As many parents know too well, “the days are long but the years are short.” We had repainted my daughter’s room this weekend to give it a new teenage vibe. While we cleaned out old toys and books, my daughter put her old Mother Goose book of nursery rhymes on the donation pile. I had to pull it back—I wasn’t quite ready to give that one up. Besides, it was nicely illustrated and I hoped I might be able to pass it down to a grandchild far into the future.

I digress… Let’s make the title of this post make some sense now, shall we?

When my kids were babies and toddlers, I had planned to teach them how to speak Ilonggo (Hiligaynon), my native tongue. It didn’t quite work out as I had planned. They’re not bilingual. I make the excuse that my husband only speaks English, but I think I just got lazy.

In those early days, I did try to familiarize my children with the language by translating old nursery rhymes. Here’s this little piggy:

Ang ini nga idik, nag kadto sa tyenda.
Ang ini nga idik, nag tiner sa balay.
Ang ini nga idik, nag kaon bistek.
Pero ang ini nga idik, wala.
Kag ang ini nga idik nag hibi, “wee, wee, wee”…
Papuli sa balay.