ERIKA “How to Sing Lullabies and Lap-rhymes”

Sebastian and I actually met Erika together at our Lullabies and Lap-rhymes class: she was your first teacher. It was also the first time we’d ventured out alone into the outside world together and we were a bit nervous about it, but anxiety aside, one Tuesday at about 12pm, we packed up 20 nappies (because you never know, I certainly didn’t) and several changes of clothes along with all the other accoutrements, and set out into the crisp sunshine (for it was still warm in mid-September this year.) I hoped the neighbours wouldn’t think I was torturing you because of all the crying. You weren’t convinced about this whole stroller thing at first, but once we’d set out on the road, the flash of leaves above and rhythmic hum of the wheels on the sidewalk lulled you into comfort and, eventually, sleep.

 The girls in class were very kind–particularly Erika herself,  who told  us not to worry when you were too hot and needed  to be stripped down and rocked off to the  side while she  taught us ‘Budino on the boil’ and other very practical  rhymes.

I think you loved the walking rhymes the most. Whenever    circumstance required that I give 100% was aces in your  books. “From Weebleton to Wobbleton is 15 miles” Erika  taught us. And, it was also true that from Wobbleton to  Weebleton was 15 miles as well. We also pretended I was a  horse and sang “Ride, Horsey ride” and clucked our tongues  to make riding sounds. I really enjoyed the one that  went “1,2,3,4,5 my little baby pie; ABCDEFG won’t you come  and ‘x’ with me”. ‘X’ always stood for poop in my mind as that  was really what you were mostly doing in those days, but for some of the others, x stood for smile, roll over, sit, burp and other fun baby things–many of which were a bit beyond you at 2 months old.

You liked Erika from the very start–you used to watch her through every lesson–and when we saw her the other day at Mabel’s Fables she sang “Hello Sebastian and how are you?” You flashed her a humongous smile and promptly fell asleep. Look at you, flirting with the teacher! I wonder if that means we passed the class?