When Amanda Bowman Gray asked her daughter Lydia to watch her 25-month-old son, Bo, so she could take a shower, she could not believe her eyes (or ears!) when she returned.
Gray was shocked to find her kids performing a beautiful rendition of “You Are My Sunshine.” The incredible thing? Bo has Down Syndrome, but was still able to keep up with every word!
Amanda knew she had to capture the stunning moment on camera. Lydia can be seen strumming away on her guitar and singing “You Are My Sunshine” with her little bro by her side. The toddler gets super excited when the words “happy,” “gray,” “dear,” and “away” come up in the song. He absolutely loves being able to show off the fact he can say all these new words – what a guy!
“My daughter Lydia was watching Bo while I was in the shower,” Bowman Grey began in a post earlier this month. “Came out to this. If she didn’t have a guitar I don’t know if she would know how to babysit him. This is her go to. It’s proof that music therapy works . . . Every word he has learned has been through music and singing.”
The video has been viewed over 50 million times, and shared over 1 million times!
My daughter Lydia was watching Bo while I was in the shower. Came out to this. If she didn’t have a guitar I don’t know if she would know how to babysit him. This is her go to. It’s proof that music therapy works. Bo is 25 months old and has a 12 word vocabulary. Every word he has learned has been through music and singing.*If you would like to use this video it is now licensed with Storyful. All photos/stories are public on the page and do not need permission to be used, except this video. Thank you so much. https://storyful.com/
Posted by Amanda Bowman Gray on Monday, January 15, 2018
Amanda revealed the powerful meaning of the song for their family. Her husband, Caleb, sang the song to Bo when he was recovering in the hospital from serious heart surgery.
(I am reposting this for my Down Syndrome Support for Mommies. It is the backstory to “You are my sunshine” for Bo)I just posted a video here below on this page of my daughter Lydia singing “You are my sunshine” to my special DS baby Bo who is 25 months old. I’ve noticed that a lot of your mom is come relate to this song so I wanted to give you the backstory to that post. In that post I mentioned that he has learned all of his 12 words through music therapy. My husband and I are musicians. When Bo went in for his heart surgery it ended up going downhill really fast really bad. He was one of the sickest children on the West Coast for a few weeks. He was ECMO BYPASS For way too long. After weeks and weeks (which ended up in months) of being in the hospital in a silent room of the CICU we got special permission to bring a guitar in and sing to him in hopes that it would comfort him as they believed that he could still hear us even though he couldn’t physically respond. He was touch and go at this point. What most people didn’t know is that my husband and I started practicing the song “You are my sunshine” a month before he had his surgery because we were wanting to perform some tight harmonies at our gigs. At night we would practice and sing this song while he was in my arms. It was very much routine before his surgery. So Caleb my husband brought the Guitar in and we had one of the nurses record this. This was the first time that he moved as he reacted to the familiarity of the song and our voices. He was so heavily sedated and wouldn't respond. From then on this has become his theme song. We are firm believers in music therapy! By the way the blessing that has come out of this besides the fact that he survived after crashing in the CICU was that he is on two international studies for life because he should’ve never survived what his little body had gone through. He mine boggled our doctors and surgeons as they had to reach out internationally for help and in the end ended up trying their own solution which is why he is here with us today! He also broke a record timing for Primary Children’s Hospital in 40 years for response to put someone on ECMO bypass! He seriously is our little miracle.
Posted by Amanda Bowman Gray on Monday, January 15, 2018
“This was the first time that he moved as he reacted to the familiarity of the song and our voices,” Amanda wrote, adding the tune had become Bo’s “theme song.”
“We feel like he’s defying the odds,” Bowman Grey told ABC News on Tuesday, January 16. “Thanks to Lydia and her determination, she pushed forward with music therapy . . . We’re so proud of our kids.”
“We were told a while back that our lil caboose Bo would inspire and teach the world someday. At that time I don’t think Caleb and I could comprehend or even imagine it to this extent. He is a blessing. He has brought a sweet spirit into our home and a little piece of heaven,” Amanda wrote on Facebook.
“He has changed our lives and humbled us beyond measure. My older children along with us are changed forever because of him. All he knows is how to LOVE. Simply LOVE unconditionally. What more could parents ask for? To EVERYONE who has viewed, commented, shared, and messaged us personally…THANK YOU. Thank you for seeing the beauty of this video as it bring awareness to Down Syndrome but also that music Therapy ROCKS!”
The couple are both musicians. Recently, Amanda updated her Facebook with a new video of little Lydia teaching her brother how to sing “Row row row your boat.”
“I don’t know if the last video of Lydia and Bo going viral really sunk in with her. She’s continuing as usual with her music therapy with Bo. She said on Friday she wanted to start working on the song, “Row row row your boat” because she figures if he can say the word boat then he can say his name “Bo,”” wrote Amanda on Facebook.
Posted by Amanda Bowman Gray on Sunday, January 21, 2018
What a beautiful moment of mutual affection between siblings, and a lovely memory for all the family to treasure.