Soothing to the soul.

I admit it, I have always been fascinated by snake charmers.  I don't want to be within 100 miles of a King Cobra in the wild, yet these men sit face to face with these deadly snakes.  I don't even like looking at them when I take the girls to the zoo.  I know there is glass between us but what if the glass maker was having a bad day when that piece was cut and it isn't as strong? What if the intern, who is coming off his weekend drug high, forgot to screw the lid on correctly?  Anyway, it is safe to say that these snakes give me the eebegeebees.  I am intrigued at the courage (or stupidity) these men show and the power they show as well.  They seemingly put the venomous snake into a trance and can sometimes even kiss the snake on the lips.  It is said that the snakes get in the coma like state because of the vibrations that come from the wind instrument the man is playing.  On top of the music/vibrations the charmer often moves, almost in a snake like fashion himself, to help keep the snake in the trance.  Now it is also said that often the fangs are removed, sometimes the mouth is stitched shut.  That does take a lot of the danger out of the equation but it is still interesting to watch the relationship between the man and the animal.

I have my own sort of technique with my girls that has become a ritual to help calm them down every night.  Reagan and Caroline sleep in the same room and ask me to sing to them before bedtime.  It is usually a combination of three songs: My Old Kentucky Home, Dixie, and Goodnight Sweetheart.  Lately I have been throwing O Danny Boy and The Old Man in there as well.  They love them all and can't get enough.  Each time I am done, I kiss them, tell them I love them, then they almost always fall into a deep sleep.  People are amazed at how our kids so easily go to bed.  There is a lot that goes into that for sure but Daddy's music charms them to sleep every night.   Baylor enjoys it as well.  She picks who she wants to sing, some nights its Mommy and Twinkle Twinkle, and some nights it is Daddy with Dixie. Some nights she cons us both into singing to her at different times because she is an abosulte stinker and its hard to say no to those blue eyes  she wants to hear both songs. Regardless, for the three "big" girls they all love to be sang to right before bed.

Hadley hadn't really gotten to that point yet, at least not until yesterday.  We were on our way home from Nashville and due to the festivities, they girls were passed out asleep for much of the trip.  This in itself is a miracle.  The two big girls almost never sleep in the car.  As good as they are about sleeping on the mainland, they fight sleeping in a car.  This wasn't the case yesterday.  About 10 miles left of the bluegrass parkway Hadley wakes up and is extremely pissed that she is still in the car.  She starts crying and fussing like you wouldn't believe.  At this point we were out of options.  We didn't want to stop again because we were so close to home, the other girls were still sleeping, and she didn't want her toys.  Brooke says to me "sing to her!"  She has been with us for six months and I (known as the singer in the house) had never done this.  She is crying and fussing, everything is wrong.  The moment I get two words out, she stops crying.  Like a light switch went off.  It was one of the more interesting and touching moments I have had as a father.  I don't know what it was but something about me singing to her, made her calm down.  As long as I would sing, she was silent.  So, there is still about 30 minutes left of a drive.  That was a lot of Twinkle Twinkle, My Old Kentucky Home, etc. to sing before we got home.  I actually ran out of songs to sing, had to look them (lyrics) up on my phone (yes while driving) in order to get her a new song.  You'd be surprised at the few songs you actually know the lyrics to when put on the spot and without the radio help.  I ended up resorting to Christmas Songs and closing out the concert with a powerful (at least in my mind) version of Silent Night. 

Perhaps that was just a fluke and once we got home she would be distracted or harder to sooth.  About 6:30 she got extremely fussy and so despite the fact it was a little early, it was time for her to go to bed.  She didn't really want to go to sleep, I had to go back in there a few times and she was fighting it, with her eyes closed.  So, I started to sing to her.  She immediately stopped fussing and went right to bed.  A few hours later, Brooke, Brooke, and I were downstairs talking and Hadley woke up again crying.  Daddy went up there on two different occasions and the moment I began to sing to her, she calmed down.  It happened a total of 4 times yesterday and Brooke commented on how I seemed to have the magic touch.

All in all, its a pretty good feeling that my voice has a soothing feeling for my girls. After all, I am Irish, that's what we do.  We sing at the drop of a hat, regardless how well we carry that tune.  Part of me knows that as they get older, it will take much more than a song from Daddy to make them feel better.  I know that there will be a time when they no longer want their Daddy to sing to them anymore. You hope as a parent they find ways (or you teach them positive ways) to comfort themselves so they don't need you anymore. Mostly so that they can stand on their own two feet, but also because there will come a time when you wont be around anymore to do what they need. Sort of the double bladed sword of parenting.

I have always been fascinated by the relationship between man and beast with the snake charmer.