Momma Had a Baby and It's Head Popped Off

Sprout and I had some Mommy and Me time yesterday and we went to the park and ran around like a couple of school kids. We played on the swings, seeing who could go higher. We attempted to cross the monkey bars but neither of us made it all the way across. We slid down the slides as fast as our bottoms would take us. Then Sprout starting picking flowers for me. He is sweet like that and always picks flowers for me and tucks them behind my ears. The first flower he picked up was a buttercup. I shared with him the old superstition that says if you hold a buttercup under your chin, and yellow light is reflected on your chin, it means that you like butter. We both like butter-no surprise there.

Then he picked up 2 dandelion puffs, handed one to me and as he got ready to blow, I told him to make a wish.

It was such a fun afternoon as I enjoyed passing along memories from my childhood to Sprout.

A short while later, Sprout picked up 2 dandelions and handed one to me. Before I even realized what I was doing, I shouted "Momma Had a Baby and It's Head Popped Off!" Nice huh? I didn't really think about it at the time. It just came out as naturally as if I was a young school girl at recess. I guess this is what a day at the park will do to a thirty-something Mom; bring one crashing back to her childhood with a loud thud. What kind of mother am I teaching this tortorous rhyme to my 5 year-old son? It's sick really, sick and twisted, if you think about it. Grabbing an innocent dandelion and holding it tightly beneath it's head and with one quick flick of the thumb the top goes flying into the air as we take delight in this morbid ritual. Who came up with this rhyme anyway and what was wrong with them? And why did this come flying out of my mouth after lying dormant for 20+ years with not so much as a blink of the eye? Sprout ofcourse thought this was hilarious and ran around grabbing dandelions and shouting "Momma Had a Baby and It's Head Popped Off!"

Then Sprout turned what is normally our dandelion puff wish ritual into "Momma had some babies and they all ran away" as he blew with all his might and watched all the little seedlings drift away. Oh what did I do?

I turned our fun afternoon of sharing memories and rituals into an afternoon filled with morbid, flower-killing games! We'll just file this one under 'Mother of the Year' award!

Did you play this game as a child? Do you know what the history behind it is?

Did you teach it to your children? On second thought, don't answer that one! ;)