"C-O-O-K-I-E-S" (video!) and The Best Cookie Ever (recipe!)

Hello again...

My kids are older, but the need to be silly in order to stay sane remains strong. That's true even as my oldest has now entered the teenage years with genetic-level sarcasm. And that's true especially during a pandemic (no need to explain that one if your calendar reads 2020).

Amid coronavirus-related shutdowns, all my work has come to a standstill. My writing fingers are positively twitching. So once again I find myself turning to this on-again, off-again blog.

The "C-O-O-K-I-E-S" song featured in this post has been knocking around my brain for over five years. I was pretty proud of myself when I came up with it, gotta say. I always thought I'd post it here, much like the hand-washing song (which, come to think of it, is sorta timely, even if it's more inspirational than instructional). Then the blog went on hiatus as life ebbed and flowed in other directions, and somehow making a video with a song that puts a kiddie spin on Todd Snider's "Beer Run" just didn't make the top priority slot. Go figure. But the song remained in the back of my head all that time like a true earworm, and I continued to nurture the half-baked dream of making a ridiculous video. Because, why the swearword not?

And, especially, why the swearword not now? I don't know about you, but I've been needing some epic-level stupid-silliness to outweigh the uncertainty and grief of these recent months.

Pandemic.

Protests.

Kids growing up.

Even my favorite family music artist, Caspar Babypants, announcing that he's done making albums. (In my silly daydreams, I always imagined him singing this song. And, let's be honest, when you observe the video, you will wish it was Chris Ballew singing the song too.)

I've been teaching my kids about covering coughs, washing hands, and observing physical distance rules.

I've been teaching my kids about justice, mercy, and love.

I've been teaching myself to loosen my grip on my kids, slowly but surely, to allow them to grow into their own.

But I'm also still teaching my kids, and myself, to smile -- every day, to find reason to smile.

Video time

So without further ado, I give you the world premiere of "C-O-O-K-I-E-S" in all its musical and technical glory. (I'm of the era of dancing hamsters and peanut butter jelly-loving bananas, so I'm feeling marginally OK about this product.)

Cookie time

Now that you're good and hungry, here are recipes for some of our favorite cookies:

Frosted Rhubarb Cookies from Taste of Home

Salted Oatmeal Cookies from The Washington Post's Leigh Lambert

Annnnnnd, the one our family has made more times than we can count, and thus what we now dub...

The Best Cookie Ever

from my Mom

Cream:

1/2 c butter

1/2 c creamy Skippy peanut butter

1/2 c sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

Beat in:

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Add:

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 c flour

1/2 c oats

Fold in:

1 c chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes or just starting to lightly brown at edges. Cool on wire racks.

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe? Feel free to comment and share below. We can work off quarantine weight with family dance parties, hikes, gardening, and "vigorous housework."

mixed tape: bodies in motion

by Melissa

ah, cassettes. i can still summon the feeling of black plastic ridges on my fingertip as i imagine re-winding the black tape that, inevitably, came loose in my crappy tape player. i still have a Heart cassette somewhere. and remember mixed tapes? i rocked Paula Abdul on one of mine. in college, a friend made me a mixed tape of electronica—it was on a cd, but we called it a mixed tape anyway. that mix of nostalgia and habit stayed with me into the era of mp3's and Pandora. i can't get used to this whole "playlist" lingo, despite its grammatical superiority. so for this first silly = sane mix, i'm sticking with old-school—it's a mixed tape we're offering up here. on the blog, anyway. on our YouTube channel, of course, a playlist it shall forever be.

our inaugural theme is all about bodies, and not just that kiddie stuff of head, shoulders, knees and toes (although that's there too). we've got blood and guts, boys and girls. not to mention a bodily function thrown in for good measure.

find the list of songs below with links to music files (affiliate links on Amazon). head on over to the YouTube channel for the free version with our bodies in motion playlist. (parents, take care. i don't put ads on my videos, but others do and they are not always appropriate for children. most of these videos do not have ads. but some do, both overlay banners and commercials you have to click to skip. so be aware of that...)

Heywood Banks, "Hey Pancreas"

They Might Be Giants, "Bloodmobile"

Caspar Babypants, "Funny Bone" (only 50 cents on his website!)

Ralph's World, "Wiggle Your Lah-De-Dah"

Barenaked Ladies, "A Word For That"

Moey's Music Party, "I Gotta Go Potty"

Justin Roberts, "Henrietta's Hair"

Caroline and Danny, "Germ Attack!" ("Holy flu germs, Batman!"... trust me, the kids like it...)

