Rock-n-Roll, Baby!

On Sunday morning we were gathered with some other American friends for our special “meeting.” It’s always a bit challenging organizing this time, since there are just as many children among us as there are adults. There’s no nursery care for this gathering, though! So we try to involve the older girls, but they are only 2, so they still have some difficulties with paying attention for longer periods of time and sitting still. Usually our plan has been to have them participate in the initial singing, praying, and reading of the Word, and then during the discussion of the week’s passage they either lie down to rest or watch a praise video. So far it’s working all right, but now the younger girls are getting older and presenting their own challenges since they just don’t sleep as much as they used to! Last week we joked that perhaps we need to have our gathering at 8pm since at that time, all the little ones are in bed!

It has been sweet to see, though, how our older girls love the singing. We have some shakers and a small tambourine that they can use to participate, too! John often plays a small bongo drum set and with the piano or guitar going, we definitely make a joyful noise. The older girls love to shout “Hallelujah!” at the ends of the songs, and shake their shakers wildly. It’s truly wonderful to see them be a part of it!

But last week was special. The little girls, who are showing more and more of their own personalities, were also in the room during the singing (neither of them were sleeping yet). I was playing the piano, John was bongo-ing on the drums, and Clara Anne was shaking her shaker. And Chloe…Chloe was holding her shaker, and literally rocking and rolling to the music. She was sitting up on the couch, and every time the music started she would start rocking back and forth, moving her little torso forward and back. Whenever the music would stop, she would stop too. It was precious!

I promise it wasn’t just a fluke—several times this week I have either been playing the piano or playing music (this morning it was some Mozart orchestral music) and she responds the same way. I think I have a little music lover on my hands! It is especially fun since Clara Anne reacts so differently to music. When she was younger and we would listen to music together, she would go very still without any particular facial expression, and then at the very end she would say, “More?” Only then did I know she liked it! Chloe is showing us with her whole body how much she’s enjoying it! It’s good exercise, too!

So Chloe girl, we’ll keep on playing and singing the music, and you keep on rocking and rolling!