Family Traditions

I can remember my Grandfather doing a little hand play and rhyme when I was a child. He would start with his finger on my nose and say, "This is where the cat sits, this is where he jumps.." and it would continue from there. He would touch my forehead, my eyes, my nose, my mouth and my chin with different parts of the rhyme. At the very end of the rhyme he would tickle me.

I remember this with great fondness and have found that my children love to have me do the same thing to them. They ask me to do it over and over again. They always ask for one more time.

I researched this on the grand old Internet today and this is what I found.

It is really from a song, My hand on my head. It is believed to be an old German folksong. The song itself is very familiar although I never heard it in the same context as the finger play that my Grandfather did.

Here is the final part of the song.

My hand on my foot,
What have I here?
This is my foot stomper,
My Mama dear
Foot stomper, knee bender,
Lap sitter, bread basket,
Air blower, chin chopper,
Food grinder, soup strainer,
Smell sniffer, eye blinker,
Sweat boxer, top-notcher,
Dickey, dickey doo
That's what I learned in my school.
Boom! Boom!(slap thighs)

those feeling It is neat to find the context for the finger play that I remember. I now have the tune of this song in my head but it will never be the exact same as what my Grandfather did. I will relive those same feeling everytime I share it with my children. Sharing it with another generation of family.