you are my sunshine

When Elliott was younger, we would spend many hours at night and in the wee hours of the morning rocking him to sleep. Actually, now that I think about it, a very significant part of my day was spent in the rocker, too. In fact, you could call the rocker where we went to "work." The number of hours the average person spends at work was about how much time Elliott & I spent in the rocker. Usually when he would begin a crying jag, you immediately set off for the rocker. However, if this trip was not planned carefully (which was usually the case), it was easy to find yourself trapped with a sleeping Elliott in your arms and nothing to do but cycle thru the thoughts in your head. On occasion, in order to keep my mind occupied, I would reinvent lyrics to some of the children's songs I would sing to him. They usually revolved around the two most precious parts of my life at the time: Elliott & sleep. Dan came in at a close third. I did actually make up a song that has Dan in it, but that is for another time. The song I would like to share with you today is to the tune, "You Are My Sunshine." It is called, "You Are My Baby."

You are my baby, my only baby,
And I love you, with all my heart.
But I wish that, you would sleep more,
So that I, can get, some rest.

The other night E. while you were sleeping,
I dreamt you slept all, thru the night.
But then you woke me, at three-thirty,
And I held, my head, and cried.

You are my baby, my only baby,
And I love you, with all my heart.
But I wish that, you would sleep more,
So that I, can get, some rest.

Mothers of the world, I give you permission to sing this song to your babies if you like, but just a warning, it probably won't help to get them to sleep more. It definitely did not work for me. And if you were wondering, neither did gripe water, heated sheets, white noise, or chloroform. And I certainly will not be held responsible if it causes them to sleep less. And Jeanette, tell Ken I'll teach him how to play it on the guitar if he teaches me how to play, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." And thank you, Iwona, for the pic of Elliott.