Little Diddies

Do you remember some of the "little diddies", short songs, that you learned at a younger age in life? I think that must have been communication for my mother to me, because songs always find their way bubbling to the surface. Not just hymns and spirituals (although I am well grounded in them), but the short, and sometimes silly, songs. Some I still remember.

"Rhoda, where are you going? Upstairs to take a bath. Rhoda with legs like toothpicks and a neck like a giraffe. Rhoda turned off the water. Rhoda took out the plug. Oh, my goodness, bless my soul, there goes Rhoda down the hole. Rhoda, there are you going? Glub, glub, glub." (the last words said as if Rhoda has gone down the hole). Why would I even know this song? What was its purpose? Why did my mother teach it to me? She still knows the song and she finds it funny that she and I still remember it.

I have done the same to my son. Here's one of my songs with and for him, "I got my boots on and I'm goin' a-walkin'. Got my boots on, and I'm goin' a-stompin'. Got my boots on and I'm filling like a man. I got my b-o-o-t-s on." I started singing this to my son when he got his first pair of boots. He was a little guy - 3 or 4 and he wore those boots for days, stomping around the house. (Makes me wonder if my mother wanted me to get out of the bathtub - if the songs have purpose, that is. :)

Why did all this come up now? Well, I'm always making up songs, particularly for my pre-school programs, but for other stories as well. Some songs are a moment and some are here to say. "It's cold outside" was made up so I could have song about the changes in the season. Yesterday I needed a song about manners, so here it is:

Please, thank you and how do you do
Excuse me, sir, and after you
These are the words that we say
When we are polite, each and every day.

So, what are your "little diddies"? If don't have any - just let me know and I'll send you some of mine. :) Peace and belief.