Sing, sing a song

I'm not exactly sure how it started, but Clio and I invented a song, based on the lyric "choo choo, train is a comin'" from a Music Together song, and it is now in hot demand every night. Part of the reason she loves this song, I'm convinced, is that it has endless verses, and every time she wants to stall her bedtime (which is every nap and every night), she simply adds another verse.

When I ask her what song she wants to hear, she'll list all the verses in the particular order she'd like to hear them, which usually goes Train, Stars, Crabs, Tree, Bear, Badger, Rabbit, with some variation from time to time.

A sample verse: Twinkle twinkle, stars are a fallin', twinkle twinkle, stars are a fallin', twinkle twinkle, stars are a fallin', don't leave me behind. Very sophisticated lyrics, don't you think?

What amazes me is that she makes her list and then remembers the exact order, even when I stumble and throw in the Car (which elicits shaking of her head and waving of her hands to stop me before I sing ONE MORE WORD. Then she reminds me where we are and gets me back on track.) For many nights in a row, she has continued to add a new verse (tonight it was Birds), and I'm very curious to see how long the list gets before she can't keep it straight. Of course, this is an experiment that's not really a winning scenario for me, as bedtime takes longer and longer, and I'm already getting a little hoarse.

When I told Dave about this song, he originally didn't want to hear it, suggesting that it just be a ritual between Clio and I. Yeah, right. Toddlers crave routine, so naturally she requests this song even if Dave is putting her to bed. He can never remember the tune, though, so his version goes to "The Wheels on the Bus." I must say, I think he has the harder tune for "inventing" new verses.