music is a big part of our life. events increase in entertainment, lessen in irritation, and are committed to memory when put to song.

being an internet romance, magnificent and i dreamed about our first kiss for months. so when it FINALLY happened, and was not technicolour perfect, we made it into a song. (never fear, the second one was paint peeling fantastic.)

and when we kiss

we never miss

except the first time

we hit the half line

but that’s okay

we kiss today

and get it right

when olivia went through her i hate xia xia phase, mc and i drowned out the screams with this carpenters inspired tune.

why does xiaxia suddenly appear

whenever olivia, is near?

she can’t tell

olivia chooses hell

to being close to her

(laaa la la la la…close to her)

our wedding day, charles surprised me by handing out new words to one of our two wedding songs: leaving on a jet plane. (the other was dream a little dream of me). in the song he detailed places we had travelled, threw in our pathetically few hong kong expressions, along with vintage magnificent chuck phrases.

a few months after our wedding my gran was in a shop and heard "leaving on a jet plane" and she had to stop and tell the shop assistant that the song was in her granddaughter’s wedding. music is like that. hearing a song takes you back to that time, and the emotions of it.

there was no infertility song, because there aren’t really a lot of words that rhyme with:

my year is divided into 12 chances to get pregnant oh wait only six since my ovaries are procrastinators and i can’t go to mexico to my dad’s 60th birthday party because i can’t afford to celebrate with the family because we are paying for the ivf and we never plan ahead because we are hoping that we will be pregnant and cant take the holiday we can’t afford anyway and all my friends seem to be getting pregnant on their honeymoons and think i want to hear how terrible being pregnant is.

my period is never late

and i don’t ovulate

was about as far as i got.

when i finally did find out i was pregnant, charles and i were 13 time zones apart. i couldn’t think of a good enough song, but i did come up with a poem, and that’s how he learned of impending fatherhood. i was thinking of another song at the time,

every time i try to tell you the words just come out wrong

so i have to say i love you, in a song.

it’s not such a surprise that i sing to the kids a lot.

"i like the way you’re cleaning up

i like how carys is cleaning up

picking up the planes and cars

because we’re done with the blocks!"

i have a song for each of my children. sebastian and i sing his together, with him finishing the last word of each line. in the playroom i have to sing the triumverate’s favourite songs three times, especially crowd favourites like "head and shoulders knees and toes", "the grand old duke of york" and "wind the bobbin up". every time i finish a song i pick one child off my lap and make room for the next who is fighting off a sibling and trying to land on my lap. we’re our own moving circle of life.

i am certain that in years to come i will not be singing to the posse nearly as often as i do. when i do make up impromptu songs about their day, they will not be amused.

someone snapped sela’s bra

not so ha ha ha

jasper’s voice is cracking fast

seb’s zip is at half mast

carys’ new boyfriend won’t last

mum, if you can’t be cool, could you at least be quiet? everyone thinks you are so weird singing all the time. and like, your voice is, like, hashing.

and i will stop singing. because you can’t sing and sigh simultaneously.

but i will say, defiantly, "you used to love it when i sang to you. you would all fight, even you sebastian, to sit on my lap when i sang to you."

but i will remember their songs, just like i remember the songs of life passed by. and years from now, when i am walking past a playground and hear "you are my sunshine", the thin veneer of moisture covering my eye will be enough to make me think the young mother sitting on the grass is me, singing away to the so loved little people who put the tunes in my heart.