Most kids’ music is terribly annoying for grown-ups, don’t you find? Especially those sung by actual kids.

We have a Fisher Price Little People CD of classic kids’ songs, and although it’s fun to sing along with some of them (Teddy Bear’s Picnic, Alice the Camel, B-I-N-G-O) hearing the fake laughs and voices of older kids trying to be much younger is enough to make me bash my forehead off the steering wheel while waiting for the traffic lights to change.

But MusiGo. Oh MusiGo how we love you.

These all original songs are designed to get babies and kids moving –they’re about kicking and bopping and stretching and touching and wiggling and swinging and waving. And if you’ve ever seen a toddler in action (they never stop moving. Ever.) you know how absolutely perfect songs such as these are.

Keri-Ellen, one of the co-creators from Clarington, sent us a CD to try.

From the first track on, Lucy shakes and wiggles and steps and dances. Her eyes light up, she grins and immediately starts shaking her head (”Shake! And you’ll start feelin’ the beat. Shake! And then start moving your feet.”)

And all the songs are like this: simple, easy to understand language, unique stories, upbeat but not overwhelming eye-rolling music. I absolutely love the spoken word pieces, too. Lucy actually stops what she’s doing and listens to what is being said.

I guarantee you’ll like it, too.

Check out the MusiGo web site for where to buy, including online. I’ve personally seen it at Once Upon a Child in Ajax, and at Little Feet in Whitby.

Enjoy gettin’ your baby groove on!

One of the things that drew me to the internet before Lucy was born was trying to figure out what to have ready when she arrived. I went mostly by the Babies R Us catalogue, which provided a checklist of items, but of course it was biased and tailored to their stock.

Other moms were really helpful, too, but it got to the point where my head was overloaded. (And then the half-naked chili episode happened and I got caught snarfing Timbits and all I could think about was food.)

So filed under the “What I wish I’d known before Lucy was born” category, I present the Essential New Baby Gear Guide (or, What Else to Buy Besides Diapers, Kleenex for the Sleep-Deprived Weeping and A Whole Other Wardrobe for the Post-Partum Body):

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You’ve probably heard the buzz around baby sign language: it helps pre-verbal babies communicate, reduces frustrations, teaches a second language.

Lucy can sign airplane, dog, more, apple and milk. She also recognizes many others, such as where, family, cracker, mommy and daddy. Unfortunately, her early signing skills probably mean she’ll be giving us the finger at 2, but we’ll deal with that later…

As a sign language graduate, I can’t say enough about how wonderful the classes were, not only because they taught Lucy and I a valuable skill, but because of how great our instructor, Karen, was.

I’ve never met a sweeter woman with babies. Karen was kind, patient, encouraging and fun. She runs 8-week and 2-day classes throughout Durham and Markham.

Check out her schedule here, and learn all about the internationallly-renowned (Brooklin based!) Wee Hands here.

Have an amazing (or awful) product you want reviewed? Want to be a guest reviewer? Email me at info@durhamregionbaby.com