There's a Hole...

When I was young, my mom used to sing all the time. Around the house, in the car... Sometimes it was songs others had recorded. Other times she would make up songs for the moment. She would sing to divert our attention from other things, give correction, give instruction, or just narrarate the moment. "It's time-a-get-up, time-a-get-up, time-a-get-up in the mor-ning!" I think we all picked up on this fun way of communicating. My mom was kind of an originator of rap - or not. Anyway, my brother and I are known (at least among our family members) for instant cheesy white-guy freestyle rap. It's pretty bad. My brother's is much worse, though. (Can I get an "Oh, Yeah!" from the Vicksburg posse?)

I've been passing this trait down to my son, Nathan. I'll tell him what we're doing or going to do in a sing-song way, and he likes to get in on it, too. For example, today I told him, "we're gonna eat-our-lunch... and go-out-side... and play-witha-cars... and the-bat-anda-balls..." when all of a sudden, Nathan jumped in, "and-we're-gonna-hit-that-ball-witha-bat... and-that-air-coguneer's-not-gonna-hurt-you..." (air conditioner) It was great! He actually does it on his own now. He sings in the house, car, etc. all the time - whether or not there is music on.

He also likes to sing some favorites... This little light of mine, The Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and some Sesame Street songs, to name some children's tunes. He also likes a Christian Rap artist named John Reuben, and the rock band, Switchfoot. He usually requests his favorites by lines in the song, and he can tell you what's coming on by the intro music.

Last night, he was on his bucket at the kitchen sink, helping Laura with the dishes. All of a sudden, he began singing a line from a children's song, Hole in the Bottom of the Sea (with a little twist): "There's a hole, there's a hole, there's a hole in the bottom of the sink!"

It's a gift.