Uwe sings to Astrid over the phone

When Uwe called tonight (he's away on a business trip), I put him on the phone with Astrid so she could hear his voice and vice versa. Astrid was more interested in looking at the phone than putting it up to her ear to listen, so in jest Uwe said he should sing "This Old Man" to get her attention.

"This Old Man" is Astrid's favorite song & book that she always wants us to sing to her. She gets really happy when we sing the song and she will even dance to it. She never seems to tire from hearing the song repeated over and over again. Most days Astrid isn't satisfied with just one go around and keeps bringing the book back to us with a "Play it again Sam!" expression and vocalization, so we usually feel like "Oh no...not "This Old Man" again," but are resigned to sing it once more to please our daughter.

But today I was quick to seize the moment and said "She'd love that! Here she is." and put Astrid back on the phone with her dad. Uwe was surrounded by other people and didn't have any privacy, but I heard him sing, "This old man, he played one. He played knick-knack on my thumb. With a knick-nack paddy-whack, give the dog a bone. This old man came rolling home."

Uwe had Astrid's undivided attention and as she was listening to her Papa sing to her over the phone, she was smiling from ear to ear. She LOVES that song and it was so great for Uwe to be able to connect with her even though he's far from home. (And it's also a big accomplishment for Uwe who once proclaimed he'd never sing in public..i.e., Karaoke...but here he was tonight singing in front of strangers...but to his daughter of course.)