The first time that Emma watched a video on my computer that was purely for her viewing it was of kids swimming on youtube before our trip to the local pool. It really helped her to see the children comfortable and happy in the water and was a great use of the medium for a one-year-old. When she loved the song and book that I shared with her called Over in the Meadow I knew there had to be a video too. We found one made by Barefoot Books videos on youtube and it was her very favorite. Then we happily showed her pandas at play, Pocoyo, Elmo, and some children songs on the computer and she loved them all. It was another view of the world and the arts and we definitely felt that it was helping and not hurting. She sang, giggled, and danced about and even began incorporating the characters and their experiences into her play.

When she began watching Little Bear I noticed that she would spout out entire scenes from the show. For a while I was exclusively referred to as Mother Bear and maiki became Sather Bear (she uses an S sound instead of F). We would be walking down the street and she would proclaim “My tooth is loose” or “I’m sick” in the exact intonation as Little Bear. And her language exploded from watching these shows. We have a lot of Richard Scarry books so I found The Busy World of Richard Scarry and its also been a favorite. She says that her name is Emily Sally Cat. Lately has she began associating with the female characters like Lucy, Emily and Sally, and they wear dresses so now so does Emma! It has been interesting and I don’t think that I would change a thing but I am always curious how different her personality would be if she had not watched so much media.

I do rely on youtube a lot for finding music to share with her as well. We love the nine-year-old opera singer Amira from Holland, Lindsey Stirling the violin player who rocks out to Phantom of the Opera as well as video game soundtracks, Pentatonix an a Capella group that is awesome at singing anything and everything. I look forward to see what interests she develops as she gets older and the music that she chooses to listen to. I play and sing her all that I love and enjoy and soon we are starting Music Together to broaden our horizons and introduce Emma to more instruments. It is an exciting thing, showing the world to a young mind but also carries so much weight. I hope that having an awareness of this helps me give a well rounded view.