Have you ever heard a song, learned it, sang it for years, then found out that you were singing it wrong?

Isn't that the worst?

That happened to me a lot as a child, I think because children have a small vocabulary and are not used to the grammatical rules, so they just insert words that they recognize for the sounds they don't. e.g. "I've got the peace that passeth understanding down in my heart" translates to "I've got a piece of pasta under sanding down in my heart." Who out there knows what I'm talking about?

Sometimes, when my own kids make these mistakes, I don't want to correct them right away, because it is so cute and fun. Jabin in particular, who has been singing from such a young age, has made many of these fun substitutions. However, most of them have faded from use as he learns the real words.

There are a few phrases that he has clung to, however, despite being told the correct ones. Here are the classic "sounds-alike" lines from Jabin's versions of some old childhood hits:

"The Alphabet Song"
".... Q, R, S,_ T, U, V,_ W, X,_ Y and Z. Now my know my A-B-C's..."

"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
"... how I wonder what you are? Up a up a world so high,..."

"Jesus Loves Me"
"... Yes, Jesus loves me, before the Bible tells me so." (Doesn't make for good rhythm, but it's still true!)

He has also begun composing his own songs. This morning, on the way into town, he ran through his round of traditional favourites (all of the above, plus "Johnny Appleseed"), then started improvising. It went something like this:

(with a lilting tune)

Jabin's Song
I love everyone in the whole world
All the mans and all the moms
And Jude and Noah and Emily
And I love everyone.

At that point, he got distracted by Noah, who was still singing Johnny Appleseed quietly to himself in the backseat.

It is pretty tough to compose with another song in the background.

Happy Tuesday, friends.