Steven F.: March 2006 Archives

Judy over at Just Ask Judy has been posting her sheetmusic collection. She posted one of my most favorites, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, a few days ago. Many of these old tunes I sing to my babies in place of as lullabyes. Some bring water to my eyes, some leave me smiling and some I can't remember all the words and humm the tune while I rock my babies. I do not have a nice singing voice. I wish I did. If there was ever a talent I wanted it was singing. My singing is so bad that Gracie would cry as an infant when I sang to her. As a toddler she would put her hand over my mouth and hush the words, "You no sing, Momma," she would say. When Colby was little we sang together and often loudly. As a baby she hated riding in her carseat and would cry and scream. As she grew older and could sit in a forward facing carseat nothing much changed except the screaming was quieted but the struggle to keep her in the car seat was monumental. I would sing and ask her to help me sing and remember the words to keep her occupied until I got to where we were going. BTW, Colby still finds it very funny when she remembers how Gracie would cry when I sang. The Hell?!? Kids aren't supposed to remember those things! I did not give permission! With this baby boy I don't know if he likes my singing. When I sing and humm he gets very still and wants to nurse. Either the singing is comforting or he is trying to escape in any way possible and sleep is easier than learning to get up and run away. For whatever reason the tunes come and go. Some long forgotten until a memory sets it off. That is exactly what happened the other day. Susie over at the Underpaid Kept Woman headquarters posted her interview with Bill Thomas, the writer of music for the Captain Kangeroo show. She noted a discussion with Mr. Thomas of runcible spoons (a pickle fork really) which made me think of The Owl and the Pussycat ... more specifically the first line:

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat ...

This line gave me just enough of a nudge that an old lullabye came to mind. I do not know where I first heard it. I have sung it for so many years now it was like an old friend suddenly decided to come to visit. If I had a beautiful singing voice I would do an audioblog so that you could hear the tune but I don't and I didn't and you can't. The Slumber Boat was written by Alice C. D. Riley and the music is by Jessie L. Gaynor. The copyright date is 1898.

The Slumber Boat

Baby's boat's the silver moon, Sailing in the sky, Sailing o'er the sea of sleep, While the clouds float by. Sail, baby, sail, Out upon that sea, Only don't forget to sail Back again to me.
Baby's fishing for a dream, Fishing near and far, His line a silver moonbeam is, His bait a silver star. Sail, baby, sail, Out upon that sea, Only don't forget to sail Back again to me.

I do love this tune. I sang it to my baby boy all day yesterday as he was having a bad day and finally he settled down and slept for a couple hours after we rocked and sang in the late afternoon. Did I ever tell you that lullabyes make me cry? They do. No reason that I know of. Just emotion spills out all over the place int he form of tears slipping down my cheeks. I am tearing up just thinking of it. I purchased the Jack Johnson cd, the Curious George Soundtrack, for Steven. I love his laid back voice. On a side note that has absolutely nothing to do with this post have any of you noticed that Jack Johnson looks like the little curious monkey named George? He does! If you go to his site, click films, bonus material and watch the Upside Down video. Love it! But these don't make me cry. Sing me a lullabye, leaving the words in the comments - won't you please? Perhaps one you sang to your babies or one you remember from your own childhood. I am in the mood for lullabyes. Updated to add: I found a website with the midi so you can get an idea of the tune to sing The Slumber Boat to your babies. The midi has a 1998 copyright. The song itself is public domain (as is most sheet music before 1923).

