Thursday 24 July 2008

Our family lullaby

Each of my children has had a special song, which, as babies, they have responded to immediately. As a 6-month-old, Joshua would stop crying mid-scream if he heard the first two words of The little green frog went "Galumph". Anna's song was a modified version of Wet washing, hanging on the line and Abigail always settled for Twinkle, twinkle, little star and Humpty Dumpty. Samuel's first lullaby was Jesus loves the little children, and at 20 months he sings along with Jeff, getting the tune somewhat right even if he's off with almost every syllable.

This afternoon, I heard Anna singing Amazing Grace to a crying Abigail outside. Since I started singing this to Anna when she was very upset a month or so ago, Anna has learnt most of the first three verses and Joshua and Abigail both ask for it to be sung to them as well.

Our firm family favourite however, when it comes to lullabies, is a very simple song that I made up for Samuel, but which all the kids love to hear whispered just for them. Here are the words:

Mummy loves you,
Daddy loves you,
And we know it's true:

Mummy loves you,
Daddy loves you,
Jesus loves you too.

Simple. Short. Sweet. And chock full of comforting truth.

2 comments:

Andrea said...

I love how kids respond to music! We made up a song almost exactly like yours (but with the child's 1st & middle name in it) that has stuck like glue for each of the kids. After singing it to J for awhile we even decided to pick out the names for the kids based on how many syllables would fit in the song! A (2yo) always wants it sung without words (just LaLalala) and then "Jesus oves Me."

We need to figure a way to capture this special song and these singing moments with our kids. I guess I just have to get over it and let dh video tape my voice, huh? I LOVE singing thes to the kids because almost always, they are snuggled against me when I do!

Blessings,
Andrea

Mrs. Edwards said...

Precious!