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munchkinsmom - > Mom's Eye View
Itsy Bitsy Spider - Both versions
This morning on our drive to daycare, I sang to my son "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

Both versions.

What? You didn't know there were two versions? Ah, well there are! There's the American version (The usual "Itsy Bitsy Spider" that you know and love) and the British version ("Incy Wincy Spider" - same melody except Incy Wincy is the spider's name...hold the "The" in the title)

For the record, there's also two versions of...

*  "Ring around the Rosie" (same as the American version except for the genius "A-tissue, A-tissue" line where the more solemn "Ashes, Ashes" would normally go)

* "If you're happy and you know it" (same as the American version except for the line "If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it" is subbed for the "If you're happy and you know it then your face will surely show it" that I grew up with)

* "The Wheels on the Bus" (again, same as the American version except for the ending "All day long" instead of "All through the town")

I love that there are two versions of these songs and I love that my son will know them both. Sure, he'll probably get teased mercilessly in pre-school and on up when he unfortunately whips out the "Incy Wincy" version in company that is decidedly "Itsy Bitsy"-centric, but hey, that's part of being dual-nationality.

My husband is British. I'm American and I love the fact he's going to have both cultures to drawn on.
 
For now, learning starts with songs.

Next year, learning will continue with food. We'll try him out with bangers and mash, spotted dick and toad in the hole (Are we setting him up for a childhood of being teased mercilessly or what?!!)
Topics: songs, British
posted by munchkinsmom on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 09:11 AM
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When cat toys are more fun than baby toys...
My cat Poppy was so supremely smart that she never touched my son's baby toys. Ever. It's amazing, really.

Take a look at a good cat toy (excluding the obvious catnip and Cat Dancers). Typically small. Soft. Biteable. With maybe some feathers or faux hair on it for added flair.

Then take a look at a good baby toy (excluding the obvious cars, drivable toys and bouncers). Typically small. Soft. Biteable. With maybe some feathers or faux hair on it for added flair.

You see the problem.

But as I said Poppy has never touched his toys. My son can be chewing on something that quite honestly I have to wrestle away from him to make sure it isn't a cat toy (Whew, I say, when it turns out to be a billowy hunk of laundry lint on, say, a clove-studded orange left over from Christmas) and my cat will amble by quite disinterested. At night, baby is asleep leaving a veritable treasure trove of baby toys but cat leaves them alone. She has one basket of cat toys that she goes to instead and from this she never strays.

Last weekend, my son who is a full-fledged crawler discovered her basket of goodies and by God, it was like Christmas morning! He pulled toy after toy out of this basket with a look of miraculous wonder on his face. Where have these toys been all my life? he seemed to say.

And with that, the precious line separating cat toys and baby toys was crossed. I've moved the cat toy basket to a high shelf (which leaves my cat meowing on a daily basis, "Where are my toys?") and am hoping my son has forgotten those toys ever existed (not likely...).

Which begs the question: Are cat toys so much better than kid toys? Should I trade in the trips to Toys R Us for PetSmart?

Well, at least for now, that's something my son and cat agree on.
Topics: pets, cat, toys
posted by munchkinsmom on Monday, July 7, 2008 at 02:28 PM
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