When I graduated from college, I took Dr. Seuss’, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!“, to heart. And, “with brains in my head and feet in my
shoes,” I returned the ring my parents gave me at graduation and
bought a two-piece, Samsonite set, along with a one-way ticket to San
Juan. I decided to postpone graduate
school and instead, accepted Carnival Cruise Line’s job offer as a child counselor. Oh, the places I went! I swam with
stingrays in Grand Cayman, climbed the Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica, canoed
through the rain forests of Dominica, went horseback riding through the
papaya fields of Grenada and more. Yet,
I wasn’t prepared for the trip my psyche would take when I entered
Motherhood.
Early on we discovered Noah had two speeds – high and
off. While other babies’ speakers went
to 10, Noah’s rocked a Spinal Tap's 11. As a newborn, it seemed the only
time he wasn’t crying, was when he was plugged into me…literally. He suffered from acid reflux and frequent ear
infections, so sleep was elusive for all of us. However, when he was just a couple months
old, we discovered Noah had a hankerin’ for Hank Williams. One day Steve started serenading Noah with an
old Williams’ song called, “Roly Poly”. A
few bars in and Noah’s rigid body began to relax and his cries began to quiet
down. The twangy tune soon became our first
defense in stopping the screamies. As
time went on, the results would become even more dramatic. That one song kept our ears from bleeding,
but the jury is still out on how it affected our brains.
When Noah was about six months old, we decided to take a trip
to Columbus, Indiana to visit Steve’s college roommate. It would be our first long haul
trip with the baby, but everyone told us – it’ll be so easy. Babies just go right to sleep in the
car. Something about the hum and rhythm
of the engine just puts them out. Trouble
was, no one had told Noah that. And, because road
trips hadn’t been added to his playbook, we were in for quite a ride. The first 30 minutes we tried to wait him out. Surely, the rhythm of the car and strenuous exercise he was putting his lungs through would tire him out. Wrong. Finally, Steve broke down and started belting out Noah’s favorite ditty. While my body sat in the passenger seat heading east on highway 46, I’m not sure where my mind went after the first hour. But, every time Steve would stop, Noah would amp back up. By this time, Steve’s voice was beginning to crack so I took over. Steve and I continued our singing relay until we reached our destination. All I could think was, where in the heck is Scotty when you need him? Beam me up!
Today, Noah still loves music and thankfully his tastes have expanded beyond "Roly Poly." He has an ear for sounds, but not always for the actual words . Like when he sings Katy Perry’s, “Hot n’Cold”. The words I hear from the backseat are, “You’re hot in your clothes. You’re up in your nose!” Or, when he’s channeling Ke$ha with her song, “Blow” and instead of singing “It’s time to kill the lights.” Noah’s singing, “It’s time to kill the lice…”
Hmmm…I wonder how Weird Al got his start?
For those of you curious about "Roly Poly". Here it is for your listening pleasure.
I did not know this song until now and I am hysterical at the idea of you two singing it for hours in the car to keep him quiet. What a crazy song to soothe a screaming baby!!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely funny now...but I had a difficult time finding the funny back then. Oh, the things parents do! Thanks for stopping in.
DeleteThat's hilarious, especially because we just learned out baby will only stop crying in the car if we belt out 99 Bottles Of Beer on The Wall - wth???
ReplyDeleteLOL! Now, THAT's funny. Thanks for stopping in. Come back any time.
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