Emergency musical intervention

I sewed these up for us to wear for the 4th from 2 tees!

Have you been having a lovely summer?  We were - and still are, except for an unwelcome visitor this week in the form of a cold for the poor 1 year old Dude.  I had to come home from a play group this  morning because of his hysterics - and it was just across the street!

When we got home, I knew I had one of two choices - turn on Nick Jr. or try to find something he wouldn't scream at.  I got out my trusty laptop and opened this page I'd pinned into my Kid-y board on Pinterest (are you on Pinterest??  I want to follow you!!!):

http://counting-on-me.blogspot.com/2011/05/101-things-to-do-with-your-toddler.html

While he rolled on the floor screaming, I scrolled down as fast as I could and spotted this gem:

36. Bang on Pots and Pans with a spoon

I ran to the pantry, grabbed some pots and utensils, put them in the living room and waited.  It was about 3 seconds until the air was filled with a cacophony I far prefer to tantrums.

I grabbed some utensils of different materials and watched them experiment with the sounds.

Then they got clever and tried some of their own...

What about a truck, or a train whistle?

What about 3 different spoons they use regularly? (WonderGirl grabbed these from the drawer on her own!)

What about a hippo flashlight?

Or a puppy?  (the nose is plastic so that was a neat surprise for the Dude)

What about just using your hands?

WG put them in order of smallest to largest and tested out the pitches that way.

What about stomping with your feet??  (I only let that fly for a minute or so :)

And magically - I finally saw this again: