five lullabies

Ever since my eldest daughter, the Meatball was born 8 years ago, I've sang the same 5 lullabies. Granted, some were probably not composed as lullabies, regardless, I have sung them to my girls as part of their bedtime routine. Depending on my mood (or level of exhaustion from the day) I may sing all 5 of them, I may sing 1 or I may sing one of the songs, thrice (by request). They are all fairly interchangeable and serve a certain purpose.

Throughout the course of my childhood, my Lola (grandmother in Tagalog) lived w/me, the Colonel and Rambo. She would come and live with us for a few years here and there to help my working parents. Her first tour w/me was from ages 2-3. Her second tour was from ages 7-9. Her third tour was probably the longest from ages 12-15. Her final U.S. tour was when I was already in college from ages 18-20. My Lola was my primary caregiver and although I don't recall a particular bedtime routine. I can still remember one verse of a song that she would sing, "Sleep my pretty baby, Mommy's far away..."

And now that my Lola's passed, I wish I remembered more of that song! Sometimes I still find myself humming it in my head, then out loud, trying to search for the next word or the next note, I even tried Googling it once with no luck. I don't even really know if it was a real song or just something she made up. Hence, my girls get the five lullabies. I won't know for a while if good or bad memories transpire from the Spaghetti and Meatball bedtime playlist, but I hope that it will create another fond memory for them. Kind of like how I can remember all the words to a song I hadn't heard since the 8th grade but can't remember what I did yesterday, go figure.

Are there any special parts to your bedtime routine?

P.S. In case I've piqued your curiosity, here are Spaghetti and Meatball's bedtime playlist courtesy of YouTube:

1) Lea Salonga's rendition of The Rainbow Connection - One of the first albums I ever owned was Lea Salonga's "I Am But A Small Voice".  I have no idea why I selected this song, but nonetheless a great role model for my girls. (note: the little girl in the YouTube video is not Lea Salonga)




2) Edelweiss from the movie, The Sound of Music - Again, one of the first musicals I watched religiously on the Betamax.




3) Redemption Song - Bob Marley - Because it's never too early to have a little Bob in your life.




4) So Long, Farewell from the movie, The Sound Of Music - I don't know why I have two Sound Of Music songs!





5) If We Hold On Together from the movie, The Land Before Time - Although I don't ever remember this song from the movie (or the movie itself, actually), it was one of the songs sung at PCN (Pilipino Culture Night) during my college days.

come potty with me

Another indication that time is flying by. Last week, Spaghetti’s daycare provider, Ms. P told me to bring pull-ups for next week. “What?”, I responded but really wanted to wail, “She isn’t even two yet!!” Pretty Pants and I weren’t ready to begin potty training and were secretly dreading the day that we would have to start. From my prior experience with the Meatball, potty training is not a whole lot of fun. It requires extra, extra amounts of patience and extra time for cleaning up messes. Being woken up by your potty-in-training child at 3 a.m. letting you know she wet the bed and now you have to change her (and the sheets) when you really needed that good night’s sleep for your early meeting the next day… right, not fun. So the jury’s still out if we’re thankful for the shove onto the potty train ride that Ms. P gave us, “Please, bring pull-ups. If I train here and you train at home, she will learn fast” Great, thanks. But regardless of the dreadfulness we felt tackling this adventure, we agreed. Spaghetti was to join the potty brigade.
 

They say that most toddlers show readiness for potty training between 18 and 24 months. Matching Spaghetti up to a list, I found on BabyCenter I had observed she met all the criteria. If she was ready, then we had to be ready too. We purchased some pull ups and got her a potty chair that jingles when she tinkles with some extra fun perks: a pretend flusher, a toilet paper holder and there’s even a smiling face painted on the potty. If that darn thing doesn’t make potty training “fun” I don’t know what will. Ms. P had advised us to take Spaghetti to the potty every hour so that she would get used to going to the bathroom. Every time she were to go potty, we should cheer her on. So I made a call to my mother, the Colonel and told her we started potty training Spaghetti. “Wow, so fast! You guys do things so fast here!”, she replied. I asked her if she had any tips and she laughed. “You know, in the Philippines there was no potty training. If you pee in your pants, you pee in your pants and that’s how you learned. They only have those kind of potty training here.” Oh those kind… right. I’m going to take a stab and define “those kind”. “Those kind” actually translates into: in the Philippines we didn’t have or make the time to hold your hand, buy you a pretty potty and get all happy if you pee. Potty training? Maybe a little harsh, but gets the job done.

So here we are with two very different potty training practices: Ms. P’s gradual practice-makes-perfect potty training and the Colonel’s hit-the-ground-running-but-change-your-pants-if-you-potty training. Both have validity. (See the Diaper Free program on BabyCenter for a structured version of Colonel’s technique) We haven’t tried the Colonel’s technique yet but may entertain the idea once we have a free weekend to clean up every accident. But I’m happy to report that Spaghetti is catching on to the whole potty business and squeals in delight when her potty sings a song whenever she goes, while Pretty Pants and I are there waiting to give her high fives for a job well done. No wonder that potty is smiling.

eight

Behold the Meatball spinning....



This one is going down in the books as quite possibly one of my most favorite memories. We had just gotten out of the Broadway show, Mary Poppins, and my 8 year old, the Meatball starts dancing like one of the chimney sweeps. I was just able to capture the end result: spinning without a care in the world and why should she? She’s 8. Vivid memories of my childhood started at 8 and were filled with the tiniest little details: a purple coat with purple snow boots I wore to school, the black thin head band, my teacher, Ms. Hoekstra wore in her shoulder length blonde hair and opening up that can of Campbell’s ABC’s Vegetable soup every day for snack after school.
 

When I asked my own mother, the Colonel, if she remembered anything about being 8, she recounts tending to her parents store, helping her mother, Lola, with her six younger siblings and studying hard. I responded, ” Hmm, that doesn’t sound too fun, Colonel.” In her thick Filipino accent, she responds, “Well, dear, it was fun.” Period. Oddly enough, I believed her. While I was growing up the Colonel wasn’t really about fun or about playing with me but she did create the spaces for me to have my own fun. By the time I was in junior high, we had visited most national landmarks across the country, I had taken piano and swimming lessons and belonged to Brownies and AYSO. Now if I could only remember if the Colonel was there to have fun right along with me.

Which leads me to wonder what details the Meatball will remember of being 8? Will I be in them? More importantly, how am I contributing to help her create fun-filled memories? There are so many influences in the media and society enticing children to grow up faster and yet I’m happy to announce that at this time my meatball just wants to be 8. My job? To make sure that it stays that way.