Music Memory Monday

Reading Jori's Music Memory Monday post got me to thinking about lullabies. It also got me to thinking about how quickly my little ones are growing up. For Pete's sake Joey is a sophomore in High School. Can you say, "old"?


Anyhow, this train of thinking brought me to last week, Thursday night, I believe. In the middle of the night, I heard, a meek voice call out, "Mumma? Mumma are you awake?" Followed by whimper, sniffle, whimper. I got up and go to Millie's room. As I entered the room she said through tears, "Mumma, I had a really bad dream." I sat down and comforted her and she quickly dozed off, but me, I stayed awake for hours after. Just thinkin'.

It occurred to me that that little voice in the night could very well be the last nightmare that pulls me from my bed to comfort a scared child. Last time Joe had a bad dream he told me about it over bagels in the morning. Laughing about how foolish it seemed in the daytime, but how it had scared the dickens out of him during the night. "Why didn't you wake me?" I had asked him. "Mum, are you kidding? It was a bad dream. I just went back to sleep." I know I have been waxing nostalgic a lot lately, but really, where does the time go?

Back to lullabies. For the most part, Millie has always been a great sleeper. She slept through the night upon returning home from the hospital. And when I married Doug, Jenna and Bret were 5 and 6, well past the waking up at night stage. I did have the occasional call in the night from all of them, "I'm sick... I heard a funny noise...I had a bad dream." All of these instances found me sitting on their bed, reading them a story or just whispering happy things to them until they joined Winkin, Blinkin and Nod in dreamland. And you all know that every so often there is nothing you can do but invite the frightened or sick little one to the safety of 'mom and dad's room' so they can get a good night's sleep. Ya, with the three younger kiddos we had our share of camping on our bedroom floor.

But Joe, he was another story. Never slept a wink. That boy kept me up for the first 3 years of his life. He was wide eyed the second his was born. Always gazing around as if to take it all in. When he did start sleeping regularly as a toddler, he had these awful night terrors. He would wake us up screaming and yelling. His eyes open but he was still asleep. (In case you are wondering, yes, he walks in his sleep and talks quite a bit too. Freaked Doug out when we got married. But that my friends, is another story. ) Anyhow, Joe had two things that would calm him down during the night terror stage. The first was going outside to look at the moon. I think walking outside carrying him into the night air would gently wake him from his dream world. No matter how cold seeing the moon, be it full or a sliver, would calm him down enough to get him back in bed. The second, my singing to him, Once Upon a Dream from the original Sleeping beauty. (Was there a remake? I don't know.)

Sleeping Beauty is my favorite fairy tale, so the song is of course my favorite lullaby. My voice leaves much to be desired but Joe and Mill both rocked in my arms listening to me do my best to sing it to them after we finished reading our bedtime stories. Jenna and Bret have heard it a time or two as well although their memories of me will more likely include my reading aloud to them from chapter books. Nevertheless,

Once Upon a Dream= A house full of little children