George and Darcy do the Twelve Days of Cwiss-Muss
George and Darcy sing as they build block cities on my kitchen floor.
George: On the fuhwust day of Cwiss-muss, my twoo love gave to me, A pawtwidge in a pay-uh twee.
On the second day of Cwiss-muss, my twoo love gave to me… gave to me… gave… Two… birds in a tree!
On the third day of Cwiss-muss, my twoo love gave to me, three Fwench hens, two birds in a tree, and a pawtwidge in a pear tree.
Darcy: All he’s giving her is birds.
George: What?
Darcy: All he’s giving her is birds. Listen. On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, four calling birds, three French hens, two kinda doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. See? All birds.
George: At first it’s only birds. On the fifth day of Cwiss-musss, my twoo love gave to me, [takes a deep breath the better to belt this one out]
FIVE GOOOOOLDEN THINNNNGS!
Darcy: Heh. You said ‘things’!
George and Darcy: FIVE GOOOOOLDEN RRIIINGS!
George and Darcy: Four callin’ birds, three French hens, two kinda doves in a tree, [gasp for breath] and a Partwidge in a pay-uh tree!
Darcy: On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, six geese layin’ down…
George: On the seventh day of Cwiss-muss, my twoo love gave to me, seven swans swimming.
On the eighth day of Cwiss-muss, my twoo love gave to me, eight…
George: Eight…
Darcy: Maids a-milkin’.
George: Eight…
Darcy: George, you are not listening. MAIDS A-MILKIN’.
George: Eight maids a milkin’, nine…
Darcy: Lords a… no, maids… no, drummers…
George: On the ninth day of Cwiss-muss, my twoo love gave to me, nine… nine…
Darcy [in tones of sincere regret]: We forget that song, do we?
(No, that’s not a typo. He said ‘do we’ instead of ‘don’t we’. Heh.)
George: (a heartfelt sigh) Yeeeeaaahhh….
~~~~~~~~~~~~
© 2006, Mary P
Hee hee… I know I’m going to think of them the next time I hear that song… and I’ve wondered about the prevalence of birds! I love the “kinda doves,” too.
wow, great post. great pictures too!
Mary, have you thought of writing a book?
And a children’s book?
Can I c’mon over and sing with the kids? I love to sing with kids…even if my voice is awful! That sounded like a good laugh!
Oh, that is too cute. I wish I could have been there for that. Such a cute age. You are so lucky to get to be around toddlers all the time– or big boys like Gearge and Darcy.
yay! more george and darcy! and yeah, i’ve noted the surprising number of bird gifts before. gift-giving was very different back in the day, i guess.
Oh those two just warm my heart.
I’ve also wondered about the number of birds. Maybe the true love intended to feed a large party at the castle?
Sitting here choking with laughter.
I think I’ll link to it.
Are you missing those two? Cute story! You’re very good at spelling how kids talk, I need to work on that.
I think they did a great job recalling the song, I’m usually stuck after five.
Ms Huis: I have very vague recollections of reading something that indicated that the birds were valuable in that they’d be breeding stock. In effect, he was equipping her with a farm full of livelihood!
Rachael: Thanks, and Welcome! I found the pictures on a German blog. (I presume it was a blog. It was formatted like a blog. I can read about ten words of German…)
Jenorama: Of course! What blogger hasn’t? I just have No Idea how to start. Any suggestions??
Avalon: I was killing myself laughing – but silently, so as not to stop the flow of entertainment. They’re so sweet. And of course you could come sing with us. The boys, they, ah, approximate the melody, and variation is always welcome!
AA: I am lucky. I know it. I feel it a good 85% of the time, too!
Lara: Gift-giving was different. More practical, perhaps. (Turtledoves are good for selling to rich women, and probably were good for eating, too!)
Haley: Aren’t they wonderful? And you’ll be seeing them next Friday! Won’t that be fun?
LadyM: I think they were breeding stock, whether for pets, eggs, or meat, who knows? I’d bet the latter two would be much more likely than the former.
Granny: I had the same response, hearing it, writing it down, and then reading it. Still makes me giggle. Those boys are so fun together!
MamacitaTina: Oh, yes, I’m missing them. That’s why I invited the other when I knew I was getting the one! I gather they’ve been practicing this song for weeks in their kindergarten classes. (They’re not in the same class, but they’re in the same school, and all the JK kids are doing the same song in the holiday concert.)
I am bursting over this one. I don’t think it gets ANY cuter. Love, love, love it. I miss the stories of those two sweeties.
This is hilarious. “All he’s givingher is birds” cracks me up – and is a pretty impressive observation, really. “You said thing.” makes me think of Beavis and Butthead!
I’ve always had that thought myself – what is UP with all the birds?
Too, too cute.
way too cute! I’m impressed with how much they DID remember!!