The stuffed bear sat in the lap of my grandson. I pushed the paw, and
Itsy Bitsy Spider began to play. This began my awareness of other
songs their toys played. If You're Happy and You Know It, you still
clap your hands. Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes are still in the
same places, and Old McDonald still Has a Farm. Row, Row, Row Your Boat
is still around; however, the babies are too young to sing in rounds.
The Weasel still goes 'Pop', and of course, Pat a Cake remains a standard. Little piggies have been eased out by little puppies.
No puppy goes hungry, and arf-arf-arfs replaced wee-wee-wees all the
way home.
I have changed some of the words myself to
be politically correct. One little, two little, three little monkeys.
Four little, five little.....well, you get the point. I often get so
bored with the same old songs and stories that I add new words and
sounds. Someday these babies will have their own renditions via Grammy. Creative child
rearing. Or maybe one goofy Grams.
I sat singing
along with the music on the kids' musical farm toy. My daughter-in-law
was trying to sing along but said she had never heard the song before. I
guess when she was growing up no one worked on the railroad all the
livelong day, and Dinah didn't blow her horn. I've been banned from
rocking a baby in a tree top, because it plummets to the ground, baby
and all.
Luckily, Sesame Street songs still capture the
babies' attention. Singing about Sunny Days seems to lift my spirits.
And, as I understand, It Isn't Easy Being Green. I don't Love Trash but
do recycle. And C really is for Cookie, and that's a fact. See I did
learn a lot from the show when my children were small. I think perhaps
it had some affect on the woman who professes to be a completely ordinary grandma.
Nobody
comes around the mountain any more. No one else I know picks up paw
paws let alone puts them in their pocket. As far as I know, few people
go to Alabama with banjo on their knee or comes from Louisiana their
true love for to see. I remember the old song books from Fern Fourman's
music class at Franklin Elementary School. I grew up with those songs
from cradle to, well, I'm still working on it. I know that most are
carryovers from when my parents were young.They probably were around for
my grandparents.
Time passes and things change.
Just tried to put my watch up to Emma's ear, so she could hear it tick.
Oh, my, I have a long way to go.
