Little Man and I drove over to see his Grandmother today...
She had to leave for a short time, so we put a video on of the Wiggles - namely Emma Wiggle. If you are not familiar with this amazing Australian phenomenon, I could not recommend any childhood entertainment more highly! The Wiggles used to be 4 guys who blew away the competition in the past. Now, 3 of the characters have changed and Emma Wiggle is Little Man's favorite girl!
Little Man was crying loudly when his Grandmother had to duck out of the door, but as soon as Emma started singing to him from the TV, the smiles came through. He happily joined in with the whole team for "Big Red Car" and joins her when she ballet dances to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"... He is not able to sing along, but joins in with the moves in his own sweet way and has his own routine.
Whenever Little Man has been on the point of a tantrum in the past, I have been able to sing to him with a set of anti-tantrum songs and, as long as I catch him in time, the full tantrum can be prevented. Just the lyrics to "Hush Little Baby", "somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World" is enough to stop the cries as he stares at me. I don't know how much longer I will be able to do this - as he gets older influences change and I have to look to different songs.
@mumofmany mentioned recently that a song by Coldplay worked wonders for her 5 year old. I obviously have to start opening up his music experience.In the meantime, we have the Wiggles on DVD and have every intention of joining in together for "Big Red Car" and "Hot Potato". There's no better way to get a smile on a Little Man's face... :)