Song requests
For some ungodly reason, we decided it would be a good idea to train to Boston with Eli for ASA. It's only EIGHT HOURS after all. Maybe it is the lesser (the least?) of the possible evils, but still, we are very nervous about how this is going to go. On a good day this kid screams for 15 minutes during constant rocking and vacuum sounds before drifting off for a much-needed nap. I hope the train sounds mimic vacuum sounds, or at least there is a constant noise level that helps calm him down.
Other things that calm him down/entertain him are songs with hand gestures that I/we can do. He is a big fan of "itsy, bitsy spider" and "where is thumbkin?" (is that just a British one? - it's a take on "frere jacques"). "Patty cake" is okay "Do your ears hang low?" is a little too much for him. Does anyone out there have other suggestions? It's as much for Joshie and me as for Eli. And we'll ALL be appreciative.
In other news, the three-month growth spurt seems to be lasting longer than anyone ever said it would. We are 2 days way from the two-week mark. So can it even be called a growth spurt? Basically, Eli eats every 2 hours during the day. Then when it's bedtime, he screams his head off and we have to force feed him - which, of course, is really impossible with the boob (last night he totally refused). Then he wakes up in the middle of the night ravenous (no matter how much he ate at the last feed) and goes to town for 20-40 minutes before passing out for a couple more hours. Ugh.
Uh oh...I hear sucking sounds from the other room again. Time to feed the baby!
posted by Careyoke @ 7:22 AM
6 Comments:
Sorry. My mom grew up near a Southern naval port during World War II. Most of the songs she knows are childhood versions of bawdy naval songs or southern songs about barnyard animals dying. Either way, hand gestures wouldn't be very appropriate.--Rita
Do you know the junior birdman song? It was a favorite of my brother's when he was little.
I just googled it and the words are slightly different than what I recall, but it does have fun hand motions, including doing the upside down bird mask on your face thing. You know, where you place the tips of three fingers along your chin and make a circle with your pointer finger and thumb to go around your eyes.
OMG, I don't think I could handle a two-week growth spurt. I wonder if Eli is really hungry. When Aldo had his growth spurt, after about a week it started to seem like he wasn't actually hungry every time he cried and sucked his hands, he just liked being nursed every hour - more of a comfort/entertainment thing. Kind of the way I snack all day long even though I'm not actually hungry. I started trying to distract him and hold off the feedings for a half-hour, then an hour, etc, and after about three days he was back to a more reasonable schedule, crying less, sleeping more.
I can't think of any other songs with gestures. Oh, how about "head, shoulders, knees and toes"? I've found that Aldo likes it when I make up "cheers" and move his arms around like a cheerleader (like "Aldo, Aldo, he's our guy, he's so cute he'll never cry!) I know, ridiculous. But it often works to stop him from crying and to get a laugh.
If you're not opposed to fairy on rabbit violence, there's always "Little Bunny Froo-Froo." And I don't believe "Where is Thumbkin" is British - both my Grandmother and my Mother sang this, which I doubt that my hard-core Republican (in the Irish sense) Grandfather would have allowed if it were British. Anna suggests some song about a boy and a girl in a canoe that I don't know.
-Greg
My mom just reminded of a couple more : the wheels on the bus (maybe you could make impromptu adaptations for a train) and I'm a little teapot.
I second the song about the Boy and the Girl in the Little Canoe, and add to it "In a Cabin by the Woods". The latter is very kind to rabbits, so will offset the violence of Little Bunny Foo Foo. Good hand-signal songs.
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