Hooray for Mother Goose

I have to admit, before Nikhil came along you would never catch me singing in public. 1) I can’t remember lyrics for the life of me and 2) you just don’t want to hear my voice. Thanks to the Ontario Early Years centres and of course, my little baby who loves me unconditionally even though his mommy has a terrible voice… I am now known as the Queen of nursery rhymes in our house. I can burst into song at any moment, and I must say I’m really enjoying it.

For those of you that don’t live in Canada, we get a whole year for maternity leave. Of course, that would make any mother happy and excited to be able to spend the first year of their baby’s life with them (24/7)! While I was happy, it was also very daunting. I thought to myself, how am I going to stimulate my baby? What will I do with Nikhil all day long? There is only so much goo-goo, ga-ga that you can do. Thankfully a friend of mine introduced me to the Ontario Early Years centres. For any first-time mom’s out there, these centres’ are amazing! Not only do you get out every day with your baby, you get to meet other mom’s and have some much needed adult conversation.

For the past six weeks, I’ve been taking an Infant Massage class. Each week we learned different massage techniques to help colicky and gassy babies, and just some simple techniques to help bond with your child through massage. Now I can’t swear this will work for every baby, but ever since we started these classes, Nikhil has been sleeping much better at night … waking every 4-6 hours instead of the usual 2!

I also go to their Infant Mother Goose program. It’s basically a bunch of moms and babies sitting in a room singing nursery rhymes and finger plays. It is so much fun and Nikhil, even at the young age of four months, loves it! Below is a group picture from the Heart LakeOntario Early Years centre.

Here is one of our favorite bouncing songs …

Ecka Becka Soda Cracker (bounce with baby on your lap facing you)
Ecka Becka Boo (lift baby)
Ecka Becka Soda Cracker (bounce)
Up goes you (lift baby)

Ecka Becka Soda Cracker (bounce with baby on your lap facing you)
Ecka Becka Boo (lift baby)
Ecka Becka Soda Cracker (bounce)
I love you! (hug)

Enjoy

ps. I have not been asked to endorse the Ontario Early Years centre. I just think it’s a great program for parents and children.