SiL’s parents are living with them, so the kid was learning to call my mother “mada” or “mata” (Maite) but SiL’s Mom… mama (mamá, he still hasn’t figured out about stress). Because that’s what everybody called her, so it must be her name, no?
SiL’s calling her Mom “yaya” now, but I’m here hanging on the long-distance peanut gallery, waiting to hear whether the kid learns to call SiL “mamá”, or tried for Judith or Judy instead… last time I heard about this, he seemed to be trying for Judy
When my children were babies, I found two great lullaby songs to sing to them, hoping to make them our “signature” songs, something they’d remember fondly for life. I have a decent voice…sing in choirs, sing solos…I can carry a tune. But I got the “don’t sing, Mommy!” from both of them! At least I could use it as power later in life…“you kids stop fighting back there and sit still or I will sing until we get where we are driving to…” was fairly effective. Especially if they had friends in the car. Even now they won’t come to listen to me at the Valentine’s Day concert…and you know what? I’m kind of glad, because singing in front of them is now kind of weird.
We spend the first 12 months teaching them to talk and walk and the next 17 years begging them to shut up and sit down. And then wonder why they need therapy…
Cute story. Kids can be so much fun when they have their own opinions, eh?
My (now 14 year old) daughter and I both tend to burst out into song (almost always “I could wile away the hours just communin’ with the flowers if I only hadda brain!”) quite randomly – in public. We get many strange looks, since you can’t just sing that last line, you have to sing it loudly. So what if neither of us can sing, I taught her years ago that I am the world’s best singer no matter what she or anyone else thinks. :dubious:
Hal, the key now is to find the music she likes to sing to and you just sing a softer accompaniment.
So far this works best with Christmas songs, Beatles, Puff the Magic Dragon, Lemon Tree, and Indigo Girls.
When my daughter was little, I use to Sing, “Sing, Sing a song” to her to get her to stop crying. By the time she was 3 my bad singing of “Sing, Sing a song” would make her cry.
Kids, they’re so much fun. At least that is what we keep telling ourselves.
Is your daughter sitting in the center of the back seat? Wait until she starts commenting on your driving. My son used to yell, “Go, Mommy, go!” whenever I stopped at a red light. And he would complain if I didn’t keep both hands on the steering wheel at all times: “Drive, Mommy!”
Visiting with my nieces (and their parents) recently, I heard “Excuse me, Mommy” “Excuse me, Daddy” and “Excuse me, Eureka” (she hasn 't yet figured out that she’s supposed to call me Aunt Eureka) way too often.
Apparently someone thought it was a good idea to tell her that if you are going to disagree with a grown-up, you should start by saying “excuse me”.
Sounds cute, in theory. In practice, getting my niece (aged 4) to eat her entree last night was a battle of wills punctuated with “excuse me”
an excerpt.
Mommy: You need to eat five more bites of dinner.
Niece: Excuse me, Mommy, but I already ate 5 bites.
Mommy: That was good of you, now please eat 5 more bites.
The don’t sing thing has a song, sadly in Spanish… it’s one of those songs that can last hours if the audience has enough imagination (you can always add more steps)
Estaba la rana cantando debajo del aaaaaaaaa-gua!
Y vino la mosca y la hizo callar.
La mosca a la rana,
la rana que estaba
cantando debajo del agua.
Cuando la mosca se puso a cantar…
vino el gorrión y la hizo callar!
El gorrión a la mosca,
la mosca a la rana,
la rana que estaba
cantando debajo del agua.
The frog was singing, under the water.
And then the fly came and made him shut up.
The fly and the frog,
the frog that was
under the water, singing.
When the fly started to sing…
the sparrow made and made her shut up!
Sparrow and fly,
the fly and the frog,
the frog that was
under the water, singing.
(cat, dog, farmer, wife, sheriff, judge, king…)
If one of the singers makes a mistake, he’s supposed to stop singing. It often ends when everybody breaks out into laughter :).
