All Ella wants for her birthday is her music

Ella makes a mix CD of her current favorite songs every year for her birthday. Her mix always includes all-time favorite Justin Roberts, as well as old stand-bys, They Might Be Giants. Those two, as well as current faves Recess Monkey and the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (side tangent: this is the Gene Wilder old-school version, which is preferable to Johnny Depp's version. Wilder's Wonka is at times bordering on satanic, but he won't hurt your kids. Depp's Wonka is just plain creepy. If I were forced to choose to send my kids to Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch or at Depp's Wonka Factory, it would be a toss-up).

These kids songs that Ella likes don't needle at me the way the Doodlebops, Barney or Raffi start to. So, I generally like her mix. Ella has complete editorial control, but it seems like she humors me every year with a few token "Daddy songs." Last year it was M. Ward's "Big Boat," and this year it's the White Stripes, "My Doorbell," along with some Great Lake Swimmers.

Mauren's mix is coming along as well and she's more receptive to my music at this point. Stay tuned for May for the final completion of that one.

The morning after

Ella has been working on her mix CD for her birthday party this weekend and she asks to listen to it all the time. I went to see Ra Ra Riot last night and they're poppy enough that I thought the girls might like them. I said, "hey, this is a band I went to hear last night. After five second of "Ghost Under Rocks," Ella said "Can we can back to my mix?"