Swimming Songs

Dear Mother's Lounge,

I know this is going to seem completely irrelevant and it sort of is... but I've been looking to find new songs to use for my Mommy and Me swim class and saw that you had some in an older post. I was wondering if you could repost the one's that you know? I'd really appreciate it!

--Anonymous

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Dear Anon,

We love special requests! Just for you, I've reposted the water songs my sister Abra posted back in April last year. I was also a swim instructor, although not for quite as long as Abra. Now that I'm a stay-at-home-mom I sing some of the same songs with my daughter in the pool. I've taken the liberty of adding some of "our" songs to the list as well.

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Here are the ones from Abra:

"The Grand Old Duke of York"

The Grand Old Duke of York
He had Ten Thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill (lift baby up as high as you're comfortable)
And he marched them down again. (Lower baby)
And when they're up, they're up (Lift again)
And when they're down, they're down (lower)
And when they're only halfway up (in the middle)
They're neither up or down.

He marched them to the left
He marched them to the right
He marched them around and around and around (circles)
And he marched them out of sight (Hide your eyes, babies eyes, or if you're brave and in the water, go ahead and put them under. To do this safely with infants under two, count 1-2-3 do a sharp quick breath right in their face. This causes a reflex action in which they inhale and hold their breath. Then it is safe to dunk them (shallow dunk) under the water.)


"Rain" (a great bathtub rhyme)

Rain is falling down (trickle water from sponge or fingers onto baby)
SPLASH! (splash hand in water)
Rain is falling down
SPLASH!
Pitter patter, pitter patter (lightly trickle)
Rain is falling down
SPLASH!

"Ten Little Bubbles"

One little, Two little, Three little bubbles
Four little, Five little, Six little bubbles
Seven little, Eight little, Nine little bubbles
Ten little bubbles go SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH! (or pop, pop, pop)

(I use bubbles and a bubble blower for this in the tub, pool, or out! Each time bubble is mentioned, I blow bubbles with the bubble wand. Babies love this! To encourage bubble blowing in the pool, graduate to blowing right in the water - minus the bubble wand and bubbles!)


"If you're Happy and you Know It"
(We all know the song, I'll give you the actions I use in the water)

Splash your hands
Kick your Feet
Put one ear in the water
Put the other ear in the water
Blow some bubbles
Put your face in the water
Shout Hurray!
Wave To Daddy, Mommy, Grandma, Grandpa, whomever

"We're going to Kentucky"

We're going to Kentucky, (start turning a circle)
We're going to the fair (Turn the other way)
To see a Senorita with flowers in her hair
Oh Shake it baby shake it! (Wiggle gently while holding baby if little, or wiggle baby if bigger)
Shake it all you can
Rumba to the bottom (twist down)
Rumba to the top (twist back up)
Oh Rumba to the bottom
Rumba to the top
Rumba to the bottom until I holler STOP! (And cease all movement suddenly (I freeze and my kids would scream "again! again!" And away we'd go))

"The Little Old Man"

A little old man flew up in space (lift child high)
And he got ice cream all over his face! (Look surprised and point to your face or theirs)
So wash him with a washcloth (pretend to wash face, or really do it if in tub)
Roll him in a rug (turn a circle or spin child in tub)
And tuck him in a towel, until he's Snug, Snug, Snug! (Hug tightly or really take them out of tub and wrap in a towel!)

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Here are a few more that I do with Rachel/that I did with my classes back in the day:

"Motorboat, Motorboat"

Motorboat, motorboat go so slow (sing slow while spinning in a slow circle)
Motorboat, motorboat go so fast (sing faster while spinning in a faster circle)
Motorboat, motorboat, step on the gas! (sing/spin as fast as you "can," end by blowing bubbles)

"I'm a little pancake"
(to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little pancake on my back (support child on back)
I'm a little pancake short and flat
I'm a little pancake on my back
Flip me over just like that (flip child over)

"The Wheels on the Bus"

I won't post the lyrics because I think most people know this song, but the actions are a lot of fun to do in the water, making little splashes.

Wheels go round and round
Wipers go swish, swish, swish
People go up and down...etc.

"Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"

Again, I think everyone knows this song. I use the number of kids/tots in my class and either have them jump in the pool or have their mommies help them "jump" in the water by lifting them up and down.

"Fishy in the Basket"

Fishy in the basket! Fishy in the basket!
How are you going to get out? How are you going to get out?

(All the students hold hands, making a basket. One student gets to be the "fishy" in the "basket." While they are in the middle, everyone circles around singing the chant. When the chant is finished, the fish has to try to escape. With younger kids we lift up our arms. With older kids I have them swim under our arms.)

"Ring Around the Rosie"

Again, you should know the words. If not, I pity your childhood. I simply change the last line from "We all fall down!" to "We all blow bubbles!"

"Fun to do!"

Splashing your hands is fun to do!
Fun to do, to do, to do!
Splashing your hands is fun to do!
To do, to do, to do!

Replace "splashing your hands" with other fun actions like those found listed under "If you're happy and you know it."

