The Social Security Administration just released its list of most popular baby names of 2009, and Avery is ranked #32. That seems pretty high to me: I don’t know any other kids named Avery, and Zoe – a name I thought was more popular – was ranked lower (54) the year our Zoe was born. But it’s interesting to think of all those other Averys running around out there, and I’m guessing we’ll meet some someday…

-M

The CD that we most often listen to in the car is Baby Einstein’s Playdate Fun, and Avery has grown quite fond of the Baby Einstein Theme (track one here). She likes it so much, in fact, that if she’s upset and hears the song, she instantly stops crying; Q and I call it the crack song for its addictive qualities. (It happened again this morning: she was super tired and cranky as we drove home from a Target run, and she stopped crying the moment I turned on the song.) The only unfortunate thing is that it’s really short (less than 25 seconds in length) – but that’s what the “repeat” button is for.

I think it’s amazing what this song can do, but it’s not the first time that music has helped us with our kids. When Zoe was a baby, we used Baby Loves Jazz’ Lullabye (last track here) to lull her to sleep in the car: we would turn it on and watch as – like magic – her eyes slowly closed. It worked almost every time – until she was 2 1/2 or so. If only it was that easy to get Zoe to sleep these days!

-M