Lullabies

Going to sleep is hard sometimes, especially when you are two. Like most toddlers, Elizabeth has the ability to keep herself awake for hours. There seem to many opinions in books out there for parents on getting their child to sleep. While we were in Peru, Brent and I started out strolling her to sleep, but we knew that when we got to Lima, our hotel there was not suitable for strolling. So we began rocking her. This meant sitting on the side of the bed and rocking back and forth, sometimes for 20 minutes or more. But I must say it is a great ab workout! This also would be an easy transition and something she would be used to when we got back since we have a rocking chair here.

Some books say you SHOULD NOT rock your child to sleep because he or she will develop into the habit. I don't know about all that b/c Brent and I did not birth our children. This is what I have learned from our adoption books. They say you SHOULD rock your child to sleep. From their studies, rocking teaches a child to self-soothe. It also put your left eye in contact with the child's left eye. The left eye controls the right-side of the brain. The right-side of the brain controls the emotions. This brings about connection between parent and child. Eye contact is an essential part for adopted children who have no attachment to their new parents.  Eye contact does all sorts of chemical things in the brain that the author calls "parent juice". Every child needs a ton of "parent juice" every day. According to the book, (and I think what might naturally occur) when rocking a child to sleep is singing. Singing releases some kind of chemical in the brain that also helps aid a child in learning to self-soothe.  Singing the same song over and over is very helpful for the child. Naturally, we sing to Elizabeth.

In all honesty, we need to sing and rock the older 2 kids. It probably seems silly. But every person needs to go through every stage of life. And maybe they missed being held and cuddled and rocked as babies, so they need to experience that part of life. I think that is why adopted children regress when they come in to the new family. Unknowingly their brain went back to get everything they missed, so they could be a whole person. I think the Bible talks about restoring the years that the locusts have eaten. We did rock them 2 nights and they loved it. We probably should start this again. Breanna is not truly attached. She only makes eye contact when she is telling about something that happened or when she lies to us. She is the hardest one. Maybe she has the most hurt. Benjamin maybe seems more attached, but I think he understands family more and wants a family. However, changing your entire life after 10 years is very difficult and no small task. Survival skills are hard to break.

Just for the record, we do not rock her every night. We also lay her down and pat or rub her back and sing. But sometimes rocking just works. It's calming, it just works, and who doesn't liked to be rocked? Do you have a rocking chair in your house, even if it is a Lazy Boy? heehee! :)

Okay, so back to the sleep part and the title of this post.

Here is our repertorie of lullabies:
"Where is the horse?" - a song made up by Sonya Colee to sing to her kids.
"Jesus Loves Me"
"Jesus Loves the Little Children"
"Amazing Grace"

Elizabeth LOVES her Poppie and loves for him to put her to sleep. He sings to her and now she knows "Where is the Horse?" It's her favorite and loves to sing it. A few days ago, we were going to sleep and she says "Jesus". So we sang Jesus Loves Me. She knows the song now and loves to sing it too. She also knows it's time to calm down and go to sleep when we sing these to her.

Recently I added songs I learned from Ginny Owens.
"Be Thou My Vision" and "Be Still, My Soul".
I'm fuzzy on that one though. I haven't heard it in awhile so I looked up the lyrics tonight. I thought you might enjoy them too. Here they are. I like the first 2 verses.


"1. Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
2. Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.
3. Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fulness all He takes away.
4. Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last."

"Be Still, My Soul"by Catharina von Schlegel, 1697-?
Translated by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897

Sweet Dreams!