Beach Bert

I have to share something that I just love. Recently there have been some tough days with Bert where he's been pretty whiny. He turned 6 months old this month, and I think he's growing and his schedule changed practically overnight, so things are just tough for him and for me right now because of all the changes.

One day last week, in the late afternoon, I had just about hit my limit on what I could take in the whining department. Bert was dry, fed, and rested, and we had read and played with toys. He was just pretty much over everything. Frankly, I was too. We still had a while before Joe got home from work to shake things up for us, so I thought about what I could do to prevent Bert from contacting the authorities to demand a new mother or me from jumping out a window.

I decided to put on some music to change the atmosphere. I quickly asked myself what was the happiest music I could think of. And it hit me a second later:

The Beach Boys

I mean, right?! So I quickly pulled up YouTube on my phone and hit "play" on the first Beach Boys song that popped up: "Wouldn't It Be Nice."

Oh man -- you would NOT believe what a difference this made in our day. We went through all the hits and survived the afternoon. When Bad Attitude Bert showed up again the following afternoon, I decided to try it again. I wised up this time, though, and just bit the bullet and went to iTunes and downloaded the Beach Boys Greatest Hits. Did you know you can get this entire album on iTunes for $7.99?! SEVEN DOLLARS and NINETY-NINE CENTS! Worth every penny I tell ya.

This morning I needed to dust our upstairs, so I laid Bert down on a blanket in his room with some toys. Before I left his sight to quickly dust the other bedrooms, I turned on the Beach Boys. Please look at Bert's face when he heard the familiar beginning notes of "California Girls," you know which ones I mean --

We might need to buy this kid some board shorts and a surfboard!