Stahlke Adoption

"What Song Shall We Sing?"

Every night, as I tuck the three younger children into bed one by one, we sing together. At first, I would choose the song, but after they had learned several, they started picking what we'd sing. If they don't choose quickly enough, I sing my favorite, "Edelweiss," which they now avoid since they've heard it so often. If the day has been especially good, like a birthday, we sing two songs together. And on rare occasion, we'll do three songs, like the day we visited their first theme park (Six Flags in Virginia).

As we approach holidays or unusual days, they often ask for a song that's thematic. Some are easy--Christmas, Easter, birthdays, New Year's ("Auld Lang Syne"). Others are harder. Either I don't know all the words, or worse yet, I can't think of a song at all. More than once, I've made up a song on the spot, although the kids are getting pretty good at calling my bluff.

How many songs do you know for Mother's Day? I finally decided that the Magnificat would work. Misha asked for a "David's Song" (his English name), and Psalm 23 filled the bill. Well, this week, the kids have been asking for Halloween songs. And to make it harder, we'll need two of them, since Halloween is THE BEST holiday in the year. (When else can you dress in a costume, get loads of candy, and wander the neighborhood for hours? At least we're not persuading them, as was necessary in 2005, that gifts for us and their teachers are not part of the celebration.)

The Halloween songs I found will suffice, but they stretch the point:
"We're off to see the wizard!" and "Itsy-Bitsy Spider"
It helps that the children like the hand motions that accompany the second song!

posted by Stahlkes @ 12:19 PM