Hey Diddle Diddle

Some of the best gifts that my kids got this Christmas were books. Anyone who knows me is aware of my love of books, and one of my most fervent wishes for my children is that I somehow manage to pass along my love of reading to them.

Before I comment on this one particular book that we got, I have to say that I love the book and we have read it for the past three nights. That said........it's a book of nursery rhymes. They all bring me back to my childhood........my Mom loved to read to me, and often turned to the Mother Goose-ish classics. They are all lodged somewhere in a foggy little portion of my brain, and this book is causing me to dust off some memories of baked blackbirds and Mother Hubbard's that I had long since forgotten.

Has anyone else read any of the classic nursery rhymes lately? Like, as an adult?

"And the dish ran away with the spoon"

* What a little trollop! This entire nursery rhyme is wonderfully nonsensical,and it ends with a tabletop elopement! I love Hey Diddle Diddle!

"The King of Hearts Called for the tarts and BEAT the Knave FULL SORE"

*The Knave ends this one by vowing to steal no more ~ who wouldn't after being beaten full sore?! ? I don't even know for sure what full sore means, but I am guessing that it's modern day equivalent is a "beat down". A full beat down by some rich fat King on some poor little servant boy over some tarts! "The Queen of Hearts" is full of crime and violence, and only about 10 short sentences long. (The funny thing about this one is that Luke pointed to the Queen and said "Mama", then pointed to the King and said "Danta!, which means Santa. Me and Danta getting down and dirty on some Knave over some tarts! Imagine it!".)

"Down will come baby, cradle and all"

*Um, the baby falls out of a tree. Falls! The bough breaks! Down goes baby! And this (Rock-a-Bye Baby) is likely our cultures most well known nursery rhyme. How utterly bizarre. Stupid wind.

"And so the poor Dog had none"

*None, in this case, referring to food. Poor Old Mother Hubbard and her bare cupboards! Her poor dog! Where the heck are Old Mother Hubbard's children? Why isn't she being taken care of? Whats to become of the Dog?

"Stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni"

*What is up with the Yankee Doodle anyway? Surely the feather did not resemble macaroni, did it? Was the Doodle a man of great creativity? An artist perhaps? Is macaroni the only word that rhymes with pony?

"Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after"

*Jack got a busted head just trying to get some water! Quite the antithesis of the "Little engine that could". And I'm most curious about why Jill went tumbling after.....was it a Princess Bride sort of throw oneself down the hill after hapless man thing? Why didn't Jill continue on without her clumsy Jack and fetch the water herself? Perhaps the hill was really a precarious cliff? Why would a well be perched atop such a dangerous hill? Totally confused.

"Humpty Dumpty"

*Enough said. He jumped. He died. Yet in the books he is always pictured sitting all round and jolly atop the wall ~ PRE fall. Poor Humpty. What a mess he must have made.

"Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie"

* What a large pie it must have been ! And those darling, freedom loving birds! I know that they came out singing and all, but still, it's funny that "Sing a song of Sixpence" is a vague introduction to our children to the idea that many of those cute and cuddly little animals that we talk about in our picture books ultimately end up on our table. I can only imagine how tough and terrible a blackbird would taste. And why would they have baked them with the feathers? Who want's to eat feather?

"She had so many children she didn't know what to do, she gave them some broth without any bread, then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed"

*Someone call CPS! And where the heck is the old man for Pete's sake? Surely there must be an old man in the picture if she keeps churning out children? What a horrible story. The poor abused family who lives in a lousy old shoe! Can you even imagine the stench of an entire so-many-children-ed family living in a stinking SHOE without any bread? And the cacophony of the whippings of so many children? What a terrible place to live.

"There I met an old man who would not say his prayers, I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs"

*How utterly terrible! An Elder Abuser! Pray for yourself you horrid stair throwing person in Goosey Goosey Gander!

Anyway. I love the book. I love reading the stories, the pictures are fantastic and 3-d and much loved by Luke. The rhymes, the rhythm, the cadence, the whole bit. I was just a bit taken aback as I read some of these things as an adult.

In today's PC world of feel good about yourself, everyone is a winner, no one is ever wrong, everyone loves you, you are perfect sort of children's books..........I have to admit that some old school nursery rhyme ass kicking was a bit refreshing to me.

Aunt Annie's Alligator

Our gym has amazing childcare. The women who work there love Luke and he always seems to have a great time playing while we are working out. I feel like they actually know and like and take great care of my child, which gives me so much peace of mind in leaving him.

After today I know that they are also wonderfully creative people.