A little pickup slip was in the mailbox yesterday but the post office had already closed. This morning Colby went over and pickedup what I thought was an envelope/package. It turns out it was a box. Not just any old box mind you. But a box from cooking.com .... And not just a plain ordinary box filled with cooking.com stuff but one that was really from Susie Sunshine -all the way from the frozen tundra that is Michigan. With much delight the box was opened. And there inside were many wonderous things for a boy and his momma. A big red tractor for a boy to play outside or inside with. Also a note apologizing for the redness instead of greeniness of the tractor. A fleece bunting bag by Natural Charm that is beary cute. (Pardon the baby talk. I couldn't resist.) A tree shaped plush photo frame that is a family tree complete with pockets to insert family photos. (I have no idea why the photo is so dark. On every shot the flash failed.) A John Deere book titled Corny Cornpicker finds a home with appropriate inscription from said giver. A chicken cookbook. This chick pays very close attn people. I don't remember telling her I collect chicken stuff. A gardeners journal to write down all my gardenish things in. A copy of Jen Lancaster's new book Bitter Is The New Black. Complete with inscription. I dearly thank you, SusieQ, for all of these beautiful gifts. The thought is lovely. I can't thank you enough. I also must thank you for making me the coolest mom of college age girls in this area. As I opened each item in the box, Colby ahhh'd over each thing and we held them up for Steve to see. As I opened the last item which happened to be the Bitter book -

Colby: Is that Jen Lancaster's new book? Me: Yes, it is. What do you know about Jen Lancaster? Colby: Everyone is reading her book and blog. Have you read her blog? Me: I have been reading her blog before you knew what a blog was. Colby: OMG, that is an autographed copy! Me: I know it is. Susie knows her well and went to her first book signing. Colby: I cannot believe you have an autographed copy. OMG it is personalized! Me: heh ...

I am so f'n cool now. Thanks, Jen! I'll stop lurking and try to send you email comments that you wn't read or answer because you don't have time for trivial email from the likes of lurkers on your blog. If you get a chance how about come over and leave a comment so I can be like UBER cool with the 18 - 20 year old set. Please? I do give you linky love, ya know ... Thanks, Susie! You give the bestest gifts. I'll be sure to do something for you so your boys realize they have the coolest mom in the universe too. The book comment is in no way intended to overshadow the sincere joy of having such a wonderful friend that I have never yet met face to face as you are, Susie. I just thought you would get a good laugh out of the reaction of my eldest daughter. I am now going to spend as much of the rest of the day as possible reading the book sent my really sweet friend, Susie. :-)

... in a kingdom in Central Virginia lived a little prince who was just six weeks old. I see you looking at me. He was a very alert and active little boy for his age. His eyes where bright and shiney. He often smiled at the Queen and caused her heart to melt. The blue elephant is my favorite. The little prince was so active the Queen decided he needed something to attract his attentive and to focus his pent up engery on. His little brain needed more stimulation. Oh, look! There is another baby at the zoo today! Those little hands that reached out so very often needed something to reach toward besides the Queen's long hair or the vessel on her chest upon which the prince's nurishment came from. His clutching and grabbing, no matter how short his nails, was leaving claw marks on the Queen's pale skin.

Have you got any snacks to share? I need a cookie or something. These people only feed me milk. A growing boy needs cookies and doritoes and chocolate bars. Come on, I won't tell if you slip me a little something extra.

The Queen was always nearby when the little prince was entertaining himself. She would watch him with the most genuine look of love on her face that the King would often comment that she looked as if she was in heaven. The King would say at that moment there was nothing on earth that could please the Queen more than her precious little prince.

Eeek! She is making photos of me again. Someone stop the madness before I go blind from the camera flash.

The Queen found her little boy so adorable she often felt an overwelming urge to consume him. She often had to restrain herself from unhitching her jaw and swallowing him whole so she could keep his perfection all for herself. Oh, look, there's that blue elephant again! The little prince often played by himself for up to thirty minutes at a time.

Being this cute is hard work. It is wearing my butt out big time.

All of that playing would make him very sleepy. He would give big yawns telling the Queen he was tired of those animals hanging in his face.

If I pretend like I am sleeping she willstop taking pictures of me.

The Queen ever alert to the needs of the little prince would wisk away his hanging zoo.

I think I'll hop on that cloud over there and see what's on the other side of that mountain. I'm outta here, folks...

