The Boog Boogie

The Boog loves music. He's always loved music. The first time I felt him move, I was blasting Coheed and Cambria while driving home from culinary school (don't judge, they remind me of driving to campgrounds with my family while my dad blasted Rush...so judge my dad, haha). In the NICU, the only way the nurses could get him to stop screaming 24/7 was to play him this CD of cheesy instrumental versions of big band songs from one of the nurses' ballroom dancing class. During his early days the only way to keep him from beating me up while he was nursing was to sing to him. My favorite lullabies: Sweet Baby James by James Taylor and Rocky Raccoon by the Beatles, because who doesn't feel calmer when listening to a good tune about cowboys or barfights and drunken doctors, right?

I digress and the Peej is stirring...

Anyway, so Ry has always loved to listen to music, but recently he has started to dance when music is playing.

It is hilarious.

Not only is my son encumbered by white man's syndrome, he also has nystagmus which affects his balance and gross and fine motor delays, not to mention PDD/NOS which causes him to experience the world in a different way from most of humanity, so Lord knows what music sounds like to him or what he thinks he's actually doing when he's dancing...but his dance moves look something like this:

Twirl in circles. Stumble. Almost fall over. Recover and give a little hip shake to make the stumbling look intentional. Stomp foot three times. Emphatically. No seriously, guys, this is some no-nonsense foot stomping. Twirl in circles a few more times. Stumble again. Give up twirling and hold onto the TV stand for support. Shake hips several times. Stomp foot a few more times for good measure.

All of this is done with a very determined look on his face, because guys, come on, dancing is serious business, and God forbid we laugh at him at any point. I try not to laugh because I don't want to hurt his little feelings when he's trying SO hard...but seriously, who could help it?

I blame Ellen.