Jose can you see....

Batman, our 10 month old grandson, loves music. His mother always sings to him and it seems to soothe his soul. Lullabies to get him to sleep, of course. And he can't help but like the broadway show tunes she is so fond of singing. I can just hear the first words out of his mouth (after Mama and Dada) from Thoroughly Modern Millie:

Jimmy, oh Jimmy, silly boy Gee, what a real swell guy Jimmy, oh Jimmy, oh what joy He makes my troubles fly

Of course, he uses his real name as his mother does in place of Jimmy. I can see the delight in his parents eyes now. He’s going to be a star!

But I can also picture him belting out the first part of the National Anthem. When he was maybe 5-6 months old, for some reason I would start to sing The Star Spangled Banner for Batman when he was unhappy. 

“Oh, say can you see...”

He would stop crying immediately, looking intently at my mouth, and burst into a big grin when I got to “see”. Maybe it was because I was naturally smiling when I said the word.

“By the dawn’s early light...” and he “lights” up again. 

I finish the entire anthem and his anxiety seems to have disappeared. Now I am not always 100% sure I got all the lyrics correct but then who can. I see how performers at big events mess up the words. It’s just not that easy, especially if you let your mind start to wonder. But he doesn’t seem to care. He is happy. If he starts to cry again in a few minutes I would simply start again and he would smile and settle down until I finished. I don’t think I could keep this up more than a few times but it does tide him over until his bottle or food is ready. And I want to keep it special. 

Do you remember as a kid hearing the National Anthem? Maybe it’s a guy thing (no, I am SURE it is a guy thing), but we used to sing it as - “Jose, can you see...” Was it because that’s what we thought was being sung before really understanding the lyrics? Or was it just young guys trying to be funny?! Perhaps a combination of both. 

It reminded me of our daughter when she was very young. One Christmas she got a card that had a big mouse on the front, smiling. It’s name was Squeaky. All we had to do to get her to smile was to hold the card up and she would break out into a huge grin. Squeaky saved the day many times when it came to family pictures. She now has it on her Christmas tree. Never quite sure what it was for our son as he always seemed to be smiling - complete with closed eyes and dimples. 

It’s funny what triggers a small child to smile. With Spiderman it’s trains and a trip to the bakery for his favorite cookie with green sprinkles. For both Love Monster and Smirker it is rainbow ice cream, ANYTHING related to My Little Ponies and candy.

What is it that makes your child or grandchild smile every time? 

No matter what thing or song or place makes them smile, they save their biggest smiles when their parents, grandparents, friends and teachers greet them with kindness and smiles. That’s what it is all about!

Keep on smiling!