AAlll-abama...Alaaaaska...Ari-zona...AArkansas...

Songs are an ingenious way to memorize information. When I was eight, my Sunday School teacher taught me a song listing every single Old Testament book, in order. To this day, when I'm looking up scripture, I sing that tune in my head. Genesis, Exodus, Le-vi-ti-cus, Numbers and Dootrimy...(Deuteronomy was too long to sing all of the syllables, so we improvised.)Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Sam-u-el One and Two, First Second Kings...etc.
The Pea came home the first day of school, having already memorized the seven continents. She sang the Continent Song gleely the rest of the week...and the week after...and, but I digress. This week, she is learning the names of the 50 states in order. I'm quite impressed, and plan to learn along with her.
She's learning a song the Bug learned two years ago. "The Fifty Nifty United States." I actually remember my college roomie singing that song. (Shout out to LTP!)When she and the Bug are together, they sing The Fifty Nifty United States as fast as they can, racing through the state names, in alphabetical order, in well under a minute. I must admit that I frequently find myself humming about the "Thir-teen O-ri-ginal COL-O-NIES!"
I wow-ed my fourth grade teacher when the class was challenged to present a poem by heart. I selected a ginormous poem by A. A. Milne. I can still quote it from memory. The poem was also made into a silly song and sung by a group of brothers. My mother had the vinyl album. I would play the album over and over and over again on my little electric blue record player. (Quite the diva belting out verses in front of my dresser mirror). It was a complete coincidence that I knew the song (and consequently the poem) by heart when we were assigned the presentation. Instead of singing the song in front of my class, I spoke the words.
Tomorrow morning I have a root canal appointment. You may have guessed that I am NOT looking forward to said adventure. I've packed The Bug's hot-pink-silver-glitter MP3 player and I plan to jam to The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana and selected Patriotic Songs that The Bug has added...(The Pea will sing along, "You're a Grand Ol' Flag, You're A Hot Roddin' Flag!")Should the pain of the drill be too much for the tween repertoire, I may find myself racing through ginormous poems, Colonies and trusty Dootrimy...