Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Overheard: Big, Fat Baby

We have a standard bedtime routine for Baby-o that includes a couple books and then a few songs with the lights out.  When I’m the singer, I often perform my rendition of  “Maybe” from Annie, I occasionally throw in a ditty from Pete’s Dragon and I always bring the house down with “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins.  When my husband, Tim, is the singer, the tunes are more frequently peaceful bluegrass numbers or some of the Grateful Dead’s less jam-based songs.  From the kitchen, I can often hear Tim crooning, “Go to sleep you little baby …” and I know that the Honey-boy is on his way to Dreamland. 

Then, there are the nights when Tim lulls Baby to bed with a childhood classic.  Except he doesn’t really know any of the childhood classics.  Or, more accurately, he knows a lot of the first lines, and then he gets creative. 

Last night, I heard this:

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.
(So far, so good.)
London Bridge is falling down, big fat Baby.
(Hm.  A personal touch.  Our baby is, indeed, big and fat.)

See the people on the bridge, on the bridge, on the bridge.
See the people on the bridge, big fat Baby.
(Intriguing.  I had never really considered the people, probably tourists, on the bridge.  What will become of them?)

They should probably get off, prob’ly should, get right off.
They should probably get off, big fat Baby.
(Not a cautionary tale, really.  Just an observation.  As if Tim and Baby were sitting at the top of the London Eye watching London Bridge begin to give way, saying to each other, “Hey, those people should probably head for the Tower.”)

Now the bridge is in the lake, in the lake, in the lake.
Now the bridge is in the lake, big fat Baby.
(I’m so relieved.  This can’t be a true story, because London Bridge doesn’t span a lake.  Whew!)

With that, Tim came out of Baby’s bedroom, closing the door gently.  “He fell asleep in my arms,” he reported.

4 comments:

  1. Feed The Birds and Maybe were a part of my bedtime songs for the boys, along with Somewhere over the Rainbow, Come Away with Me (Norah Jones) and Angel (Sarah McLaughlin). If we have another baby I think I might have to pick a new song to add to the mix because I've sung these so much!

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  2. Tell Tim he is really letting me down! I sang lullabies to him all the time; clearly, he was unimpressed.

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  3. Why am I not surprised, Colleen, that some of our nighttime songs overlap?

    And Lisa, I'll send Tim home for a refresher course. If it makes you feel better, he does a really nice job with some old big band ballads.

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  4. Oh Meg! I love that you sing those songs! Unfortunately, I am not a good singer and for some reason have gotten into the TERRIBLE habit of singing Amazing Grace to Kieran. A nice song...but I don't know the correct words! PATHETIC! But, Kieran thinks that they ARE the right words and when Marty sings correctly to him, Kieran will say, "Daddy, that is WRONG! Mama sings it the right way!" Little does he know...love the blog!

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