Lullaby and Good Night

I'm in trouble. It seems BJ has been listening more closely than I'd expected to the lullabies I sing him every night. Our bedtime ritual is very well established, and I always sing him "Young Cowboy" (his name for James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" -- sung with his name in place of James, naturally) and "Stay Awake," the lullaby from Mary Poppins. I have a hard time memorizing song lyrics, so I settled on these two mostly because I was able to keep them in my head successfully.

This week, he started challenging me about the use of the word "dogie" ... as in the line, "Closing his eyes as the dogies retire." BJ insisted, vociferously and repeatedly, that it was "doggie." As in small dog. "Doggie, mama! Not dogie, DOGGIE!!!"

After singing this song nightly (sometimes more than once a night) for more than two years, I knew there was no way I'd be able to rewrite the memory on the lyrics to suit his toddler whim. So the second night this happened, I stopped singing and explained to him that a dogie is a small calf. The "young cowboy" was watching the young calves, the "dogies," as they went to sleep (retired).

It took a few nights of explaining, but he has now accepted this and murmurs to himself at the appropriate time in the song, telling himself with a smile that the right word is dogies, that it's about the little calf and the cowboy. He loves knowing this. One more brick of knowledge to add to the foundation he's building, I suppose.

Tonight, he tried to correct me on another word in the song. The line, "He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyon" should be, according to BJ, "He walks in the saddle..." Before he could get really strident about this, I stopped and explained what a saddle was, how it was the cowboy's job to ride on the horse in the saddle. He couldn't very well walk in a saddle, now could he? Of course not. (Thank goodness the child does not yet know about saddle shoes.)

Satisfied, at least for tonight, BJ let me finish the song with the correct words. But I imagine it's only a matter of time now before he starts asking about "And as the moon rises, he sits by his fire. Thinking about women and glasses of beer...." I can hear it now. "Name what the young cowboy thinking about, mommy!"

I think I can talk my way out of that one. But now I'm worrying about the lyrics to the other lullaby of choice, "Stay Awake."

Stay awake, don't rest your head
Don't lie down upon your bed
While the moon drifts in the skies
Stay awake, don't close your eyes.

Though the world is fast asleep
Though your pillow is soft and deep
You're not sleepy as you seem
Stay awake, don't nod and dream.
Stay awake, don't nod and dream.

Heaven help me if he starts to take it literally!