Nate took Luke to the gym so that I could get some cooking done. When he came home, he was wearing the above get up ~ in case you can't tell from the picture, that's some strangers t shirt he is wearing on his legs. Apparently my son had a blowout diaper (something that we have not seen in months and months) while at the gym. He had no pants, so they came up with the tshirt idea. Nice! He seemed perfectly happy, but now that I look at the pic that I took I think that he actually looks a little worried ~ I sometimes wonder how much long term damage I am doing posting pictures of my post blowout t-shirt pants-ed son. Someday I imagine that he will read this, and I can only say that I hope he does not mind the graphic details.

The other item in the pic is the Dr Seuss ABC book. I can now proudly say that I know every single word to every single page and can recite them verbatim. I always hoped to raise a child who loved to read as much as I do. I firmly believe that reading to kids fosters a love of reading. I just didn't know that I would have a son who, at least at this point, only wants to read TWO books over and over and over. I read the DR Seuss book to Luke 7 times today. I can only guess that Nate read it to him about the same number of times. I wake up with

"Big A, little a, What begins with A? Aunt Annie's Alligator, A.....A.....A"

racing through my head over and over. The other book that he loves is called "100 Words". In case you can't guess from the title, the plot isn't real thick.....its 100 little pictures of scintillating things like "Purple Tricycle", "Pink Flower" and "Highchair". It's mind numbing and painful and I sometimes start to drool and lose focus while "reading" it to Luke, but he loves it. He turns the big cardboard pages indiscriminately, saying "ah dat?" at every single picture. He can identify the dog, kitty cat, duck, and baby.......but that leaves an awful lot of "ah dat-ing" considering that there are 96 other words and pictures.

In other news, I am now 7 days from my due date. Going strong. I would love to have a little St. Patties day baby....but there is no real reason to believe that the baby has any plans to arrive tomorrow. In the baby pool I have the 19th......I think that should I go past that day I will start to really get impatient. With a brief 18 week reprieve (during which I provided the sole sustenance for my exclusively breastfed son), I have been pregnant since May of 06. Its now March of 08. When I think of it like that its easier to give myself a little leeway for the impatience that is creeping up on me. I just cant wait to hold this baby.....to know if its my son or daughter who I have been growing all these long months. I want to ensure that all of its parts are in the appropriate part places, and that it is a healthy baby safely arrived. Sigh. Patience is not one of my strong suits (in fact, its not even one of my medium~strong suits....I am one of the most impatient people on Earth) ....but I'm trying to temper it with my gratitude for another easy pregnancy and a wonderful supportive husband and a really easy, happy, healthy son who provides me with endless delight while I wait. I had a great massage on Saturday ~ my Massage therapist said that she was getting Tuesday night vibes for babies birth. I'm game if baby is.

In other news, Villanova made the Tournament, much to our surprise. And I officially skeeve the word "bracketology" and think that anyone who uses it is a dork. I love the tourney and I love college basketball, but jeez this "bracketology" stuff is so trendy and annoying.

A Baby Blessing

I was at the bookstore today picking up a baby book for Deuce, when I came across this book. It's called "A Baby Blessing" (By Welleran Poltarnees). As beautiful as the words are, they may be overshadowed by the beautiful artwork. Anyway, I can't get through it without crying, so I thought maybe some of you would be similarily touched by it. Here are the words............

I here bless this baby,
newly arrived, wishing for it all the good
things I here invoke, and others beyond my imaginings.

May the spirits of grace attend its coming,
and may angels guide its flowering.

Let this child be held and warmed,
made secure in this strange new world.

When this baby first opens its eyes,
may the face it looks upon be filled with love.

I pray that it be welcomed by many,
loved by many, and known by a myriad
of private and gentle names.

When this baby looks beyond
the faces of its family,
let it look upon a room where beauty reigns.
Let there be shapely toys waiting to be
touched into life, and a window
with a view of the world outside.

I wish for this child to know early in life
the hugeness of trees, the cold kiss of
snowflakes and the softness of rain.

May this small life be made rich with music.
Let there be songs on waking, happy songs at
play and gentle songs at night.

Let this baby's sleep be peaceful and may it
sail back each morning filled with the memory of sweet dreams.

May play fill this young life as it blossoms, so
that it may come to enjoy solitude as much as shared joy.

I hope that there are many animal companions,
each teaching gentleness, playfulness and kinship.

May this young body grow fully,
move freely,
breathe deeply and see clearly.

I hope, as this baby grows into childhood,
that those it meets praise it freely,
encouraging its fragile mystery to bloom
into radiant self.

When this child grows up and has children
of its own, let it never forget what it was like
to be first alive and richly welcomed.

Let all those who share in this baby's growing
learn from its laughter and joy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I could not think of a more appropriate blessing for my children. I love this book. Go get it.


**I do apologize in advance for this. Soon I will get back to my "making fun of myself" posts, but for now you all are going to have to endure this sappy Melissa stuff. Its hormones. I am like a giant weepy happy love sponge. Its sweet and icky to me at the same time :)**