"ut" and "noun"

In my daughter's language, "ut" means up and "noun" means down.

She likes very much to be picked "ut." Especially when I'm trying to cook dinner. Or fold clothes. Or get anything else done.

This morning I was folding clothes while she was watching, I think, Mickey Mouse. She came over and said "ut," with her arms stretched up to me, wanting to sit and cuddle with me while she watched. I told her no, that I was folding clothes and would pick her up in a minute.

And then I thought of this poem.....

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton


Whenever I'm trying to get something done and she's asking, "Mama, Mama," and wanting me to do something with her or pick her up, this poem comes to mind....particularly the last line, "I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep." It always makes me think, "Which is more important, that I get this done or that I spend time with my little girl?"

She usually wins.

Someday will come a day when she doesn't want "ut" anymore and only wants "noun" and doesn't want to play with me anymore. I'll wish for these days....

Of course, my house isn't always the cleanest as a result....

But I think she'll forgive me, don't you?