Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Little Darling

Bedtime. I don't always bear the medal of "Most Wonderful Putter to Bed" with my children as many nights I rush through story time, deliver waters, 1, 2, 3, and count down the minutes until I can dive right into that largish pile of laundry that awaits me and nearly every mother I know at the end of a busy day.

Ah, a mother's date with the laundry, no matter how fancy and delicious her washer and dryer may be, is never, ever done. It's a burden I carry with pride, that one.

But tonight, as I'm rushing through teeth brushing and yelling, "lights out!" to the boys, somebody caught me by surprise. Somebody wanted a song from dear ol' mom. A song? You ask? From me?

I, like half the breathing people I know, have been getting over a cough and sore throat for what seems like eternity. Had this request for a song been delivered last week, it would have been turned down sadly with only a whisper and a promise to listen to one of our favorite Wiggles cd's the next morning because, honey, "mommy's voice is all used up for the day." But tonight, tonight my voice is feeling fine, fresh and well-tuned to sing a little lullaby to my audience of one who does not throw rotten tomatoes at my clear inability to carry a tune.

She just likes the sound of my voice.

No matter what.

So I "a'hem," a bit and I take a nice long drink of water. I pull all three of her blankets up tight under her chin and take my spot on the floor next to her bed. The lights are out but there may as well be a spotlight in the room, her smile is just that big in anticipation of her mother's vocal offerings (yes, I know it is shocking, but that would be me and those would be my vocal offerings that a certain little girl eats up like cotton candy).

And although I sound nothing like John, Paul, Ringo and George (not even close), I try to do the song quiet justice. For it has been a long cold lonely winter indeed.





What do you sing to your children at bedtime?

11 comments:

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Our song used to be "You are my Sunshine." Though frequently we substituted Mac-n-Cheese for sunshine. Who knows why?

My oldest son got "On the day that you were born." We were terribly in love.

Ashley said...

Funnily enough, the Beatles as well. Whichever one they request which is usually Ticket To Ride, Hide Your Love Away, or Blackbird.

My kids are Beatles fanatics thanks to their dad and would rather watch HELP than then newest Disney offering anyday.

I'm just glad they are the only one hearing me because this voice, ah! Not so good.

Cathy said...

My almost two year old insists that I sing him The Sneezing Song. "please don't feed me black eyed peas, you know what they will do... for if you feed me black eyed peas, I'll have to sneeze... ah, ah, ahchoo!" It continues with mac and cheese, chocolate chip cookies, and then we make up some other food.
My four and a half year old likes me to make up stories about the day. Sing about whatever we did and whoever we say. That's always a challenge, but it's fun to hear him try to make up songs during the day.

I love singing to my kids - http://mccathy.blogspot.com/2008/04/because-i-rock.html

OHmommy said...

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Kerrie said...

What a sweet post. T Junior likes Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys. Is that weird?

monstergirlee said...

Well Herself has a song list that varies only by one song.
You Are My Sunshine
Amazing Grace
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (sometimes we sing the ABC song - Me sing first Momma, then you)
Rock a Bye Baby

Himself liked many different songs, nothing modern tho. Twinkle,
The was an old woman who swallowed a fly
On top of old smokey
The Duck in the Kings Soup (I made this one up by request)
Rock a bye baby

I don't do night-night with himself much anymore, but when we do, we turn off the light and I sing to him in the dark.

Mel said...

That's the best part of being Mom. You are a rock star to them, a superhero, a supermodel. I love that.

Great post. :)

Momisodes said...

Oh that is such a great song for bedtime! I may have to borrow that one night for my daughter :)

We're boring and lame and sing Twinkle, twinkle little star.

musingwoman said...

When my kids were very small we sang songs like the Itsy Bitsy Spider and also one my mom sang to me, White Coral Bells.

Ah, memories.

Anonymous said...

I don't sing to the girls. Buddy sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to Juniper.

I do have speaking rituals with both of them, though. With Juniper, it's my lame little rhyme: "No matter where you go, or what you do, you're stuck with me, 'cause I love you."

With Rosebud, it's:

Me: I love you.
Her: I love you, too.
Me: Sooooooooo much!
Her: SOoooo much! (or mutch, as it often sounds)

It spares them my singing. Which is decidedly not the case in the car.

Anonymous said...

I sing to both of my kids, who are 9 and 7 and know that I have a horrible voice.....but they still want Mommy to sing them to bed......it only takes me 5 minutes to sing to my son and he's fast asleep....as for my daughter after 5 or 10 minutes....I leave her to go to sleep on her own. I'm so not ready for them to grow up.