"Toddler" defined ...

[littlejohngael]

It was my horrible luck this weekend to find out that the international definition for "toddler" is "destruction." I came home on Sunday night to a very serious, sober-faced wife, who informed me that my 21-month-old son had fished my Bleazey applewood soprano D out and beat the living daylights out of the piano with it. Before she could get to it, a chunk was split out of the fipple from the top blowhole all the way to the windway and about a half-inch wide. Ruined forever. Ugh.

Expensive lesson learned. Lock 'em up boys. (The whistles, I mean. Not the toddler. HA!)

Little John

[dwilbur3]

OUCH!

You have my deepest sympathies.

This is further evidence that the reason toddlers are so cute is so you don't kill them.

[Jerry Freeman]

Reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbs.

Calvin is in the living room pounding nails into the coffee table. His mother, in the kitchen, hears the pounding and screams, "CALVIN!!! What are you DOING?!?!!!"

In the last frame, we see Calvin looking up calmly from his handiwork, twenty or so nails sticking out of the tabletop.

He says, "Is this some kind of trick question?"

Best wishes,
Jerry

[TC]

Ouch indeed. I can sympathize with this as there is also one loose in my house.
I was pretty upset about all the little bite marks on my Feadog, not nearly as bad as yours.

[emmline]

Oh...maybe his musical future lies more in the heavy metal area, and not so much ITM.

[mutepointe]

We do not have children. My wife babysits (at their house.) Our house is not child proof, we say it's child booby trapped. Over the years, whichever kids she was babysitting have always loved coming to our house because we have so much stuff. Amazingly, they have all understood that some musical instruments and some other stuff can not be touched. We have a secret passageway too. You are extremely blessed to have a toddler. Save that whistle to show him when his kids destroys something of his.

[shatfield]

Sorry to hear about the whistle Little John. My grandaughters were here the other night and I was showing my 20 month old my Obrien Rover and playing it for her. Her eyes lit up and her little hands reached up. Showed me she was a potential whistle blower .........and reminded me not to leave it laying around when she's here.


Steve

[littlejohngael]

We do not have children. My wife babysits (at their house.) Our house is not child proof, we say it's child booby trapped. Over the years, whichever kids she was babysitting have always loved coming to our house because we have so much stuff. Amazingly, they have all understood that some musical instruments and some other stuff can not be touched. We have a secret passageway too. You are extremely blessed to have a toddler. Save that whistle to show him when his kids destroys something of his.

Hahahaha! Will do! He's just started climbing, too. I was making dinner last night, and I heard my wife scream, "No, no, no, no, NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" And BOOM!!! I looked into the living room and saw that he had climbed up on the piano bench, stood up and grabbed my 26-string harp off the top of the piano. Man, I'm glad those things are made sturdy. Not a ding on it. Thank heavens!!!

Can you guess what I'm doing this weekend? Yep. Aaaaaaaall my instruments are getting a new home in my room -- up on the wall. HAHAHAHAHA!!!

LJ

[ahogrelius]

No comment necessary...

[Tommy]

a chunk was split out of the fipple from the top blowhole all the way to the windway and about a half-inch wide. Ruined forever.
Little John

Did you keep all the pieces? It is possible to put it back together.
I have had several wood whistles shatter apart when pushing a cutting tool in to fast on a lathe. Rather than scrap them I took the opportunity to practice repairs. Some of the repair can be seen, and some blends in with the grain of the wood. They play fine, and stay in my own collection.

PM sent

[Dale]

I've heard that if a toddler destroys a whistle, if you rub their little noses in it, they'll never do it again.

[Mick Down Under]

Do what I did for my two toddlers, make them their own whistles out of PVC. They don't even need to be tuned (but it is better if they are). Everytime I pick up a whistle the kids reach for theirs too. They quickly learnt to differentiate between theirs and Daddies whistles, especially when they were told several times that theirs were special whistles just for them and kept where they could reach them more easily then mine (a matter of a few centimetres difference). As for the harp...Maybe a toy Guitar or Ukelele...A toy Guitar stopped my girls from going for my Guitars. None of my intruments are out of their reach, but the more expensive ones are kept in cases. Hope that helps anyway, all kids are different.


Mick

[Doc Jones]

"I child proofed my house...but the little buggers keep getting in anyway."

-Author unknown-

Doc

[plunk111]

The picture above... HILARIOUS!!! WAY better than just a little damage to a whistle!

[s1m0n]

No comment necessary...

Let's hope that's latex.