Morning Serenades

"Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" is one of Misha's current favorites. :)

On a different morning while eating strawberries, he burst into a verse of "Whole World in His Hands." Today he came into our bedroom singing us "Puff the Magic Dragon."

I'm a Little Neti Pot

Trying to explain the terms "spout" and "handle" in the teapot song to Misha, I grabbed the nearest piece of realia and showed him Josh's Neti Pot, which has a lovely genie-like spout and handle. I later found Misha on a stool at the kitchen sink singing his song and pouring water out of his little "teapot." For a short demo, watch the video!




His other current favorites to sing are "If I were a Rich Man," "Mazeltof, Mazeltof," "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," "Yankee Doodles" (yes, he adds the 's'), and "On Top of Spaghetti" (he can really belt it out when Grandpa accompanies him with the harmonica!).

With Christmas over, I am shocked to see how much STUFF Misha has aquired. I feel guilty for living in such a material-driven society! However, I found comfort in a small phenomenon: Whenever we go somewhere, Misha usually picks a toy to bring along. Just a few days after being bombarded with new and flashy gadgets, the toy Misha chose to take to Grandma's and Grandpa's was his long-time favorite, an old stuffed unicorn that my sister won in a coloring contest when she was six. One of Misha's great joys is descending into his grandparents' basement (trust me, it's better than Wal-Mart!) and digging up treasures of his mommy and aunt Tanya from days gone by.



Tanya helps Misha put on his shoes to go to Grandma's and Grandpa's, unicorn in tow.

Amusing Anecdotes ... featuring Misha

Misha is getting to be such a good singer. He remembers the words quite well, too, with comical mistakes.
Misha’s version of There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly: “There was an old lady who swallowed a bug. I don’t know why she swallowed a bug. I guess she got dead.”
And Baa Baa Black Sheep: “Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. One for the master, one for the little boy who lives down the street …”

He is now very fond of the songs “Sugar Sugar” and “Dizzy.” Yesterday he played “Sugar Sugar” incessantly and sang along, “Shooga! Oh honey honey! You are my candy girl!” And today he’s stuck on “Dizzy,” and the whole time it plays he spins himself in little circles and sings “dizzy!” whenever the line comes up, and he spins until he falls over, and then he plays it again. He knows exactly how to operate the 3-disc-changer CD player.

This week he has wanted to eat breakfast at Julie’s house (his day care). I asked him, “Why? I have toast and cereal here. Julie has the same thing.” And Misha said, “No, Julie doesn’t have toast and cereal.” “Well, what does she have?” And he looked at me and said with a smile, “Popsicles.” I said, “Noooo, Popsicles aren’t for breakfast!” But he still wanted to eat breakfast at Julie’s. When I dropped him off, I saw that the other kids were eating pop tarts. ;)

He likes to drink milk, and usually I tell him he has to finish a glass of milk first and then he can have juice, because milk makes him big. Today I was drinking water and he was drinking a little cup of juice, and he told me, “Mommy, if you drink up all of your water, I will give you a little of my juice. I’ll pour it in your cup.”