This has been our bedtime routine for at least 4 months now. The entire thing takes about an hour and it's one of my favourite times of the day. I particularly enjoy lying next to her in the dark, holding her warm little hand in mine, and softly singing whatever song pops into my head.
So every night, Moppet is subjected to my renditions of assorted hymns, hindi film songs, mallu film songs, old classics, cartoon songs, even the odd christmas carol and corrupted bits and pieces of the only french song that I remember.
Now, I have no illusions about my vocal abilities (just ask my unfortunate music teacher) but I truly did believe that my baby enjoyed my daily performance as much as I did.
Until tonight.
Tonight she seemed to be taking longer than usual to fall asleep. She tossed and turned. Sat up for a little bit. Smooshed her face into the pillow and waved her butt in the air. Nothing seemed to be working. Every time she lay still for a little while and I got up to leave, still singing softly, she would sit up and call me back before I reached the door.
Finally after almost an hour of non-stop singing and humming, I was so hoarse that I had to stop. Moppet stopped her butt waving and popped her head up to investigate the sudden lack of croaking on my part. Having assured herself that I was still around, she patted my face gently and then with a sigh of relief, lay down and was asleep in 10 seconds!
Apparently it was my singing that was keeping her awake. Hummmph! So it has been decided - from now on all my future musical endeavours will be enjoyed by the non-judgemental, plastic ears of my shower caddy ONLY.
32 comments:
LOL!Poor you!But you don't worry ,I'm sure pretty soon Moppet will realize what she is missing and start demanding the singing mom again:)By the way Moppet is one adorable little girl!Loved those cute little pics.
Thanks for the visit at my blog,I'm so glad to find yours,may I link you?
LOL! you are hilarious :)
ROTFL!!!! ahahhaaa...poor Moppet, she endured you for this long.
And oh, how I wish my lil one would follow Moppets routine. He sleeps without a fuss (till now), and has a rountine too - but I still need to nurse him. One of these days, I tell to myself...
and hey, mallu songs? didnt know you were from malluland.
Well atleast you have so many choices of songs to sing. I am only 'allowed' Little Bo Peep as a lullaby. Anything else, and I am stopped mid-verse with a stern 'Mama, Buh-Pee' :)
ROTFL !! thats hilariuos Moppet's mom!
Heres an alternative explanation-maybe moppet did not want to go to sleep lest she misses the rest of your performance. When she was sure that you were done for the day, she went to sleep with peace :)
I know exactly how you feel...I'm ecstatic about the fact that I can sing to my four week old and she can't complain. This is my payback for all the crying :))
Wonderful...now you can rest your sore throat every night. I stopped singing lullabies to brat after one night in the hospital when he made me sing rockabye baby one million times.
I was laughing like crazy!
I just discovered the exact same thing with my baby! Here I thought I was singing her to sleep with my melodious voice and she started doing the butt wave in my face too! The moment I stop the noise she is out like a light..sigh..I feel for you.
Hi, LOL! Yeah! My throat used to get parched too! That butt-waving thing....they look so cute doing that.
And Rohini, that was so funny, though I am sure Ur throat craved for alternate tunes :))
hahahaha Poor you!
But sigh! its the same story everywhere.... Sonny boy doesn't let me sing my 'melodious' lullabies from the woods of Bolly and Molly... he puts his hand over my mouth shutting off effectively, and asks me to sing those dratted, monotonous nursery rhymes!!!!
Fuzzy: Please do, please do! I am most honoured.
Kodi's Mom: Even when I don't intend to be, it seems! ;-)
Upsi: Yup, 100% mallu - although I've never lived in Kerala.
Rohini: But at least he WANTS you to sing!
Daisy: You're a darling! I like the way you think!
Squiggles Mom: Ah, you've finally delurked! :-) Welcome!
Kiran: Salt in my wound, Kiran. How evil of you to tell me, after my performance was given the ol' butt wave, of your million encores! :-)
Utbtkids :-))
Anja: Welcome! I'm so glad to hear from you. So you have a little butt waver too!
Vidhur: As a mom, the butt waving thing is adorable, but as a commentary on my singing, I think I could do without it! :-)
JLT: Oh wow, Sonny boy literally shuts you up?! LOL, I feel much better now, all I got was a butt wave! :-)
this child of mine rudely tells me 'no, mama, bas' when i sing. even her father's singing is preferred. and he IS miles off any key!
the only song i am allowed to sing is happy birthday- and i have to do that a million times!
what a life!
:-))))))))))))))
Cannot say anything more right now cos I'm too busy laughing !!
Hahahha..same is case here ..he doesnot like me singing songs ..it has to be rhymes with all actions and thats not for putting him to sleep but making him eat and laugh..:D Sleep times are just cuddly cuddly between Mumma and Betu
funny
:)
sing all you can right now. soon they say stuff like 'not like that mamma, this is how you sing it'!
You are just too funny :) :) My daughter specifically tell us not to sing in the car along with the music that is played as she says she wants to "learn the songs" !!! Obviously she thinks our singing is messing up the lyrics
lolll....very funny!!! lolll... the part where she's asleep in 10 seconds....lolll
That bad, huh? I was thought to be quite the singer, learning Carnatic and stuff -- but every time I was asked to sing my brother would stomp out of the room... So much for vanity.
lol!!
I am not the best singer either, but I love to sing.
I am laughing at your range of music, I am the same way and it annoys the hell out of the boys!
:-)
Love ...love your narration ... and LOL !!
What happened to my comment? You or blogger swallowed it !
I was going to LOL at it as well as ask - So it takes one hour of lying down next to her to put moppet to sleep?
Before you think of this as sniggering or criticism wait, let me explain. I tried that sleeping next to poppin thing and she played on the bed too, while I sang songs and told stories.
Eventually (after 15 mins) I got tired and propped up on my lap to rock her to sleep. I was supposed to wait for one hour?
Hallelujah, maybe all hope is not lost. Perhaps if I do it for one hour, she might learn to sleep without rocking?
Ah, it brings me much relief indeed to not be the only singer snubbed by a 15 month old! And all those of you who've LOLed, I will assume for the sake of my self-esteem that you're LOL'ing WITH me and not AT me! :-)
Poppins: The whole bedtime routine takes about an hour. Once the lights are off and I lie down next to her, she's usually asleep within 20 mins on average. Some days are bad though, and it can take longer.
The key for us I think was the lights off. It's a clear signal that it's time to sleep, and there are fewer distractions in the dark. Maybe you can try that with Poppin. Oh, and don't sing either! ;-)
err, M's M - I was actually LOLing AT you...;) but only because you're such a fantastic sport :)
Try singing Bo Peep 5 times a day and you'll see what I mean...
:) LOL.. classical singer though i am.. the Brat is not erally keen on my singing... so thats even more offensive!
Awww.....! May be she was just tired and any sound, even Beethoven's dulcet melody, would have been noise to her at that moment. I'm sure she'll appreciate your singing soon :)
This was hilarious. I also do the same with KT - tell her stories..she will want to listen to the same ones again and again, sing her songs with my terribly bad voice...hindi/telugu/kannada/tamil songs from movies and TV serials. She tosses and tosses and keeps checking if I am next to her and then finally goes to bed.
I too have had this thought cross my mind sometimes - am I stopping her from falling asleep with all my singing and story telling? But then I enjoy it too much. I look forward to that hour or so when I lie next to KT in the dark waiting for her to go to sleep :)
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