Somehow between today and the last time we tried to play Ring Around the Rosie for Family Home Evening a few months ago Rachel caught on to how the game works. After we tried playing it with her a few weeks in a row, we simply gave up. She would hold onto our hands, lift up her feet, and let us spin her around, which is far less fun than playing the game for real.
Tonight, however, we were at the Lewis's and Rachel entered the room spinning in circles and singing "Asha, asha, asha, asha!" Then she tripped and on her way to the ground exclaimed, "Ball! Down!"
Then she got back up and did it over again. While she was spinning this next time, Megan walked into the room and announced, "Just so you know, Rachel is playing Ring Around the Rosie."
My personal theory is that Megan taught Rachel how to play (with the help of Sam) because the next thing I knew, Rachel was holding my hands, spinning me around in circles and singing, "Asha, asha, asha, asha, asha, asha, asha! Ball! Down!" and she's never done that before. Plus, Megan, Sam, and Rachel were in Sam's room for quite a long time and every once in a while someone would come out crying, get comforted, and go back in for more.
That behavior is easily explained by the "we all fall down" part of the rhyme. Some of these nursery rhyme games end up being played a little more violently than originally intended, if I remember correctly from my childhood.
So, either Megan taught her or she learned it in nursery, because I had given up teaching her that game and wasn't planning on trying again for a while still. How nice that someone else taught her for me! And it's super useful, too, because she has no qualms playing it by herself. She prefers, of course, to have someone spinning with her--falling down into a big heap of children is much more fun than bonking your head on the floor by yourself--but she has no problem spinning around in circles singing "Asha!" until she loses her balance and crashes all by herself, at which point she yells, "Ball! Down!" Pooh is also an optimal companion (for pretty much anything).
We spent several minutes playing Ring Around the Rosie before family prayer this evening. It was fun...now that Rachel knows how to play.
Nadia got called as a nursery leader a while back and she periodically invites me in. They play ring around the rosie EVERY WEEK. They save it until the end and the kids don't even want to leave with their parents because they love it so much. It was really cute to see those kids fighting over who got to hold Nadia's hand too. :)
ReplyDeleteI know for sure that they've been playing it in nursery. Jacqueline did nothing but spin around in circles singing, "ashes ashes" then falling down all Friday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteHaha how cute!
ReplyDeleteNancy you'll find out that friends and neighbors will teach your children more (and faster) then you can. You will also find out that after they are grown you had the most influence as an example. For some reason parents just don't have the intelligence to teach their "own" children from about age one to young maturity, that is until it is time for you to do their homework. Then parents have all the knowledge in the world (as long as the child isn't present and the homework gets done all by itself). By the way that is the easiest way to get a child to go to bed (have them stay up and do their homework). Just kidding on all that (unless it's true) I would have liked to see Rachel do the Ring around the Rosies. Maybe she'll do it when we talk on Sunday. Love ya all!!!
ReplyDeleteBesides, you can't REALLY teach Rachel how to play ring around the Rosie, since Rosie is here in Utah, and Rachel is in Egypt.....
ReplyDeleteGood point, Kelli!
ReplyDeleteYou definitely need to put up a video of this. :)
ReplyDeleteAs my mother tells the story, she had been trying for weeks to get me to make an engine noise as I pushed my toy car around the floor, but I just wouldn't do it. One day, my cousin John came over and made the noise and I picked it right up, much to my mother's frustration.
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