Let there be...squats

Sometimes I wake up sore the day after primary, usually after I have the brilliant idea to play "sit-stand" during a song. This is where the kids have to stand up or sit down when they sing/hear a given word/phrase, so if they were seated and we sang the word they would have to stand and if they were standing and heard the word they would have to sit.

I remember playing this game during the song "Sing a Song" when I was in primary. 

The words go like this:

Sing, sing, sing;

I like to sing.

I like to sing a song;

Sing, sing, sing!

So you can see that in this song you'd have to either sit/stand a total of 8 times. Since you begin sitting, you stand on the first sing, then sit on the second sing, then stand on the third sing...and so on. 

Yesterday I decided to play this game with a new song that we're learning, called "The Creation," a lovely song written by my lovely and talented mother. The kids have really taken to it. I've had multiple families ask me where to find a copy of it so they can help their kids sing it at home (because their kids are already singing it at home; I should probably just send an email).

We had only gone through the first few verses, but yesterday I was determined to run through them all. There are seven verses...because...of the seven events of the creation story. 

The first verse goes:

On the first day, God said, "Let there be light.
We need the world to have both day and night.
Let there be light; let there be light."

That pattern repeats through the first six verses, with God saying, "Let there be..." 

So that was my key phrase: let there be. 

We were going to either stand or sit every time we sang "let there be."

I showed the kids how we were going to do it for the first verse.

"On the first day, God said, 'Let there be light,'" I sang and then I squatted down because I had been standing (and I don't have a chair up in front of everyone...and because I had to still do actions and give directions and point to pictures and things, I was dropping into a deep squat—it's easier to keep your balance there and...I sit like that all the time...so it's really not a huge deal but...).

"...let there be light..." I stood back up. 

"...let there be light..." I squatted back down. 

That's two squats already, if you're starting to count. 

Then I had the kids try the first verse with me (starting from my squat because the kids were all seated). 

Up. Down. Up. 

Second verse: Down. Up. Down.

Third verse: Up, down, up.

Fourth verse: Down, up, down.

Fifth verse: Up, down, up.

Six verse: Down, up, down.

That was eleven deep squats in rapid succession. 

(The seventh verse doesn't have any "let there be" because on that day God said, "My work is good," so he rested...and we got to take a break from squats). 

I didn't even notice I was sore this morning until I was carrying some things down to the basement and felt my thighs protesting the stairs a little bit. At first I couldn't figure out why I felt sore...

And then I remembered singing time.

Apparently I need to do squats more regularly.