My daughters had a lovely gift for me yesterday…I was having a tough day, I woke up from a nap to hear my 8year old and 6 year old daughters playing “harvest home” as a surprise for me! Anna (my 8 yr old) was playing violin, while my 6 yr old (Gracie) was on the whistle!
What a nice way to awake…
How very sweet!
How cool! I can’t wait for that to start happening. Mine’s only 2, so I’m giving it a couple of years.
Speaking of two year olds …
Arleen and I just welcomed a two year old to our brood, adopted from Eastern Russia. Natasha loves whistles (we have to watch her to make sure she’s sitting or standing still when she has one in her mouth). After she figured out that you don’t suck on it, you blow into it, she’s been fascinated with them. She understands that the toneholes are important, but her fingers don’t reach them. She wants to do it herself, waves me away if I cover toneholes while she blows. So every now and then, we hear this little "whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo … " Sounds maybe like a penguin calling or something.
Best wishes,
Jerry
JERRY! Congratulations!! How VERY cool is that! The very best of luck and God’s blessings on you and your wife.
We have 3 kids..my youngest is a 2 year old boy who shoves EVERYTHING remotely whistle or pipelike in his mouth and blows…Anna is “Robin Hood” for Halloween ..er..All Saints..and Daniel (my son) is her “merry man”. I made a little bow out of 1/2 inch cpvc and he shoved it in his mouth, “phphpht” “batpeep! batpeep!”
The first tune Gracie learned on whistle had rests in it, and she would play a few notes and when she got to the rests she would say out loud “wait, wait,wait,wait” it was hilarious!
Gracie is BEGGING for a flute..I’ve already made her a lovely wooden F whistle, while Anna and Daniel just want bagpipes.
Davey, that sounds like a great way to pick up your day and start over feeling better! 
And Jerry, congratulations! But how the heck do you have time to work out a new Generation tweaking system with a new child in the house? I’m puzzled and/or impressed.
Speaking of adding 2-year-olds (or thereabouts – we’re not really sure) to the household, see my avatar for the one we just adopted from the SPCA on Tuesday. What a sweetie!
Steven
That’s a scream.
Steven, we’ve five other daughters who just adore the new one, so there’s plenty to keep her busy and well looked after whilst I tweak. The doors to my office have those toddler proof doorknob cover thingies on them, so I can close the doors and work. However, if Natalia gets in here, I have to stop and entertain her. There’s so much stuff here she wants to investigate (like a hundred or so whistles and all sorts of small tools, the phones, keyboard, etc.), it takes four hands to keep her out of trouble in here.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Yeah, I guess you don’t want a small child running around with a whistle hanging out of her mouth, could be a calamnity! About the fingers not reaching the holes, how about and F or G Whistle? You would probably want to make sure the head IS glued on so that it doesn’t get inhaled, I mean how important is intonation when you’re two?
I can’t wait until my kids do that!!
Jerry, have you connected with Patrick (Doc) Jones? He and his wife have 13 kids, nine of them adopted.
Hi, Jessie.
Arleen promised me we would stop at five. However, she has no recollection of ever making that promise. Now she says we’ll stop at eight (we’ve two more in process, which will bring the total to eight). I’m prepared to wager a time will come when the amnesia sets in again. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up with 13 or so. Doc’s an inspiration, though we haven’t directly compared notes.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Wow, Jerry. Having gotten sick eight times since yesterday morning, I am considering adopting future children. I’ve heard that once one sees the baby, one forgets the horrors of pregnancy. I can’t imagine it.
It does seem to be true (at least among those I know) that if you get sick during one pregnancy, you’ll do so through subsequent ones, so it’s something to think about. The baby will be worth it, but you probably won’t quite forget the nausea thing!
My kids were almost 30 before they grew out of rock-'n-roll and picked up Irish music…