John Hadfield, "I'm Your Brain"

Animaniacs, "Bones in the Body"
A Japanese show to apparently help children learn English: "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"

since this is a YouTube-driven playlist, there are a few that would be on a normal mix but didn't make this particular cut. a few more songs we like in the bodily theme:

Caspar Babypants, "Them Bones" (only 50 cents on his website! no, i'm not paid to tell you this. we're just big fans!)
Ralph's World, "Finger is the Singer"
Justin Roberts, "Get Me Some Glasses"

Jack Hartmann, "The Cool Head and Shoulders, Knees & Toes"

got one to add? suggestions for our next volume? throw it in the comments!

Hand-washing song

by Melissa

Everything is easier with a song! Here's one of our favorites that (I think) we made up, to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"...



Keep in mind this is a demonstration of the song, not of hand-washing (I'm usually helping) nor of singing (except maybe the munchkin's cute li'l voice).

Scrub, scrub, scrub our hands
Scrub them every day
Scrub, scrub, scrub our hands
Scrub the germs away
Rinse, rinse, rinse our hands
Rinse them every day
Rinse, rinse, rinse our hands
Rinse the soap away
[and then we...]
Dry, dry, dry our hands
Dry them every day
Dry, dry, dry our hands
Dry the water away!
[Yay!]

here, there, everywhere

woohoo! another of my posts has appeared on the Studio3Music blog, this one about marrying mommy music with kids music. one of the goals of my Books 'n' Beats posts is to recommend kids music that won't drive parents batty in the minivan. this is the first of those recommendations. loyal silly readers, you may know where my radio dial is heading on this one...

meanwhile... 

for those who missed my post about missing the fort we created under a stairway, we got a mention on the Fort Friday feature over at All For the Boys. yippee! (we're Fort Friday fans, can you tell?) and for those keeping track, my fort hunt continues. but i am getting closer to a location and theme. that laurel hedge is definitely going to be part of things.

this post contains this here affiliate link doohickey:

a little revolution stuffed into that stocking

we're music fans around here, but it takes a lot for me to actually buy kids music. there are very few that graduate to the level of making our budget spreadsheet! and even then, it's usually tied to a special milestone. we got Little One the latest from Caspar Babypants for her birthday ("baby-pants!") and plan to do so again for her stocking this Christmas.

one that will go in Sweet One's stocking this year is Princess Revolution!, a gem of a girl-power album from a New Yorker who goes by the nickname Moey. not a huge fan of the Disney-variety princesses (although we own almost all of the movies) i was pleasantly surprised by this album (and look forward to the balance it will bring to the Princess Force). both of my girls have most of the album memorized already from listening to a library loaner on near-continuous loop. i didn't renew the check-out (i was sold on the first listen too, and i need some anticipation to build for the appropriate Christmas morning reaction, you know). yet even the 2-year-old is still requesting "p-incess relooshun?"

Moey's Music Party (as the band is called) mixes Broadway-like writing with a pop-punk vibe for mostly high-energy beats. the girls love the pint-size rock-out. as a mom, i adore the lyrics – especially when i know my princess-loving girls are going to be singing the songs around the house. i want the words coming out of those little mouths to be good.

the album is a compendium of songs about princesses who are more likely to:

• kick off the glass slippers for some light-up sneakers
• settle for a futon and give one of those 20 feather beds to a needy child
• kiss themselves rather than wait for some prince

they are "readers and leaders" who are into "science, self-reliance" and are confident enough to believe in themselves rather than aspire to some false ideal of femininity.

there's also a tale about a princess who doesn't live happily ever after, in which The Little Mermaid gets an alternate ending: the prince marries another woman. the moral: don't sell off part of yourself just to get a guy. and i like to think that the messages behind all of the songs will help raise girls to be the kind of women who don't go to college for an MRS.

these are twisted fairytales with even better than-happily ever afters.

my soapbox aside, the album also is simply fun. there are goofy songs like "20 Mattresses" ("this true princess won't be woken by a pea!") and "Go Away Monster!" (in which the girl warns the monster she knows karate, "kiai! kiai! kiai!"). the title track "Princess Revolution" and its bookend companion "Princess Rock Star!" are enjoyably over-the-top.

in an interview, i asked Moey – a mom of an elementary-age son – how she found her niche in girly kindie rock. most of her young students in music classes were girls, she said. “I wrote those songs from that place of really wanting to empower those girls. I wanted them to have fun and dance and dress up and play but also feel really proud about their individuality, joy and self-confidence," she said.

