise. Sure enough, the next morning when I sang it to him to test him out, he echoed the notes of the chorus right back to me.

Then a few weeks later, I put him down to nap. Sometimes, we put a book in his crib so he can entertain himself before falling asleep. This time I put a little songbook with a micro-keyboard in with him. I heard him tapping on some keys. Then I heard a single note followed by an off key "aaa". Another note followed by a slightly flat "aaa". Then a third time with the same key on the piano. And darned if he didn't hit that note pitch perfect..."AAA"! The kiddo was learning to sing on key!!

Then last month we were in Atlanta for the Independence Day holiday. We noticed that Jackson had this little phrase he kept repeating. A O A O A O A. We weren't sure what he was singing until we realized that the notes of his A O A O A O A perfectly matched those when we sing A B C D E F G. Of course that entertained us for a while (especially cousin Aidan, who really knows his ABCs).

Now the ABC song is heard daily in the Eyre household. And Jackson's shown significant improvement. Now he's up to A B E B E B E, Etch Uh Uh Uh Uh Uh X. Then he quits. He's getting better every day. And he loves to perform. In fact, next time you see him, ask him to sing the ABC song. He will gladly oblige. He might not have all the lyrics down yet, but as his mama, I am proud to announce that he's hitting all the right notes pretty close to proper pitch.

Clarice