Jack's Big Music Show!

The truth is, I was going to title this post: I Love Todd Hannert, but I thought that would be a little odd. The fact is, that I DO love ALL of Todd Hannert's work! I loved his book Morning Dance even before I had my own child.

Jackson now LOVES "Jack's Big Music Show!"

Let me back up and give you the background on this one. Before we moved to Virginia, I taught at Elgin Academy in Elgin, IL. I was blessed to work with an amazing staff of talented teachers and staff. To be honest, I always imagined starting our family in our Crystal Lake house so my children could attend Elgin Academy and have Mary Hannert as a part of their Early Childhood experience. She is an amazing teacher and everyone loves her! Sadly, it does not look like that will happen since our commute would be a bit lengthy now :) Anyways, Mary WAS at my baby shower before I had Jackson. One of the gifts she gave me was a Curious Buddies DVD: "Look and Listen at the Park."

I knew that Mary's husband, Todd, spent a lot of time out of the country working on his children's music show. I remember checking it out once when I was flipping channels, but I didn't give it much thought since I didn't have my own children. Jackson has really not watched much TV until recently. We live in a three-story townhouse with the main play area on the main level. We do not have a television on the main level, so there was no reason for Jackson to have much exposure to TV. However, we went through a period a couple of months ago where Jackson was waking up from his naps earlier than he should, and I could tell he was still tired and would like to still be sleeping! I finally though to turn on a DVD so he could continue relaxing before jumping into more playtime. The DVD I chose was the Curious Buddies one Mary had given me. Jackson LOVED it! He sat still for the whole thing totally entranced!

Once that was a success I DVRed a few episodes of "Jack's Big Music Show" since it too was by Todd Hannert. Well, Jackson LIVES for Jack now! At home he stands by the gate to go down to the family room and says, "Shoo! (Show!) Jack!" Here at Mimi and Bampa's, he asks for it as soon as he wakes up. Frankly, at 5:30am, that sounds like a great activity in my book... Even better, none of us "grown-ups" are annoyed by it! It's a hit all the way around :) I asked my mom to Tivo a few episodes in anticipation of our arrival so Jackson could have some Jack to watch. The first morning we were here, however, I realized that nothing had Tivoed since they do not get Nick Jr! Oh no! Jackson and I were headed to the library anyways, so we checked for some Jack DVDs while we were there. We found the only one that exists ("Let's Rock!") and have now watched it approximately 1,043,672 times ;)

We also checked out a CD ("Jack's Big Music Show: Season One). That has been fun to listen to in the car. Yes, we are a bit obsessed, but since we all enjoy it, I'm happy to appease Jackson :)

The characters on Jack (Jack, Mary, and Mel) always have some guests that help them perform. There is a list of the wonderful guest performers listed on the Wikipedia page along with an episode and song guide and some other neat information like some connections to "Sesame Street!" My two favorite parts of each show are Jack tapping his foot in the theme song and Jack's mom reminding him that they have an activity to get to soon. The activity is always different like knitting class or pole vaulting class!

For more Things I Love Thursday, visit The Diaper Diaries!