My constant audience

From 16 weeks after conception, a fetus is capable of hearing. Graham has been reacting to sounds for the past month. He first responded to daddy's low voice when John spoke to my tummy. His kicks weren't strong enough to be felt by John until the following week, but I could feel it. After that reaction, we tried playing music for him. Cello concertos elicit the greatest reaction. He also reacts to first experiences, such as the first time he heard me speaking Spanish and the first time he heard me play the violin.

I started playing violin about a month ago. I played in middle school, but had not played in the past seven years. So after digging the violin out of my mother's closet, I had it tuned at a local music store, bought a chromatic tuner and book of songs, and started playing with violinonline.com and youtube. I recorded myself playing Pirates of the Caribbean here. I wanted to record more, but I am not very skilled with the software yet. Graham frequently also hears Colors of the Wind, Somewhere Out There, Beauty and the Beast, Pink Panther, and My Heart Will Go On. The first time I played an actual song, Graham kicked and squirmed rapidly. Now, he does not respond with his movements. Perhaps he is becoming acclimated to my rehearsal sessions.

I have a theory that children can sense hostility in words they do not yet understand and can become acclimated to hearing curse words. When my 13 year old brother was growing up, all of us older people in the house did not censure our language. The week before he entered kindergarten, we had to explain to him why certain words were not appropriate to use around his new friends. I am now trying to censure my language, before Graham arrives. Slip ups do happen on occasion, such as when the water temperature changed suddenly in the shower and I cut my knee on the bath faucet as I leaped out of the burning water. But I can avoid using the WTF expression and similar idioms. My swelling uterus means that I am never alone. My little audience of one may or may not be listening to me at any moment.