I Think My Baby Might Like Scary Stories

So for the past month or so, Thumper has really liked action songs.  You know, the ones with movement, like "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  In fact, the very first time I sang that one and did the motions, his eyes lit up and he smiled.  It's still a favorite - he likes the parts where the spider gets wiped out and then the sun comes up.  I guess it is pretty epic.

One of his other favorites is "Little Bunny Foo Foo."  I wasn't sure if he'd like that one - it was long, and repetitive - but he warmed up to it quite quickly.  I've had some experience with babies before, and usually they tended to like the "bopping them on the head" part (such violence).  Thumper has never particularly responded to that, not even if I exaggerate it.  In fact, he's pretty blase through the whole first verse.

Where he does tend to perk up is where the Blue Fairy comes in.  First I thought it was because it's similar to the rain coming down in "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and that's certainly part of it.  But the grinning continues through the entire second bit, even though it's almost exactly the same as the first.  He's smiling broadly as I get to the talking part: "I'll give you three chances, and if you don't behave, I'll turn you into a goon.  But the next day..."  We're talking laughing and squealing by now.  In what is melodically the most boring part of the song.

Eventually I realized I slightly lower my voice as The Blue Fairy, even in that second singing verse.  When she speaks, it goes even lower.  So I began to experiment.  The Blue Fairy got even more spooky, more menacing.  The part where I say "But the next day..." would now fit in to a campfire ghost story.  There's now whispering involved.

And Thumper totally loves it.  The more dramatic and spooky, the better.  He even gives a satisfied smile at the end, when I say, "Hare today, goon tomorrow.  The end."  I mean, it's a pun he can't even understand.  Still, he digs it.

(That reminds me: am I the only one who talks through the end of that song, when the fairy finally gives Foo Foo his comeuppance?  If there's a melody there I don't know it.)

So I wonder if this is a sign of things to come.  Nowadays I don't really watch horror at all, but when I was in elementary school I just loved the show "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" and the Goosebumps book series.  Or maybe it just means I'll be doing many more voices as we read books.  I'll have to work on that, because "Little Bunny Foo Foo" displays pretty much my entire repertoire.

he's coming to turn you into a goon