Let's sing all the songs we know about babies.

For Rob and me, everything is a song cue. This only got worse after Westley was born, and we started injecting his name into whatever lyric sprang to mind. My favorite was a version of the theme song for The Muppet Show that went, "It's time to play the Westley, it's time to West the lights / It's time to meet Westley on The Westley Show tonight (bum bum bum bum)..." It was very surreal. In our new-baby haze, this kind of thing had us in hysterics.

After we settled on Ivy's name, I wondered what songs it might show up in. I couldn't come up with anything while I was pregnant, but that's just as well. These things seem to work best (and have the greatest comedy potential) when they happen organically, usually while singing to the baby in question.

I sing to Ivy all the time. But in five weeks, I have yet to hit upon the song. Ivy Mathilda fits neatly into "Baby Beluga," but that song, as Westley would say, is "already taken." We turned that Raffi favorite into "Baby Burrito" while swaddling Westley. ("Baby burrito please make one for me / Pinto beans and vegan cheese / Salsa and rice and avocado / And a little boy ready to go.")

So far, the only other song I've thought of with the right rhythm is "Hava Nagila."


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