Lauren B. Lentini

I’d say it’s past time for a new blog, so here’s one I’ve been meaning to write for a while.

One of my genius moves as a new parent — right up there with Jerald’s idea to put a mini-fridge in the nursery — was to create a lullaby playlist on YouTube. The idea came from Facebook, but I can’t remember what came first: the unconventional lullaby thread in one of my parenting groups, or the shared article about how new parents don’t sing to their kids as much anymore. At any rate, I had the means and the motivation to up my nighttime singing game.

My second stroke of genius was to look for lyric videos of all the songs. They may not be the best version musically, but it’s a great cheat when I don’t yet have the words memorized.

Every night, I put the playlist on random on my phone and we turn out the lights for song time. I put the phone face down since I don’t need the lyrics anymore. And I give a quiet concert for my audience of one.

The list has the classics, like “Brahm’s Lullaby” and “Golden Slumbers.”

Also some that purport to be traditional but I think are made up (“Go to Sleep, My Baby”) or possibly written by a bot (“The Stars and the Moon”). Seriously, the stars will keep us safe tonight in a moonbeam??

I have plenty of Disney movies — “Baby Mine,” “Stay Awake,” “Remember Me” — and Muppets — “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon” and “Rainbow Connection.” (Those are surprisingly easier to sing in a Muppet voice.)

My less conventional selections span genres and decades, but I try to stick to ones that are sort of about sleep: “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “Sleep On,” the Dixie Chicks’ “Lullaby.”

Some of them I just enjoy singing, like “A You’re Adorable,” “Simple Gifts” and “La Vie en Rose.” My favorite is “Song of the Sea,” from the movie of the same name.

The list wouldn’t be mine if I didn’t have a variety of showtunes. I’m proud to say that The Secret Garden’s “Sleepsong” doesn’t stretch my range nearly as much as it used to. I’m still not great at it, but I’m better. And my audience doesn’t mind.

Sometimes I pretend I have a bigger audience, whether it’s karaoke or auditioning for a new play. Other days I’m recording an album, which is where the title of this post comes from. Mostly I’m just sharing a peaceful moment with my son, marveling that for his entire life he’s always felt the perfect size to snuggle up in my lap.

He’s grown and changed so much in the time I’ve been singing these songs to him. I want to hang on to every little memory, every tiny shift. When he started holding his own bottle, when he stopped sleeping on his back and started flipping himself over before he even hit the mattress. From the time he learned to turn the pages of his board books to his current strong opinions about our nightly literature selection.

Jordan loves his books, it’s fascinating to watch. He expresses his preferences by shaking his head or tapping the cover as you show them to him. Or he’ll slide off your lap and fetch it himself. His favorites include Goodnight Moon, The Pout-Pout Fish, Les Miserables (even though my French pronunciation is terrible), Baby Day, and the free one we got from the hospital called Welcome to the World. I thought we might be able to introduce some variety by putting them all back on the shelf in random order, but he picked out his go-tos with remarkable accuracy. We read them forward and backward, sometimes only a few pages before he changes his mind.

On the one hand, he’s growing up too fast. On the other, I love watching him become a little human and express his opinions. I can’t wait until he has opinions on my lullabies and asks for his favorites. I’ll gladly oblige.