Memories of a Bedtime Song

When I was a little girl I never wanted to go to bed. Ever. I would sneak out of my room, tiptoe down the hallway and sit in the corner not making a sound. My parents would watch Johnny Carson or reruns of the Dick Van Dyke show (I was obsessed with Rob and Laura Petri and their perfect house in New Rochelle and Rob’s comedy writing job in Manhattan so far away from Tucson).

Sometimes my parents would find me asleep in the hall and carry me to bed. Other times they would see me and drag me back to bed. My mom would tell me it was time for “Mimi’s” and she would sing the “Mimi Lu Lu” song and I would drift off to sleep.

I thought that everyone had this experience and everyone knew this song. I would mention it to other kids and they thought I was crazy. From then on I thought my mom had made it up. Then in my 20s I met a woman who knew the song. She even had lyrics.

My version has no lyrics and when I sing it to my boys. They know it as “Mimi mimi mimi lu lu, mimi mimi mimi lu lu.” I’m not terribly creative so it just goes like that until they fall asleep. They seem to love it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about our bedtime routine and how it can create special memories for kids. Latina Mom Bloggers and the California Milk Processor Board sent me the adorable bedtime story “Las Olas de La Luna” that I’ve been reading to my boys in both English and Spanish. There is an entire collection of bedtime stories here that you can read to your kids while they sip on a glass of milk before bed.

I hope that when my boys get older, they think of the crazy song their mom sang to them and ask their friends if they’ve heard about the Mimis and the Lu Lus.

This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor Board and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

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