Start, Finish, REPEAT!

What is the deal with children and their love for repetition? If you are mum (or dad) to young toddler, I am sure you know what I am talking about.

For as long as I can remember, Z's bedtime lullaby was Teresa Teng's "Tian Mi Mi". I am required to sing the song to him after daddy's bedtime stories, and no matter how we tried, he will not take any other songs. Even if it is another Teresa Teng's song, it just will not do. Almost 2 years worth of the same song, you wonder how it does not get old for him... Because of this, even though his vocabulary was extensive for his age, he had very limited knowledge on children nurseries!

H on the other hand, has no favourite songs that he wants over and over, he was always very varied with his song selection. BUT, his love for repetition is with books and games. When he was about 18 months old, I bought a lift the flaps book that had over 100 flaps full of all sort of vehicles. He loved it so much, it was the only book he wanted for the next 6 months. Matt was so sick of reading the book with no words but only flaps he decided to make up stories based on the little pictures inside the book. Unfortunately, that just made H love the book even more. I think that book was a favourite for at least another 12 months after that ^_^

I was once told that children learn through repetition,surely 12 months(or more) of the same thing should have been enough to make anyone an expert in said things. In my children's case, a 1979's song made famous by the very iconic Taiwanese Singer and also the ability to name all moving things that you may or may not see in your lifetime... Maybe my children are just slow learners... =_=