Nursery Rhyme

Since becoming a mum, I always find myself singing! I guess, once my children perceive the meaning of a good quality voice they will surely make me stop singing the ever out of tune songs. They will wish that their mum's voice is like Siti Nurhaliza so that their ears wouldn't hurt so much. (Sorry Babah, a voice like Siti Nurhaliza not Siti Nurhaliza as a mum)

For the time being, they (Sarah especially) continually pleading for me to sing;
"Mama, anyi (nyanyi) lah" Her favourite phrase each time she sees pokok goyang at our 'back garden'.

Then I sing whatever comes to my mind just to please her.

"No Mama. (L)agu (l)ain." Pointing at the pokok yang sedang ditiup dek angin.

Ohh! That song! "Tanya sama pokok, apa sebab goyang..."

Likewise, Sarah is constantly singing her nursery rhymes too. Sometimes, she sings when she is supposed to talk normally.

Once, I heard she called her Babah,

"Babah, babah... babah, babah, babah."
to the tune of "Satu, satu, saya sayang ibu."


Twinkle-twinkle little star
The first nursery rhyme I taught Sarah and Amar was "twinkle twinkle little star". Accompanied by jari kelip-kelip gestures. Sarah learnt every different action at a very-very young age.

The kelip-kelip, the pointing above, the diamond shape.. etc.

Amar being a typical alpha boy, just couldn't be bothered with the different styles of action. He just kelip-kelip jari, pointing up, then strike a sengeh pose, then kelip-kelip jari again. Or, just kelip-kelip then *yawn* (not interested sign).

Communication
Sarah uses parts of her nursery rhymes a lot in her daily conversation.

For instance; she accidentally touched the hot radiator; and her quick response said,

"Ouch, Hot" and then breaks into a nursery rhyme; "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns..." (pelat lah sikit)

Another one is; "Boooaaaat!" and nyanyi "Row, row, row your boat."

Action
Sarah's current favourite "action packed" nursery rhyme is Ring-a-Ring O Roses. She loves holding hands and hop around in circles, and finally being able to fall down. That is just fun for her. She has taught Amar to join in the fun too.

Amar pulak seronok sangat, belum sempat second line of the rhyme, dia dah sibuk nak 'fall down' dulu. Sedar-sedar dah terlentang with his sengeh pose.

I was looking for some nice pictures that complement the rhyme and came across its origin.

Most people believe that this rhyme originates from the time of the Great Plague. The roses refers to the rosy coloured rash displayed by sufferers; the posies were a little bundle of herbs and spices said to ward off the plague; and a-tishoo was of course, the sneezing which accompanied the final fatal moments of the victims when they would all fall down - dead!

Kudos: All info about nursery rhymes

Sing a Song of Sixpence
There is one nursery rhyme in Sarah's book that used to be my favourite when I was a young kid.

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie,
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing,
Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king.

The King was in his counting house, counting out his money,
The Queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey,
The Maid was in the garden, hanging out the clothes,
There came a little black bird and pecked on her nose.

Also at the same young age, I liked another Malay nursery rhyme;

Lagu tiga kupang, saku penuh padi,
Enam ekor burung masuk dalam kuali.
Bila sudah masak, burung nyanyi saja
Tentu sedap makan, beri pada raja.

Raja dalam rumah, buat kira-kira,
Suri dalam dapur, makan roti gula, (hey!)
Dayang tepi kolam, mahu jemur tepung,

Datang burung hitam, patuk batang hidung. (hidung.. hidung..)

Now, is that pure coincidence or someone has translated the nursery rhyme for anak-anak Melayu? Munsyi Abdullah perhaps? Or the other way around?

I searched for its origin from all about nursery rhymes too. But I just couldn't help to entertain my curiosity if the English version got it from us? If not, I still think that the penterjemah has done a good job.