THAT'S MY NAME!

I used to teach Kindergarten and I remember coming home with one of those seemingly cute educational songs stuck in my head. You know---Days of the Week sung to the Adam's Family theme song. Or something like "Today is Monday and it's a sunny day!" I've got loads of them.

So what do you do when a song is stuck in your head?

You sing it in its entirety.

This is not a quality Brian enjoys. I remember singing through a song and hearing him warn, "If I wake up in the middle of the night with that stuck in my head..." Teasingly, I'd sing a little louder and a lot longer.

So when I stopped teaching to stay at home, I thought I could breathe a sigh of relief. Brian, too. No singing those songs all day (at least for a while), so that means no songs stuck in my head. I mean, what 2 year old wants to know the 50 States Song in alphabetical order, sung to the tune of Turkey in the Straw?

That was before we realized that Charis would have a love for music. And a deep love for Bear in the Big Blue House. Which means lots of "Bear Cha-cha-cha," "Goodbye song," and "Happy Happy Birthday." She sings it when she gets up in the morning, she sings it during her playtime, and she wants us to sing it before bed.

You already know what I'm going to say.

Though I thought I'd gotten away from rolling over in the middle of the night and hearing cutesy songs in my head, alas....it wasn't to be.

Instead of rolling over and thinking, "Why am I awake? What's on the to-do list today?," I roll over and sing "What sounds like a couple of purple otters? Pip and Pop! Pip and Pop, that's their name!"

The best part? Brian hears songs in the middle of the night, too. And this time it's not my fault. Charis, unknowingly, has taken over the roll of "song-giver." And she sings it plenty loud and with more stamina and endurance that I could even hope to have.

That's okay. She'll only love Bear for a little while and she'll never be this small again. And I know that one day I'll look back and long for the days that she woke at 4 am singing her heart out.