Top 40 Hits: Baby Ohgahway

Dear Em,
We don't really listen to much children's music. Sure, you know "The Wheels on the Bus" & the "Itsy Bitsy Spider," but even as a baby you listened to a playlist of songs I loved instead of typical kids songs. We may later come to realize that this was a big parenting fail...especially when you tell people that you love Miley Cyrus & "Wrecking Ball" & we're not there to explain that you've never seen the "Wrecking Ball" video nor have you ever even seen a photo of Miley.

It's been fun to see how your love of music has evolved, with your favorite songs being happy & poppy. You were singing "We are Young" at two years old instead of "Row Row Row Your Boat." You also have a tendency to make up your own songs, which can be equally cute & slightly annoying as you sing the same made up chorus repeatedly for a half hour. One song consisted of you just singing "Ella the owl" on repeat until I begged you to stop.

One day I was cleaning out your closet & you were playing with your baby dolls nearby (most likely making a bigger mess than the one I was trying to organize). You were singing to your babies about "Baby Ohgahway." After the 437,221 rendition of "Baby Ohgahway," I couldn't handle listening to the same few words on repeat any longer. I asked you to sing another song, any other song...something with English words or real names. You tried to sing another tune, but it was clear this "Baby Ohgahway" song was stuck in your head, & you would unconsciously sing it again & again.

When I thought I had heard the words Baby Ohgahway so many times my head was going to explode, I realized something. There were a few more words. "I really want to love somebody, but you're Baby Ohgahway, you're Baby Ohgahway," you sang. You hadn't made up your own song at all.

"Em, are you singing 'Love Somebody'?"
"No, Mommy. I'm singing Baby Ohgahway."
"Well, is it a song you made up?"
"No, it's a song we listen to in Daddy's car."
"That's what I thought. You're singing 'Love Somebody,' & there is no baby Ohgahway. They're singing 'but you can take me all the way."
"No, you're very wrong. The song is about Baby Ohgahway."

I tried to play the song via U-Tube in hopes to convince you, but you held firm on what you knew better than me was the true wording of the song. You continued to sing about that poor baby with the very unique name until I had finally finished organizing. I don't think I've ever been so happy to finish cleaning out a closet.

I guess if you can't beat them, you join them. The song has come on during our car rides many more times, & I started to sing about Baby Ohgahway right along with you. After a while, you felt the need to correct me. "Mommy, it's not Baby Ohgahway. That doesn't even make sense. You're singing the wrong words. Listen, they're singing 'you can take me all the way.'"  Sigh. Now you sing along with the right words, but when I hear the song all I can think of is poor Baby Ohgahway.

I love you so,
Mommy