I walk into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and he follows me in there. He watches me for a while. And then suddenly he’s opening and closing the cabinet doors, banging them over and over and over again.

He reaches up to grab the handle of the drawer containing the silverware, opening and closing it so you can hear all the forks and spoons clattering.

And just when you think you have created the world’s most irritating monster, he looks up at you with big eyes and a wide smile and says…

“Ishu making music!”

He follows you into the living room, distracted with whatever toys are left on the floor.

Eventually, he takes some sort of hard object. A Lego maybe. And he walks over to the air vent and starts grating it against the wall. Up, down, up down. Over and over and over again.

And just when you think you’re going to lose your mind, he squeals and shouts out…

“Ishu making music!”

He quietly sits in the stroller and when you walk into the store, he begins to swing his legs so the heel of his foot clangs and squeaks against the frame.

And just when you think he’s going to erupt into a full blown tantrum because he is tired of sitting for so long, he twists his neck to look at you and say…

“ISHU MAKING MUSIC!”

He is a musical little boy. He’s loved music from the very beginning, rockin’ around to anything from Wheels on the Bus to Savage Love. And now he likes MAKING music. We got these wooden instruments which he loves. And his Dadi sent him a harmonica (which he has now learned how to play notes while breathing IN – as well as out – so he thinks he’s a real musical genius).

But he can make music with anything.

It reminds me of a line in one of his favorite books, Gerald the Giraffe.

“Everything makes music if you really want it to.”

I’m not gonna lie and say I am smiling through this whole musical discovery journey. Sometimes it’s LOUD. And when he’s banging the mixing bowl with two serving spoons, I definitely want to pull my hair out. But when that happens, we try to redirect to his instruments (or swap out the serving spoons with something plastic, ha). 

It’s been a real eye-opener about his (and other toddlers’) general behavior.

So much of what we perceive as irritating or frustrating or annoying or confusing is our little humans trying to figure out the world. Having a sensory experience. They’re not trying to be irritating or loud. They’re not trying to make a scene as they walk up and down the grocery aisles, dragging their hands along each bag of chips.

They – like Ishu – might simply be trying to make music.