Singing

Singing lullabies to the children and taking Music Together classes has been an amazing part of motherhood for me. I can sing in public now; I'm not shy and awkward like I used to be. I like my voice fine, which feels really good. When Lily was born I consciously sat down and thought of the songs I wanted to sing her. It was really important to me that I be a lullaby-singing mother.
I loved the scene in Raising Arizona where Holly Hunter is singing "Down in Willow Garden" to the stolen baby! Loved it! I wanted to sing songs like that and so I did (although I try to keep murder out of it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWYvDsyfqnI

I sang Joan Baez songs like "Wagoner's Lad" and "The Trees They Grow High" and Hey, Hey Watenay/ Walk in Beauty" and "Blackjack Davey" from Sally Rodgers along with traditional lullabies like "Rock a bye baby", "Pretty Little horses" and "Lullaby and Goodnight"
Georgia loved "My Bonnie lies over the Ocean" so I sang that thousands of times and We got some new ones from the Music Together collection like "Raisins and Almonds" and "Hush a Bye"

I was thinking I'd like to start singing even more. The children don't always want my lullabies anymore and I was missing that daily singing. I mentioned to our violin teacher that I might want to sing when I play the fiddle wondering what she might recommend. She just told me to start singing and if I had questions I could come to her. Hmmmm. It's so funny how much I want instruction or validation before I start something new, but there you have it. Try singing.

So, today I was singing a song as Lily and I put our violins away after a practice and I was really enjoying myself. I discovered the singer Susannah Park at the revels this year and I got 2 of her cds. Her voice is clear and gorgeous. As I was singing this song that she sings

http://store.revels.org/Media/iknowroad/brother%20ephus%20clip.mp3

Lily looked uncomfortable and said, quietly but insistently enough I had to stop singing,
"Mama! Mama!" "Then she continued, "When you sing that song; it makes me feel sick, you know, like I have hair in my mouth."

I laughed. For a while. Shoots of growth and confidence grow in the act of mothering, but when that growth is reflected back to the children who helped create them, they sometimes reject it! Denounce the very thing they inspired!

Later when I told Rob what she had said and he was shaking his head with a chuckle, she admitted to me, "I actually just wanted you to stop singing. I wasn't going to throw up."

I was relieved she hadn't actually had a visceral gagging reaction. But she must have thought I wouldn't stop unless she was going to puke. And she might have been right.....