Did Mother Goose write that one?

Just like any other skills you might develop, parenting skills seem to develop out of necessity.  You WILL figure out the best strategy to change a diaper without getting pee all over your hair and the wall and the dog.  You WILL figure out not to bounce your kid up and down or even make any sudden movements with said baby after they eat.  You WILL figure out how to rock (or pretty much toss around) in the weirdest position that are never shown in baby books to soothe them.  You just figure out the 'tricks of the trade' by trial and error.  Anything to keep everyone involved sane.

I've learned - babies like music.  Seems fairly intuitive. 

However, you may not always have a copy of the new Cee Lo CD or Toddler Tunes available for your little ones awaiting ears.  So you sing.  You sing whatever comes to mind.  And it is some sort of Murphy's Law that you can no longer recall any of the songs you loved as a child or any of the songs you learned in Girl Scouts.  Not even the school song from your elementary song that you've literally have had in your head for the last 20 years.  Nope.  None of those songs come to mind at the critical moment when baby is starting to take the about face from being the happiest baby on the planet to fussy, whiny baby.  So there are two options.  You make one up or you sing any other song you know and spin it into a performance for your lil' one using "baby voices" and soothing rhythms. 

If you opt for the 'making-one-up' route - this can be easy or extremely difficult.  I like to keep things simple.  You can just sing anything that comes to mind.  "Mommy is doing the di-i-shes, the di-i-shes, the di-i-shes.  Mommy is doing the di-i-shes because daddy didn't do them this morning."  Simple can mean perfection.  Daddy seems to have more time on his hands and likes to perfect his songs after plenty of thought, practice and fine-tuning.  His go-to song is a three verse song set to the Flipper theme song (seriously, no joke).  Whichever route you decide, these seem to be highly effective. 

If you decide to take the less creative route and perform a song you know, don't be discouraged.  You too can soothe baby.  This might actually be a type of Rorschach test of music and parenting depending on what song you choose.  Last week I actually witnessed my own husband rock our teething, sick child to sleep while singing a nursery rhyme version of Whoomp, There It Is.  Nothing says rest your eyes, little one, and go to sleep like a little Tag Team - "Can you dig it?  We can dig it.  Can y'all dig it?  We can dig it."  The crying was resolved.  I don't think I've ever been more proud of my husband's parenting skills....

To assess the situation and determine if a song is necessary - baby might look something like this....

"My Mom's songs are the best!"

After song-of-choice, baby should look something like this....