I'm working in my office now. Kiernan's babysitter Cathryn just came out to let me know she had put him down for his nap and was heading out (she has class this afternoon). I said goodbye and thanked her. After she left I clicked on the monitor I have in my office that lets me hear what's going on in Kiernan's room.Right now he is singing himself to sleep. He's singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" very softly.
Kiernan's ability to sing songs, actual songs that we know too, is a fairly recent development. For a long time he sang his own songs, just singing the colors he knows or singing the numbers he can count. Recently, however, he surprised us by beginning to string together the songs we sing to him. I think the first one I really picked up on was "Ring Around the Rosie", which was easy for me to pick up on because he turns around in circles while he sings it and falls down at the end. Not a lot of songs end like that. Especially if you're not in a mosh pit at the time. Kiernan's version of the song goes,
Ring a'rosies,
Pocket rosies,
All fall down.
That "pocket rosies" thing just knocks me out.
I see a lot of books right now that leave out the "ashes, ashes" when they print their version of the song. I just want all of you to know I have no intention of leaving out the "ashes, ashes" and sticking in some silly substitute that is kinder and gentler. I think one I've seen is "atishoo, atishoo". I'm not teaching Kiernan "atishoo, atishoo" because it is a silly word and we're not from England. I'm very particular about the words we use, even while singing about the Black Plague. (Incidentally, we're not.)
The next two songs Kiernan picked up were "Row Your Boat" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". The latter seems to be his favorite right now, maybe because he can do the hand signs that go along with it. It's great to hear him singing himself to sleep, both because it's just beautiful to hear my son singing to himself and because it is good for him to be able to get himself to sleep without our help. Still, I will miss sitting in his room and singing to him as he goes to sleep. When he is done drinking his milk, nowadays, he pulls his bottle from his mouth and says, "Crib." He often points to his crib to make it clear that it's time for bed. We put him in his crib, and then he says, "Sing! Chair!" This means he wants us to sing to him from the chair in the corner. He knows it will be harder for us to sneak out of the room if we're sitting down. This is due in large part to the fact that the floors in our house creak at the drop of a hat. Even a very light hat. They creak if you even just think about them creaking. There they go. I just heard them over the monitor as I typed that.
We sit down, then, and we sing while he gets his affairs in order, gathering and re-gathering all of his stuffed animals until everybody is configured just right and his blanket is in a twisted ball beneath him. If you stop singing during this, he will cease all activity, wait a moment, then say, "Sing!"
The night before last I put him down in his crib and he just smiled at me and rolled over onto his side. I said, "Goodnight. I love you." I made for the door, anticipating the order to sit down in the chair and sing. But he only smiled a sleepy smile at me and watched me leave. Then he sung himself to sleep.
It's funny how independence can be exciting and sad at the same time.
