We were so glad when, upon her birth, Lucy let out a good holler — it showed us that she would definitely fit in with our joyously vocal household.
Jon and I have always enjoyed both listening to and making our own contributions to music in our house. From practicing scales on the saxophone or inventing little ditties about our mutual affection to enjoying (and imitating) the background growls of the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, our home is filled with a veritable cacophony of goodness.
p{color:gray}. Photo: Our little backup singer.
But Lucy has brought some special additions to our repertoire. We find ourselves singing to her so often that we thought we should describe some of these selections for posterity. Here are some of our favorites:
* The call to the diaper change
_Diaper time, oh yes it’s diaper time!_
_Lucy’s butt needs a fresh diaper right now!_
(To the tune of “Majesty,” the classic ’80s church chorus.)
* During the diaper change
_Drying off the butt, drying off the butt_
_This is how we do it, we dry off Lucy’s butt!_ (repeat)
(To the tune of “Bringing in the Sheaves.”)
* The cleanliness announcement
_Clean and dry, clean and dry_
_Lucy’s butt is nice and clean and dry_ (repeat)
(To the tune of “Deep and Wide,” a traditional church-camp song.)
* The clothing process
_Get up, stand up!_
_Stand up for your pants!_
(To the tune of Bob Marley’s “Stand Up for Your Rights.”)
* For playtime
_If your name is Lucy Lu, stand up!_
_If your name is Lucy Lu, stand up!_
_If your name is Lucy Lu_
_And you’re a Boyd, it’s true_
_If your name is Lucy Lu, stand up!_
(To the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it.”)
* For entertainment — the ultimate song.
(Miraculously able to calm Lucy even in mid-cry.)
_La la la la Lucy_
_La la la Lucy_
_La la la la la la la la_ (repeat)
(To the tune of “Mama Yo Quiero,” a Carmen Miranda number featured in the classic “Be a Pal” episode of _I Love Lucy_.)
And, lest we give the impression that songs are only for Lucy, here are two oldies but goodies:
- To express affection
_Do do do do, do do do do do do do, do do do do do do…_
_Jon Boyd!_
(To the tune of Petula Clark’s “Downtown.”)
* For marching.
_Jon Boyd, Jon Boyd, Jon Boyd, Jon Boyd, Jon Boyd…_
(To the tune of “Heigh, ho! Heigh, ho!” of Seven Dwarfs fame.)
We are looking forward to Lucy joining us in song!
That’s awesome! We’re starting to form our own songs but with you being a music major, I’m sure your songs are a lot more pleasing to the ear! :)
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Janice
We are singing folks too! A lot of crazzy made up songs, but my personal favorite is one Brian wrote…no known melody but you will get the idea:
*M*A*D*E*L*Y*N, That’s how we spell Madelyn
*L*O*U*I*S*E, that is the middle name for me
G double O and D * W, I double L spells goodwill for you.
Madelyn, Madelyn, cha, cha, cha
Madelyn, Madelyn, cha-ch-ch-cha!!
Plus we have the leap frog activity table (way worth the $40) that has a ton of music and lots of words, numbers and abc’s it does english and spanish and she loves singing the abc’s in spanish (well she bounces and hums along with the thing). We are working to make her tri-lingual….English, Spanish and sign language.
I love the diaper songs, I might have to add those to our routine. Thanks for sharing.
That’s so funny! Very creative of you guys. =)
How adorable! We always sing “The Ants went marching one by one” on our way out of the house in the morning. It seems to be the only way to get a 3 year old moving. Of course the verses are always changing with what is happening. We aren’t going down to get out of the rain, we are going out to the garage to head to grammy’s.
I find that some of the oddest songs have fit so well as lullabys in our house. Goodnight Sweetheart is wonderful at bedtime and You’re just too good to be true… has been good for making the diaper changes easy. Quite often we sing whatever Kaia wants to sing. Usually Stand up and Shout it if you love my Jesus, is her pick, because she can scream without getting in trouble.
I have to say it only gets better. We have always sung to our boys and there have been many a made up tune from Andy and I. I think doing raspberries to March Slav was one our finest moments :).
Now the boys have started composing music….they write theme music for the superheros they make up….songs about the food they like to eat,…..
One of our favorites right now is “Two Little Soldiers ( a song about bookends)”. The three of them have made elaborate sets for this and are even woring on a bit of harmony.
When we were still living in Chicago we began what we called Sofalodians….Andy and I would sing “Put another nickle in/ in the sofalodian….all we want is wetzel boys and music, music, music…..they then would perform behind our couch. We still do sofalodian performances but they sometimes call for a bigger stage. Once there was a full costumed musical from the three of them.
“I could just sit around makin’ music all day long (yeah)
As long as I’m makin’ my music
I know I can’t do nobody no wrong
And who knows? Maybe I’ll come up with a song (yeah)
And make people wanna stop their fussin’ and fightin’
Long enough to sing a song
I-i-i, I believe in music
Whoa-oh-oh- I, I believe in love” B.J. Thomas
I made up a getting dressed song for Benjamin that goes:
The right arm goes in the right sleeve, the right arm goes in the right sleeve, the right arm goes in the right sleeve… that’s the way we dress
to the tune of the headbone’s connected to the neckbone song (I have no idea what the name of it is).
anyway – repeat the verse for left arm, left leg, right leg, etc.
The parenting class that I’m taking through our church actually has memory verses that have been put to music by a talented lady there. It’s been our music of choice in the mornings and I sing a few to Abby before I put her down for each nap! It’s a win-win situation. :)
Abby’s also been way into the calisthetic tunes, like happy and you know it. Ever since I started singing them to help her relieve gas as a newborn. I’ve had to improvise on movements just to keep up (stomp your feet, kick your legs, do the twist, shout hooray, etc.)!
Alright, here’s my current fave (bound to be stuck in your head way past it’s welcome):
(to the tune of the yellow polka dot bikini song)
It was an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny little piece of poopercini
That you pooped in your diaper today
An itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny little piece of poopercini
And in your diaper it really can’t stay
From your diaper to the garbage
From the garbage out the door
Out the door to the landfill
So we can’t smell it anymore
Bummer, right?
Oh Jane,
I dont even think I will share that with the boys. I will never hear the end of it. It is clever though!