When Jack was under a year old there were many a night where I would be standing in his room, holding him in my arms as I repeated 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' in an attempt to get him to sleep. He was our first so yes, we probably didn't give him enough opportunities to settle himself.
Jack's change table had his name on it- Jackson, and for each rendition of 'Twinkle, twinkle', I would count that as a letter, so to get through his name it would take 7 renditions. I would close my eyes and get through his name three times before checking to see if he was asleep.
I often thought that he would be a teenager and on hearing "twinkle twinkle" he would either instantly begin rocking and fall asleep, or need to hurriedly leave the room in order to not throw up.
Jack has been hit with an ear infection and was not at all well today. I cuddled him and automatically the words came out, "twinkle, twinkle little star". As I held my now 4 year old in my arms it hit me how big he now is, how he has grown, in so many ways. It seems like yesterday that I could cradle him in one arm. It was a good reminder of how very precious he still is, and of how important my role as a father continues to be.
The song did seem to soothe him somewhat. I wonder if I will use the same technique when he's 16? My voice may be up for it, but I don't think my back would be happy.
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