Thursday, March 01, 2007

If You Hum A Few Bars I Can Fake It

I sing a lullaby to Nessa most nights before she goes to bed (a song called "River of Sleep" that I found on a CD years ago). I also sing to her at other times if she is upset and crying, in an attempt to calm her down. In those situations I'll sing anything that comes to mind for which I know the lyrics. Well almost anything--I know the theory that "anything sung softly enough is a lullaby", but so far I haven't been brave enough to stress test it. Perennial favorites include "Frere Jacques", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and/or "The Alphabet Song", "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)" and other Christmas carols.

If it's working, Nessa normally just snuggles in and relaxes. Lately, however, she's begun making requests. A few nights ago I finished one song and Nessa raised her head and said "ABCs ABCs!". Last night she wanted "Twinkle Twinkle". How long before she starts asking for "Freebird?"

1 comment:

Janeen said...

Priscilla Herdman has a really good CD out and I can't remember the name offhand but it has lullabies in it. You can find it at the library, Main Branch and one of the songs on it is a favorite of mine called Waltzing with Bears. It's the first song. I think the library has two of her CDs. Anyway, there are some really nice songs on there and they're easy to remember or they are if you've heard them 5 million times like I have. It's THE car CD. lol Though I was surprised to see that the last time I was in the car that CD wasn't in there. John instead had one of the Meyer brothers CDs in (one of the brothers is the pastor for John's church and they have CDs of Christian music).