She left him drenched in the morning sun to dream of sunny days chasing puppies, catching frogs, and pretend safaris with blue elephants and yellow giraffes. The morning naps also gave the Queen free time away from breastfeeding and diaper changing. She used her time wisely and managed to finish writing thank you notes, birth announcements and seasonal greeting cards -which should start showing up in a mail box near you starting today or maybe tomorrow. ****** Gracie is home from school again today. We have spent the night and morning washing sheets and rugs. This virus that is going around is nasty! This is our second time of it!!

Yesterday was one of those days when you want to stop in the middle of the whirlwind and call "do overs". It seemed at one point the more I hurried the further behind I got. Themorning started with Gracie and the bus stop. She went out to the bus with Colby and came hurrying back within a few minutes. A strange dog was in the yard. The dog wasjust scruffy enough to be threatening but soon wandered its way to the back of the property. So Gracie hurried on out and barely made it to get on the school bus. Colby went upstairs to get ready for her school day and had let the dog out into the fenced area of the backyard. It wasn't long before I heard a rukus and went out to check. The stray wandering dog had gotten in the fence by digging his way in and was now threatening our dog on her own turf. I called animal control to report the dog and was cut off short by the deputy who answered saying, "Yes, we know. It is a brindle colored bulldog. We are trying to find it now." Then I cut her off by saying, "If you will listen and let me finish I'll tell you the dog is in my fenced in backyard at the moment and can be picked up easily." By this time the dog was in the trash cans andpulling out the trash. I put out some food but it kept going back to the trash. One attempt to shoo the dog from the trash and he bristled up and lunged at me. By the time the animal control officer got to my house the dog had gotten out the same we he got in and was long gone. So, having known where the dog was they took their own sweet time to protect the neighborhood by arriving 2 hours after the report went in. So now the dog is still wandering the neighborhood. Next we went to the doctor appointment for Steven's vaccinations. His appointment was at 11:20. At 12:10 we were still waiting to be seen. I asked the receptionist how much longer was the wait to be and that I could reschedule the appointment if need be. It was about 10 minutes later that we were called back to an examination room. The nurse and doctor apologized for the wait and explained that a preemie baby had come in and had stopped breathing and they had had their hands full. Then I felt badly about complaining about waiting so long. The doctor is very impressed with is growth. She said he is off the percentile chart and she wished every baby she saw was as healthy as he is. He has grown and inch and gained one and a half pounds in the past 2 weeks! He is now 23 1/2 inches long and weighs 12lbs 11oz. She was equally impressed that he was only breastfeeding. It has been 5 weeks since his birth. He has gained a total of 3lbs and grown an inch and a half. He smiled and made noises during his exam. He was sweet and adorable and the doctor always has a fit over him. She was surprised that he had already managed to roll himself over onto his stomach (at 3 weeks people!) and could roll from side to side now. Then he got stuck with a needle and he doesn't like any of them any more. It was after 1pm when we left the doctor's office. I called Steven to give him the latest stats on our boy but he didn't give me time to speak before he was rushing through his phone call from the school telling him Gracie was sick, running a fever and needed to be picked up. He was about 2 hours away and had not been able to reach me (my cell doesn't pick up in the dr's office complex) and had called over to our 73 year old neighbor and had her pick Gracie up for us. Steven, 5 weeks old The neighbor had had surgury on her foot Friday, unknown to us (!), but went with her husband and picked Gracie up. She took Gracie to her house, put her to bed and doted on her like any grandmother would. By the time I got everyone picked up and taken home it was almost 3pm. We were all hungry, fussy and tired. We all decided it was time for a short nap and took to our beds. We slept until nearly 6pm. I don't know when the last time was that I slept like that! And how was your day?

Judy at Just Ask Judy said we should be posting something new to look at instead of leaving up an old post for 3 or 4 days so I am following good online journalist manners and giving something new to look at.



******* I need to clear up a little something from the previous post on shoes. I said I LOVE shoes. What I didn't say is I don't always wear shoes. If I am at home my feet are bare. I hate to wear shoes especially in the summer. Most of the year you will find me barefooted. Loving shoes doesn't mean wearing shoes. Oh, and I wear a size 10 not an 8.