This Little Glock of Mine

Sam is a huge fan of songs with hand motions. The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mr. Sun, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...I sing all day long. When he gets restless in the car I'll start singing, catching glimpses of his enthusiastic gestures in the rear-view mirror.

When Sam was very little he'd cry when I'd dry him off after his bath. One day I started singing This Little Light of Mine and he immediately calmed down. I stick with what works, and that has remained his after-bath song. Since I am towelling him off when I sing it I never showed him the hand motions that went with it. Yesterday, sick of singing The Wheels on the Bus, I taught him This Little Light of Mine.

He was incredibly excited. He held up his little pointer finger and swayed, like his Little Light was a Bic at Lollapalooza. Hiding his Little Light under a bushel...NO! cracked him up every time. The only part he wouldn't do was blowing on his finger - "won't let Satan (whoosh) it out."

I must have sung it 20 times. He was merrily going along, waving his little light, giggling at the bushel. I got to "won't let Satan..." and his face changed. The smile fell off and he looked me right in the eyes. He brought his finger up to his mouth and inexplicably stuck out his thumb, too. He blew across his finger, exactly like he was blowing off the smoking end of a gun, never dropping his gaze.

Do you feel lucky, punk?