Now, I get that my child doesn't really care (yet) whether or not I can hit that high note. But I guess if you're me, several bad experiences with your church's children's choir plus one awful musical theater audition in high school plus several instances of being told, "I can't listen to any more of your singing" add up to bedtime state fright. So when I'm tucking Westley in and he says, in his sweet toddler accent, "seeng...a song," my mind is as quiet as the dark bedroom. I draw a complete musical blank. Until "Fuck and Run" or "Suffragette City" or "Total Eclipse of the Heart" pops into my head, and then...just, no.
For weeks, the only child- and my-voice-friendly song I could think to sing to Westley was "Jesus Loves Me." It seriously was the only thing I could come up with while mentally belting, "turn around, bright eyes!" Unfortunately, there's not much to it (I thought). To stretch the song out a little, I added the verse I wrote when I was tiny:
(You're welcome.)Jesus loves the cats and dogs.Jesus loves the rabbits and frogs.Jesus loves them all day long.Jesus loves to hear this song.
That wasn't a satisfying answer for either Westley or me. I thought I'd be stuck with the classic (and creepy) "Rock-a-bye Baby," or I'd have to give in and go with whatever inappropriate, un-singable thing popped into my head when Westley made his nightly request. Until yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon, Westley suddenly zeroed in on a picture of a lollipop in one of his books: "Get! Loll-pop!"
"We can't get it, honey," I told him, knowing the high-pitched misery was about to set in. "It's just a picture."
Sure enough: "GET! Loll-POP!"
"I don't have any lollipops, baby. I'm sorry."
And then I realized: I know a lollipop song. (No, not that one.) So I started singing, simultaneously brilliant and like a huge dork. Westley stopped fussing, listened, relaxed, smiled.
Tonight, as I tucked his blanket around him, Westley asked me to "seeng." And then he added, "loll-pop song."
And so I did.
It might be the strangest lullaby ever. But it sure beats trying to learn all the verses to "Jesus Loves Me."
5 comments:
I have the same stage fright! It doesn't help that my husband has a beautiful voice (a regularly performing voice). Luna always seems to be looking at me strangely when I sing. She's wondering why my voice doesn't sound like Daddy's, I just know it. What have I taken to singing? Lullaby by The Dixie Chicks.
This was one of our childhood favorites http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G5x3fpfpFI
and here are the lyrics:
Christopher Robin and I walked along
under branches lit up by the moon.
Posing our questions to owl and eeyore
as our days disappeared all too soon.
But I've wandered much further today than I should
and I can't seeem to find my way back to the wood.
So, help me if you can I've got to get
back to the house at Pooh corner by one.
You'd be surprised there's so much to be done,
count all the bees in the hive,
chase all the clouds from the sky.
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh.
Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do,
got a honey jar stuck on his nose.
He came to me asking help and advice
and from here no one knows where he goes.
So I sent him to ask of the Owl if he's there,
how to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear
So, help me if you can I've got to get
back to the house at Pooh corner by one
You'd be surprised there's so much to be done,
count all the bees in the hive,
chase all the clouds from the sky .
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh,
back to the days of Christopher Robin,
back to the ways of Pooh
Man, I wish I could remember lyrics! I sing Rock-a-bye Baby and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and that's it. I'm seriously considering studying the lyrics to the Little Mermaid songs, though, because it's like hypnotizing him. And God knows I need that magic trick!
I thought I was one of the only ones feeling self conscious. It's like every other mom I know just knows how to sing lullabies, and I'm left feeling weirded out by most of them :-)
For now I tend to just hum nonsense (which in most cases turns into the national anthem or xmas songs...since those are ones that I can remember when we're dead tired and stressed, lol).
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