Reyna Marie's Lullaby

[Manna]

My daughter has a polar bear puppet - a recent acquisition from her 6th birthday. As I was putting her to bed today she said, "Sometimes my bear gets scared, but I sing a song to him and then he falls asleep."
I said, "How does the song go?"
She sang in a minor key with waltz time:

Go to sleep my little one,
the sun goes down the moon comes up,
the night sky is darker than ever,
go to sleep my little one.

It amazed me that it sounded like a real song. The tune of the second line echoed that of the first, but adjusted higher in pitch. Her little voice reached high and cascaded downward on the third line, and the final line was a conclusive repetition of the first.

It was one of those little moments that they don't tell teenager girls about. They give teenage girls these baby dolls that cry all the time, but don't give off any love. The dolls need to be fed, changed, rocked to sleep, but they don't learn anything. They don't have first eye contact, first smile, first step, first skinned knee, first song. And then when the teenage girl sees how hard it is to care for a baby, she gets deterred from having them until she is "ready." Or she gets frustrated with this stupid toy that cries all the time and throws it against the wall, convincing herself that she'll be a horrible mother someday. But really, there's nothing I know that is more wonderful than having my child with me.

[lizzytysh]

Beautiful, Reyna Marie.
I'd love to hear your song.
Thanks for sharing it, Mom.
Tenderness everywhere.
Her song and your telling.


Those exercises with the teenage girls are well intended; but, you're right on how one-dimensional they are. Great observations and contrasts.


~ Lizzy

[Cate]

Awww...
What a sweet song. I bet that little bear of hers falls right to sleep. Thanks for included the specifics of the tune, so that we could hear it as well. Children really are the most amazing people.