Monkey Business

As I have been trying to get organized and all nested for this new baby, I have noticed a trend in the baby paraphernalia we have collected for this kid. I started it by selected the fabric for his baby quilt and the ball I made for him, but there is definitely a lot of monkey-themed baby boy clothes out there. You'd think this kid was going to be born with a tail.

I remember when Brady's brother Sam was about five years old he confided in me that he wished he could have a monkey tail. His reasoning: "'Cause then I could go pewm!"( he made a sort of high-pitched, laser-like sound as he swung his hips back and to the right) "and pick that up over there, and then--pewm!" (he made the same motion to the left) "and pick that up over there . . ." He continued to demonstrate the longed-for tail's abilities, swinging his hips back and forth up the length of the kitchen, and I had to agree that a monkey tail might have its advantages.

One night while we were living in Knoxville I heard a song that brought the utility of monkeys into question, though. We had stopped at a store to pick up just a couple of items. Being very pregnant with Ellie at the time, I opted to wait in the car while Brady ran into the store real quick. The radio was on a station that we had really liked; they played a lot of local bands and live music. I was only sort of half-listening when I became aware of this chorus repeating:

One monkey don't stop no show,
yeah, one monkey don't stop no show,
mmm-hmm, one monkey don't stop no show . . .
So get on board!

[Sidenote: I have no idea who was singing this song at the time. I looked online later and found the song has been sung and recorded by a number of famous singers, Dolly Parton among them. If you ever go to or live in East Tennessee, you will learn that Dolly Parton is the embodiment of all things good and right in the world, and therefore lends credence to anything she touches.]

By the time Brady got back, the song had ended, so I had to reenact the lively chorus for him. As we laughed over the song, the question arose in my mind that if one monkey doesn't stop the show, just exactly how many monkeys does it take to stop the show? At what point do you put your foot down and say, "No. No. That is too many monkeys. I will not get on board"? I have a sneaking suspicion we are going to find the answer to that question in the next week or so . . .