Mommy Musings
Monthly Column by Anni Welborne

We’re great Veggie Tale fans in our house. Larry is our favorite, especially his alter ego, Larry Boy. We all crack up at Silly Songs and love to watch the Silly Songs compilations. I firmly believe one of my best parenting tools is Silly Songs with Mommy. I’m not a singer. I have only an average voice. But my children don’t seem to mind, even when I venture into quasi-opera. I’m not gifted in music, so I steal the tune and make up my own lyrics.

We’ve got songs for just about everything, from serious to completely ridiculous. I’d like to share some of our songs with you, and hopefully encourage you to make up some of your own. (Or feel free to steal mine!)

When our girls were much smaller, a constant question was, “Where’s Daddy?” To answer that, I borrowed the song “I’ve been working on the railroad” and changed the lyrics. My goal was to give them a good picture of what he was doing, while at the same time praising their Daddy, who is a computer security analyst.

Daddy’s working on computers,
All the live long day.
Daddy’s working on computers,
For home and food to pay.
We’re so thankful that he does this work!
Responsibility he does not shirk!
Daddy’s working on computers.
Hooray for our Daddy!

My husband is also in charge of traffic at our church, and during a long construction project (where we had two churches meeting in one building), he spent quite a bit of time dealing with traffic in one way or another. It merited another song!

Daddy’s off directing traffic,
So the cars won’t boom!
Daddy’s off directing traffic,
And we hope he comes home soon.
We’re so very proud of our Daddy!
We think he’s the greatest!
YES SIREE!
Daddy’s off directing traffic,
So the cars won’t CRASH! (sang very off tune on the last word)

I’ll confess – tooth brushing is one of my hang-ups. I’ve got a mouth full of fillings, and I determined a long time ago that my children wouldn’t go the same route I did. So every night, I personally brush their teeth. Our dentist is actually pleased that I do that and wishes more parents would be as conscientious. His philosophy is that teeth are too precious to trust to children. Anyway, we have three tooth brushing songs; I’ll share two.

(Tune: Row, row, row your boat)
Brush, brush, brush your teeth.
Brush them up and down!
Pearly white, nice and bright,
Smile and never frown.

Brush, brush, brush your teeth.
Brush them nice and clean!
Pearly white, nice and bright,
Brush them till they gleam!

And then there is the one we made up just this Christmas. My older daughter had “O Christmas Tree” on her brain, and kept singing it over and over. It spilled into the bedtime routine, and here is the result. This song had my daughters laughing so hard, it took twice as long to brush their teeth. Note: we use an electric toothbrush that we affectionately call Turbo.

O Turbo Brush, O Turbo Brush,
How lovely are thy bristles!
O Turbo Brush, O Turbo Brush,
How lovely are thy bristles!
Each and every night I see
Just how your bristles care for me!
O Turbo Brush, O Turbo Brush,
How lovely are thy bristles!

Mommy songs have also gotten me through tough times. When I would have rather cried, I chose to sing. Although, I did both at the same time on more than one occasion. First, when our older daughter was just a newborn, my husband began grad school, working on his MBA. It was lonely, and many times I felt like a single parent. So I made up a song to sing to our baby during those lonely times, trying to focus my joy on being together with her. Children love to hear their names, so I included it.

Mommy and Christy, happy as can be.
Mommy and Christy, just you and me!
Mommy and Christy, we’ll have lots of fun.
Mommy and Christy, until the day is done!

My husband graduated from his MBA program when our second daughter was 6 months old. The song changed slightly to add both girls’ names.

Mommy, Christy, Stacy, happy as can be.
Mommy, Christy, Stacy, just we three!...

And when my husband started being around more often, the song changed again!

Daddy, Mommy, Christy, Stacy, happy as can be.
Daddy, Mommy, Christy, Stacy, one plus three!...

When my second daughter was born, there were many complications. Her first six months were extremely challenging, especially her feedings. For her first three months, she was fed via a naso-gastric tube (NG tube), a tube that entered her nose and went down into her stomach. At 3 months, she had surgery to insert a gastric tube (G tube), which was inserted through her abdominal wall directly into her stomach. Tube feedings were painful for her, and she would scream and cry through her feedings. To get her (and myself!) through those feedings, I turned to my old friend, Song. Many, many were the times when I sang this song, my lips against her cheek, wet with both our tears while she cried through a feeding. This was to the tune of “Jesus loves the little children.”

Jesus loves His little Stacy,
And He understands your pain.
Though your way is hard right now,
He’ll turn your tears to joy somehow.
Jesus loves His little Anastasia Rose.

I’m happy to give Him praise, because He has indeed turned her tears to joy. She’s a joy-filled child now. I remember when she began to make a turn for the better, at about 18 months. She began to laugh once in a while, and those brief giggles made our day.

Baby giggles, Baby giggles!
How I love to hear Baby giggles!
They make me laugh!
They make me smile!
They make all the work worthwhile!

Lullabies are a favorite of mine. I’ve got one that I’ve been singing since our older daughter was a newborn, and by now it’s got about twenty verses. Soft, low, repetitious, and personalized, our daughters still ask for it frequently.

It’s time to go to sleep, dear one.
It’s time to go to sleep, dear one.
For the day is done,
To bed has gone the sun.
It’s time to go to sleep, dear one.

We substitute “dear one” with other endearments and other rhyming lines. When the fireflies are out, our daughters go to sleep gazing out the window at the fireflies dancing in the yard.

It’s time to go to sleep, sweet child.
It’s time to go to sleep, sweet child.
You’re wearing your nightgown,
Fireflies fly around.
It’s time to go to sleep, sweet child.

When our younger daughter was learning to communicate via sign language, one day she asked for “bean” when I was singing this one. Bean? Bean??? OK, whatever! So I made up a verse for “Purple Princess Bean.”

It’s time to go to sleep, Purple Princess Bean.
It’s time to go to sleep, Purple Princess Bean.
Your daddy is the king,
Your mommy is the queen,
It’s time to go to sleep, Purple Princess Bean.

Later, after much discussion (with a 2 year old - yeah, right!) I discovered she meant that she wanted me to sing the verse about her sister, whose in-utero name was “Moonbeam.”

It’s time to go to sleep, Moonbeam.
It’s time to go to sleep, Moonbeam.
It’s later than it seems,
It’s time for you to dream.
It’s time to go to sleep, Moonbeam.

Silly songs with Mommy have given us countless giggles and even more snuggle moments. We are admonished many times in the Bible to make a joyful noise and to sing unto the Lord a new song. Any song I sing that creates a loving bond between parent and child I feel is both a joyful noise and a song unto the Lord, for He gave me that child.

I encourage you to create songs for your family. It doesn’t matter if you can sing well or not. Kids don’t care! They can only hear the love-notes, not the actual musical notes. Sing to your children, and create an entire repertoire of love songs.

About the Author: Anni is the wife of Charles Welborne and the homeschooling mother of five children - two daughters (ages 7 and 5) here on earth, and three who graduated early and now dwell with their Heavenly Father. She assists her husband in the tape/CD duplication ministry at their church, where she is also in charge of the Deaf ministry and serves as a sign language interpreter. Anni is also a part-time Developmental Therapist for at-risk and developmentally delayed infants and preschoolers. In her "spare" time, she enjoys sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, and making pysanky (Ukranian decorated eggs). The Welbornes live in Indiana.

Copyright © 2008 by Anni Welborne.