Am I influencing my boys? Cool.
In writing about how I sing to my baby, something occurred to me. I told stories to the first one, and he is now an avid reader/listener of stories. I sing to my second boy, and he is already much more interested in music than the first one ever was. Coincidence? Nature? Nurture? I'll probably never know. But that's how we make it as parents, right? Taking credit for what we can, to offset the blame we'll surely earn later.
It's a great question, Danny. And an old one. I've been wondering the same thing lately when I see Ava's interest in art. Leah doesn't have any artistic background, that I know of. And I'm no Rembrandt. But my dad is a sculpture MFA, and my brother's an architect. Is it possible this is in the genes somewhere?
Oh, and on the making up words thing. One of my favorite memories from childhood was the way my dad would insert out-of-place words into the stories we'd read over and over again. No doubt a way to keep himself awake, but thinking about it now, what a great way to train a young, hungry mind to think about possibilities. To this day, I still read every sentence I come across with the feeling that anything can happen, and I have my father to thank.