Singing

This is about Nathan again. I love to write about a child who is going through the throes of growing up with his innocent and sometimes exasperating ways. Lucy and I don't have children of our own, but in a way we do. Lucy has the job of babysitting for her niece. Both she and her husband work so we have four-year-old Nathan and two-year-old Nolan over on our side of the house five or six days a week.

When Nathan was two years old he was interested in my piano when I played it. I carefully went over Twinkle Twinkle Little Star whenever he was around, among other children's songs. He watched intently as I played and I even sang it to him. He was at the age where he wasn't talking yet and I hoped to teach him to sing someday. Sometimes he would get rambunctious and I would sit him on my lap at the piano and play the song. The Twinkle Star song would be the main song to quiet him down.

One evening I was reading in the living room. All was quiet and Nathan was upstairs on his side of the house in bed for the night. Suddenly I heard singing...ba ba ba ba ba ba .... Nathan was singing the Twinkle Star Song in perfect melody.

When he was three years old he learned the A B C song to the same tune. This time I recorded him. And when my cousins came from out of state, I had him sing it to them. The only way he would do it then was when he hid behind a chair.

Parenthood is different these days than it was years ago. When two parents work it is difficult giving the proper attention to a child, and the parent/child relationship can suffer.

When I was young I was in the midst of a similar problem. I was away from home for weeks at a time (in hospital) and I did not get the closeness to my parents like my siblings did. Maybe that is why I pay attention to these kids in a parental way like I do. It helps to bring closure to some traumatic experiences in my past. And it gives me a chance for Lucy and I to experience parenthood. But let me tell you, being parents is for younger couples! We're glad when the boys' parents come home from work and take them off our hands.