"Once there was a Snowman"

Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman
Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall! (reach as high as you can/lift baby up)
In the sun he melted, melted, melted
In the sun he melted, small, small, small (get down as low as you can/lower baby)

"Open them, close them"

Open them (open hands)
Close them (close hands)
Open them (open hands)
Close them (close hands)
Give a little SPLASH! (splash)

Open them, close them, open them, close them
Put them in your lap (put hands under the water)

Creep them, crawl them, creep them, crawl them (slowly move hands up)
Right up to the sky! (reach up for the ceiling)

Now get back in the water!
We're here to swim, not fly!

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Hopefully you found that helpful, Anon! If you need/want more, I'm sure my sister and I can brainstorm about our swim-teaching days of yore and come up with some more. Also, if you do need any further explanation on tunes/lyrics, feel free to ask! Good luck with your Mom and Me class!

Sincerely,

The Mother's Lounge

Nursing Cover giveaway

Seriously girls...I'm not even sure if anyone reads this anymore, but you can enter to win a free nursing cover here. Go for it nursing mommies!

Giveaway!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own! I may create you a blog header or paint something for you with my food. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play! (I totally copied this straight from my sister's blog, but it sounds like fun; don't expect anything much from me, though.)

Want to be able to buy used clothes after Feb 10th?

This story is copied from my friend's blog. Every mom needs to save money somewhere, and a lot of us choose to purchase second hand items, or sell our used children's items. If this law passes, we will no longer be able to do that. Do you have an etsy story where you sell things you've made? Chances are you'll lose that too. While it's important to protect our children from things that could contain something harmful (like the lead they found in some toys) to pass something so broad is going too far.

Here's one WAHM's story:

“Your outfit is absolutely adorable!” I heard a woman say behind me and my daughter replied with, “Thank you! My Mommy has a clothing business!” and I sighed. Sighing is not my usual reaction when I get a compliment for my work. The woman and her sister were very polite and had no idea that they had just brought to surface so many terrible feelings with their compliments, “You made her outfit? It's amazing! You really have talent and I've never seen anything so adorable.” They didn't have kids but talked about how they almost wished their biological clocks started ticking simply to shop for my line of clothes. I was completely flattered but almost muted because of the recent decision to close up my Immature Couture shop. When they asked where I sold my clothes I didn't have the energy to explain what was going on so I simply said “Online.” thanked them and went back to grocery shopping with the kids.

I want nothing more than to know that the toys my children play with are safe and will not cause them any harm. I understand the urgency to protect the children of this country from high levels of lead and stop the ridiculous recalls. What I do not understand is why these new regulations were passed with such carelessness that it requires testing for products that have virtually NO risk of lead contamination! Products like clothing, blankets, wooden toys and books! The CPSIA is essentially causing many small businesses that make products for children under the age of twelve to close up shop because of their haste in passing regulations that have an insane amount of loopholes. Congress decided that a problem caused by ridiculous and irresponsible mass-market toymakers should be solved with a solution that sucks in various other industries that are completely unrelated to toys!

Later on when the kids and I were checking out the two women approached me and asked for my business card because they wanted to tell their friends about my clothing line. I smiled and tried to explain to them as plainly as possible that as of February 10^th I would be officially closing up shop because of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act . Shockingly they were outraged that they hadn't heard of it. That they felt their rights as consumers were being taken away. That the deadline is so close and there isn't a media outrage over it. That more small businesses are being shut down and allowing the big companies to triumph. We exchanged information, I gave them my card and they said they would be writing whoever they needed to and be in contact with me. They weren't business owners who are effected by this nor were they parents but they were as equally outraged as most of us that have to close our shops.

The apathy that I have seen from the general public and even those that own small businesses and are not effected by the new regulations have saddened me until I spoke with these two women. They were absolutely right! This does not just hurt my business. This hurts everyone no matter if they have children or not. No matter if they have a business selling products to children under twelve or selling something that, thankfully for them, does not have to be burdened with the CPSIA. Why don't more people care?

I loaded up the kids, put my groceries in the trunk and at that moment it finally hit me. Something I started as a side business for extra cash in hand and as a creative outlet was taken from me. Just when my business started to take off it was ripped from my hands, discarded and no real explanation for it. I sell clothes. Not jewelry. Not toys. Not anything that has been manufactured overseas or injected with lead. I design, cut, iron, serge, stitch and package every item of clothing myself. To comply with these regulations each product I made would have to be tested which means each indicidual component of the garment would have to be tested for lead. A 15$ onesie now costs 400$ to make simply because of the testing fees! I put sleepless nights into marketing plans, helping Etsy teams and writing blogs to help the handmade market. There is no reason for so many of us to be swept out of the way because some major corporations wanted to cut their overhead costs and put MY children in danger. I stood there and cried in the parking lot. There is no reason why so many handmade artists look away at the pain so many of us are going through simply because they are not in the same boat.

Do something. The children in this country need to be protected but by regulations that target only the products that can cause potential harm. If you don't do it for yourself and your business, or your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews or friend's kids then do it for the sake of what's right and stop being silent and a doormat in our society"


Check out these links to do something to help!

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

http://nationalbankruptcyday.com/

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/