Jonah's Journey

Bye Bye Blackbird

There's not a lot about Jonah I can brag about in that traditional brag-about-your-kid sense. He isn't reading three grade levels above his age group or making goals every Saturday in soccer. He doesn't know all the planets in the solar system and he can't spell Mississippi.

But my god, the kid can swim and sing.

I mean to tell you that Jonah, age 6, swims like a seal, undulating his little body, popping in and out from underwater as if the water were like air for him - never thinking about taking a breath (like I would have to) or hesitating to get his face wet. He dives and will swim to the bottom to retrieve goggles. He'll jump into the deep end at the public pool and swim over to the side, laughing. Nobody taught him how to swim. He just gets it, inherently, somehow. I guess that's what happens when you are obsessed with (and then denied) a water birth, then have a Pisces child (the fish), then name him Jonah!

He also sings damn well. And in tune. He actually sings better than he speaks and can sing whole verses of songs. Of course his diction leaves something to be desired, but for a kid who can't string more than three words together when speaking, it's pretty amazing. My dad taught him "Daisy" (as in "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do...) and sometimes sings "Jonah, Jonah" instead. Jonah picked it up quickly, mimicking my dad, cute as a button.

His current favorite is "Bye Bye Blackbird." (My dad taught him that too). Lately he wants me to sing it to him. Yesterday in the car I had to sing it 15 times in a row or so. Literally. If I stopped, Jonah would yell "pack!" (the first word in the song) over and over until I started up again. I might not have the words exactly right, but it goes:

Pack up all your cares and woes
here I go
singing low
bye, bye blackbird

With someone who cares for me
sugar's sweet
so is he
bye bye blackbird

No one here can love or understand me
Oh what hard luck stories they all hand me

Make my bed and light the light
I'll arrive late tonight
blackbird, bye bye

Now it's a fine little song, but after 15 times in a row, I was ready to kill the blackbird.

DiAnna (my cousin and Jonah's sitter) says it's one of those songs where someone's hanging by the rafters while it's skipping on an old record player:

bye bye blackbi--
bye bye blackbi--
bye bye blackbi--

DiAnna cracks me up. Jonah cracks me up too. I love that he can swim and sing.





"Whenever I'm caught between two evils, I take the one I've never tried."
         ~ Mae West (1892 - 1980)

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