Rhyme time

My Granny taught tons of rhymes to my brother and me when we were little, and I was very surprised to hear one of them from Biscuit the other day.

Biscuit and I were on the way home from day care, when I heard this tiny little voice doing something very sing-songy in the backseat.

"Are you singing a song?" I asked.

"Yes," Biscuit said. "I learned a song at day care."

"Can you sing it loud enough for me to hear it, too?" I asked him.

"Okay," Biscuit said.

Then he sang this:
"I had a little turtle. His name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub, to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water. He ate up all the soap.
He tried to eat the bathtub, but it wouldn't fit down his throat."

I laughed and laughed.

"Mom, is that a funny song?" Biscuit asked me.

"It IS a funny song," I said. "But I'm also laughing because I learned that song when I was a little girl, and I haven't heard anybody sing it in a long time."

"When you were my age, Mom? You knew this song?" Biscuit asked.

"Yep," I said. "I'll have to teach you some of the others that Granny taught me."

"That would be fine, Mom," Biscuit said.

I've taught him a few already. Like when he sees the moon, he says "I see the moon. The moon sees me. God bless the moon. And God bless me."

Except yesterday morning as we were leaving for day care, Biscuit looked up and saw the moon.

"MOM!" Biscuit yelled. "I SEE THE MOON! Why is that moon out in the day time? Doesn't he know he's only supposed to be out at night?"

"What do you say when you see the moon?" I asked Biscuit.

"I see the moon. The moon sees me. Glod bless the moon ..." Biscuit stopped, looked at me and smiled. "Did you hear that, Mom? I said 'Glod.' Did you hear me? There's nobody named 'Glod,' Mom. I'm so silly. I'm so silly, Mom." And he said all this like it was the funniest thing that had ever happened to anybody in the whole world.

I'm also teaching him a couple of others.

This one makes no sense, but when we were trying to figure out who was going to be "It" in games of freeze tag, this is one of the rhymes we'd use.

"Acka backa soda cracka. Acka backa boo. Acka backa soda cracka, out goes you."

He repeats that one after me, but he can't usually get through the whole thing without giggling. It does sound pretty funny.

He's learning "Star Light, Star Bright" too. He still repeats the lines after me on that one.

One night a couple of weeks ago, we got home just as it was getting dark, and Biscuit spotted a star.

"Mom! I see a star," Biscuit said. "Can you help me say it?"

So I said, "Star light," and he repeated it. "Star bright," and he repeated it.

I went all the way through the verse, "Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may. I wish I might. I wish my wish come true tonight."

"Okay, make a wish," I told Biscuit.

"Um, I wish I could meet a REAL firefighter," Biscuit said.

I couldn't tell Biscuit this at the time, but his birthday party this year is going to include a tour of a fire station near our house. So his wish will come true!

When I teach Biscuit some of these things, I feel like I'm passing on bits and pieces of family history. It makes me hope that he can remember them and teach them to his own kids one day.