Songs to Sing to Kids

I've actually been meaning to do this post for quite a long time. We're very short on time (and inclination to blog) these days, although I really do miss checking in and posting every now and then, So, since Charlotte has shared and asked, I'll do a quick little list of some of the songs we've enjoyed singing to our little ones.

Natalie was born in the middle of Advent, to be cozied up in our new little family trinity. Her infancy was a cloister of sleep and warmth and dark, when we would listen over and over to this album, which was one of the very first baby gifts we received. The piano and flute washed over our wakeful daze like water, seamlessly from one song to the next. I learned a lot of tunes I didn't know, although I had to have help from other sources to match the lyrics up to them. The one that stands out from that time is "Raisins and Almonds." There are some beautiful versions on YouTube, but I'm giving you the one that I would have needed as a beginner, and probably the only one I could sing along to.

(The lyrics as I learned them)

To my little one's cradle in the night

Comes a new little goat snowy white

The goat will trot to the market

While mother her watch will keep

To bring you back raisins and almonds

Sleep, my little one, sleep

When Aidan came along, I learned the second verse of "Rock-a-bye Baby." (Never did learn the third one.)

With Catherine, for whose homecoming we waited five weeks after she was born, well, there was a little song, "La Mariposa," on our Spanish for Kids cd. I wish I could find it online, or at least give you a short little clip, iTunes style. It was about beckoning a butterfly to fly over and be friends.

Vuela, vuela, mariposa.

Vuela, vuela, ven a mi.

Con tus alitas abiertas,

Mariposa, ven a mi.

So sweet, and eminently singable.

I learned a new song--really an old song--when Jude was a baby. I sang "A Bushel and a Peck" every time he cried, whether it worked or not. Usually, it worked--especially when we added little hand motions, which he tried to copy in his baby way.

Gabe and Cora sort of share a song or two. Gabe would quiet during the worst tantrums for this song--as long as you kept singing it, the full version, over and over. I was still singing it for him when Cora was born, so he would sing it to her, too.

They both love Signing Time.

Of course, "Colors of the Rainbow" led to this one. I can't hear "The Rainbow Connection" without thinking of some far-flung friends of mine, so it's not uncommon for me to cry a little with this one. I think, though, I might not be the only one.

So that was not so quick. And I'm leaving out a few. I'll get to them later, when I can.