Thursday, June 11, 2009

Ba Ngoai and Lullabies

The boys miss their ba ngoai (maternal grandmother) who cared for them after I went back to work. She spent four weeks with them and got to know their personalities and sleep/eat patterns. Towards the end, she had it down.

I miss her a little too. My mom made Vietnamese food a couple of times a week and I would gladly stuff my face with it. I think Rod may have snuck in a meal one time but basically, it was off limits to him. When he would go near my mom's cooking, I would shoot him a "Go eat your American food" look. Hands off the rice mister.

One of the things mom did to help out was take Dean at night. Dean is much more predictable and so she didn't mind taking him. He would wake up and eat and go back to sleep. Sometimes, he would fuss because he was still hungry. Other than that, he was generally an easy baby. Not having Dean allowed us to sleep a little longer. Actually, it allowed me to sleep longer because Rod would feed Sam while I pumped and it added at least half an hour to my sleep time. half an hour may not sound like much but to me, it's like winning the lottery.

She also spoke to them in Vietnamese and sang them lullabies. Every time they stirred or got fussy, she would sing them this one particular song that I remember her singing to my sisters when they were babies. I tried to sing as much as I could remember of this Vietnamese lullaby and then my song morphed into The Lion Sleeps Tonight with me repeating Wimoweh over and over and over. The Vietnamese lullaby has something to do with elephants going back and forth? I tried to find it but all I could find was this.

The translation says for baby to sleep so I can wash an elephant's back. I'll wash whatever, elephant's back, lion's mane, buffalo's behind if only the boys would sleep through the night.

3 comments:

Lesley said...

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Kari @ A Giveaway Addicted Mommy said...

You are so freakin' hysterical. Though you know I will be singing Wimoweh over and over all night.

If you find that washing an elephants back or lion's mane works, let me know. I think I will pass on the buffalo's behind.

Xtina said...

I don't remember any songs being sane to me...Id like to hear it though!!

I have been having to pay for my viet food, its a sad alternative