My Aunt, once when she was talking about my son, said that I was making him think "he is growing up in a musical". The reason she said this was because we were visiting her and staying with her for a few days and she saw the different songs I sing to Benjamin throughout the day. I have done this since he was an infant. Most of the reason I made up and sang different songs to him throughout his daily routine was because I wanted him to transition easily from activity to activity and to become at ease.
He was such a high needs baby that I tried everything I could think of (especially when it came to bedtime routine) to try to get him to not cry and go to sleep. (He was also very colicky) Such was the night-night song at that time (he was about 6 or 7 months at that time). So at bedtime, (these days we take a bath before bedtime), I sang, "We wash the face, so we can go night-night.....we wash the hands and face...so we can go night-night, we go night-night to-day! We go night-night to-day"!
I also had songs for when he was taking a bath (newborns hate to be cold and I thought he would hate his baths, but turned out he loved them!), and we have a clean up song for cleaning up after playing with toys. "Clean up. Clean up. Everybody clean up. Clean up all your toys...all you girls and boys, it's time to mooove on!" (You never know, we may have a girl someday, or his cousin over to play.) And wouldn't you know it...? Benjamin actually like to clean up his toys and will often do it by himslef now before I have a chance to sing the clean up song, transitioning all by himself from one activity ot the next!
We have music constantly surrounding us. Especially worship, Jewish, and gospel. And classical (which my hubby insists on exposing our son to- his mother did with him..and is it any wonder....his grandfather-his mother's father- was a composer in Germany before emigrating to the US). We both have talented musicians in our family.
So I make music readily available and fun in our household. It certainly has been a useful tool for us to navigate through some tough times. And we want our son to have a happy and cafefree childhood. The way it should be. I can be a serious person enough as it is and don't want to make life too serious for a 1 year old, and I want Benjamin to have fond memories of our time together.
So we sing. We sing in the morning "We bgin our day by washing the face...WHAT? Washing the face..WHAT? Washing the face. O we begin our day by washing the face. Wahsing the face and hands and head. Washing the face and hands and head...!" We sing on special days, such as our biblical and Jewish holidays..."Who can retell the things that befell us...who can count them"...."Henei ma tov umanim shevet achim gam yachad" "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together...in unity, in unity....lai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai...."
We are now upon the festival of Sukkot- Feast of Tabernacles. And we are looking for ways to make it fun, special, and memorable to our son so that we can begin building a strong Jewish identity in his life. So that he will know who he is. And that includes songs. Songs around the feast table in our sukkah (tabernacle). The Jewish people call these songs "Zmiros". Songs of joy. How they pull a family and a community together and make life full of joy...the way it was meant to be.
I insist on having the songs! Even if it means my son grows up thinking he does indeed live in a musical!
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