5 Songs I Sing to Munch

In honor of Munch's 17-month birthday, here are 5 songs I sing to him:

1) "One of Us" by Joan Osbourne, "Glee" edition. One day when Munch was about 2 months old, he was fussy fussy and I couldn't get him to sleep. I turned on my Glee playlist and "One of Us" came on. I swayed him in front of our patio door, singing along, and he went out like a light. This is still one of my favorites.

2) "What Child Is This?" Christmas carol. Yes, I realize it's bizarre to sing a Christmas song in the middle of a humid summer. But this sort of just happened one night, when Munch was fighting sleep. I've always liked this song, and now I feel it's one of my favorites. The key is low enough that I don't feel completely idiotic singing it without musical accompaniment.

Being a mother has also given me a new appreciation for the song's story. As I sway my own baby in the dark, his head on my shoulder, my nose in his hair, I feel a connection to this mother in the stable, who is singing to a little baby who is primarily that to her--her beloved baby. I never fail to choke up as I reach the line, "Raise, raise the song on high, the Virgin sings her lullaby." It holds such a base-level innocence, the primal love of a mother for her son, before this baby embarks on such a journey as lies in store for him.

3) "Poor the Baby," my own made-up song. Speaking of bizarre, I'm known for making up weird songs and tunes with repetitive lyrics. Some of my past "greatest hits" include, "The Only Other Place I Know" (about an ice cream parlor near an old apartment of ours), "Let's Get in the Shower" and "This Doesn't Hurt at All" (sung in Maui to my red-headed husband after he got horribly sunburned sitting out by the pool under a thatch umbrella), and "I Put It Over There (But Now I Don't Know Where It Is)" both normal version and slow jazz.

(Weirded out yet?)

Anyway, so I made up a song on the fly to sing to Munch using words that just come into my head. It might go like: "Poor the baby, poor the little one, poor the everything and the all things and the one thing and the baby." Repeat. It's weird. I know. It gets weirder. I just string syllables together: "You're my munchkin, and my lumpkin, and my bumpkin, and the baby."

4) Veggie Tales Lullabyes. My mom gave us a CD of Veggie Tales lullabyes, and this was a go-to playlist for getting Munch to sleep when he was quite little. Usually, it only took the first 5 songs, which I got to know very well--Itsy Bitsy Spider, This Little Light of Mine, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, etc. We still listen to that in particularly desperate moments, and sometimes I'll leave my iPhone in his room with the playlist on repeat.

5) "The Wheels on the Bus." This isn't a night-time song. This is an every-minute song. Munch will just turn his hands sometimes and that'll be his signal to sing. He loves it.