“We can embrace the femininity and the pink and the sparkles and the bling – but really what it’s about is their strength and their confidence.”

the band is sponsored by Oriental Trading Company, which provides plenty of commercial bling gratis for the little princesses moshing at her East Coast concerts. and the momma rocker has aspirations to take things beyond the New York tri-state area. in her hot-pink ballgowns, she's certainly confident in her own attitude and goals.

“I don’t think the girls understand how empowering this message is right now. They enjoy singing, dancing and jumping. But I believe this will stay with them and they’ll hear in their head later, ‘I can do it. … This is me.’ ... I want these girls – so full of joy and confidence at age 2 and 3 – to keep that.”


the stocking photo comes from CarbonNYC. this post contains affiliate links, including this jazzy li'l box right down here:

books with a beat

i'm now also writing for a wonderful children's music company over at the Studio3Music blog! watch for regular posts under the banner of "Books 'n' Beats". the first one, linked here, tells a bit about what i'll be focusing on over there, bending more to the musical side of things and recommending all those books that are fun and have a beat (but maybe are not silly enough for this blog!). children's music selections that won't have Mommy want to claw her face off also will be highlighted (you're welcome).

we had Sweet One in Kindermusik classes through Studio3Music and highly recommend them to anyone living in the Puget Sound region! (you can preview a class for free.) the teachers are fantastic. we especially love Miss Beth!


ps: like this blog, i welcome suggestions from you dear readers for book and music recommendations. you can reach me at sillyissane@gmail.com.

teddy bears with soul

"Beauty in the Pollution" by geezaweezer

ohhhh, my friends. we have found garbage-dump-teddy-bear nirvana. wha?

well, if you started with this blog from the beginning, then you may know our family's love for caspar babypants. those of a certain generation recall the band The Presidents of the United States of America (mmmm, peaches). this is the lead's kiddie alter ego. it weds the silliness of PUSA with the sentiment of PPDA (parents on poopy diaper alert). our not-yet-2-year-old equates "babypants!" with music. hop in the car, strap her in the seat, and before we get to the end of the alley it's "babypants? babypants? ba-by-pants?!?"

far and away our favorite song is "$9.99." (although you can buy it for 50 cents ... 50 measly cents, y'all!) i could explain, but with the artist's permission we're just going to share it here:

this week's silly book recommendation: Pajama Time!

pajammy down with your flannel self as you ditch the fight and instead have some goofy fun getting the kiddos ready for bed. this is our latest favorite book for bedtime. anything by Sandra Boynton, the queen of silly pantses everywhere, is a sure thing. and this is near the top of the list of our Boynton faves.

Pajama Time! by Sandra Boynton (2000, Workman Publishing)

many of Boynton's works are actually songs. we have not heard this song except for a clip. but we like our version better, with more of a hip-hop than a doo-wop beat.

fine print: this post contains Amazon affiliate links. learn more here.

we make it up as we go along

background from amoraleda

my husband and i have found ourselves recycling familiar tunes into everyday activities. each of our girls has 'their song' that sprouted up before they turned 1.






for the first, it was a revamp of "Santa, Baby" into "Cady, Baby."
Santa Baby

for the second, it was to replace the fine momma beverage in The Champs classic with "Geneva!".
Tequila, Short

for both, changing diapers became less of a struggle by adding words to the instrumental "A-Team" theme song. "diaper time! ba-da-BUM. di-a-per time! ba-ba-da-ba-BUM." (and, hey, why not imagine yourself a soldier of fortune with such a dirty job? extraction team, go!)
The A-Team Theme Song (Instrumental)

what about you? what's your baby's song?

this week's silly book recommendation: Pete the Cat

often, part of getting your silly on means using a silly voice. here's a chance to sound like a granola hippie beatnik through the persona of a "grooooooovy" cat. consider sunglasses. or at least a good air acoustic guitar.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin (aka Mr. Eric) and illustrated by James Dean (2010, HarperCollins)

if you prefer, the publisher offers a free reading and singing of the book online as well as other Pete the Cat books. i like my own personal version of the tune. but that's the fun of reading any book yourself – a bit of creative license.

fine print: this post contains Amazon affiliate links. learn more here.

to get us started

in the world of kids' music, nobody does silly (that parents can tolerate) like caspar babypants (aka chris ballew of the presidents of the united states of america).



a teenage fan did this video tribute to "robin on a wire," proving that silly doesn't necessarily expire with zits.