Today was the Day

After being added to the facebook group for Primary Choristers, I saw a lot of people share stories about moms telling them that their little ones were singing the songs at home.  I wondered when it would happen to me.  (It kind of had last summer, but it was before I knew all the kid's names and it came to me through the grapevine that one of the L kids said Singing Time was his favorite part of Primary.)  Today was the day!

A few months ago, we had a new family move in and they had a four year old that we all just instantly fell in love with.  This kid was chatty in English and Spanish, but also knew to be quiet when instruction time was happening.  He was not only eager to participate in everything, but willing to wait his turn.  I mean, talk about golden, right?  Then, a couple of weeks ago, I brought up all of the Sunbeams (we had this new kid, our regular, and a just turned three year old of an inactive couple) because someone had rolled for us to sing "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam."  I crouched down to their level to sing with them, and after, the four year old says, "It kind of sounds like zombie."  (That day, he had been identifying homonyms all over the place, but this one took the cake!)  I have to give credit to the Spirit for not laughing about it until after I said to him, "Yes, it does kind of sound like that, but we're really saying Sunbeam."  But I'm still laughing about it!

Anyway, during the week, I had been considering sending a little note to him about how much I enjoyed his presence in Primary.  Lots of things held me back.  Would someone at home be able to read it to him?  What was their address? (I didn't recall any records being read in recently, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.)  Did they even know who I was (that I was the Music Leader)?  After sacrament meeting, I see him with his mom outside the Primary room door.  She stops me in the hallway and tells me that he has been singing a song at home all week.  "I don't know the song, but I know that all he knew before was I Am a Child of God."  I couldn't even think of what song it might be, since I do a lot of repetition in Jr.  I'm thinking it was either Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam or The Golden Plates.  But the particular song doesn't matter to me.  I was just so glad to hear that he's taking Primary home with him in some way, and I was also grateful for the opportunity to tell her how much I enjoy having him in Primary.  Seriously.  If I see him/their family in sacrament meeting, I know I'm probably not going to need a nap because his presence energizes me as much (and perhaps moreso) than others' drain me.

Another bonus from Junior Primary came when I sat down next to the littlest N.L. for the closing prayer.  I had introduced them to Jesus Has Risen by asking them to close their eyes and imagine they lived at the same time as Jesus, that they had been with him and his disciples as he performed miracles.  Then I asked the kids how they thought the disciples might have felt about that.  Then I told them the disciples had been there when Jesus died, when he was crucified, and asked what they thought the disciples might have felt about that.  Then I asked, "Imagine how they would feel if someone said to them (singing) Jesus has risen, Jesus, our friend.  Joy fills our hearts; he lives again."  One said happy, one said surprised.  Then I introduced word strips with "Jesus has risen!" on them and everyone except our oldest got a turn to hold one up at the front.  (We had ten kids today, and he gave his turn to his brother, who is your youngest.  K is super chill about that sort of thing.)  Then we sang it all together, eyes on me for cues to stand when we sang "Jesus has risen."  My main singers (the 6 and 7 year olds) picked it up pretty well.  But when I sat down next to N, I noticed she was humming part of it.  Which, if nothing else, makes me feel good about the song choice.

Despite no one in Sr. Primary wanting to learn it to teach it.  Oh, well.  I might try introducing it to them in a similar way, with the imagination bit.  Spend next week deep learning it (during the 10 minute activity) and continuing to monitor their memorization of this month's song.  (Which reminds me....I should find that page in that notebook where I wrote down which songs I planned on doing each month....)  I'll have to work them really hard during March, since that's when I plan on introducing the song I was supposed to introduce in January.  I might save the third verse for another month.  I definitely want to do the first verse because we'll definitely be singing that in the program, and the second verse talks about living prophets, which also relates to the theme of the month as well as the upcoming General Conference.

I had a small giggle moment in Sr. Primary today.  During the last few measures of our second time through the Books of the New Testament, one of our ten year olds started doing a toned down version of the Macarena.  Like not full blown, just gentle, and I don't know if anyone else saw him, but I had to exercise a lot of restraint to not let him see me seeing him doing it.  (He would have turned it into a distraction.)