Music Class

Holly has really been enjoying music class. I am so glad that she has taken to it. She is making friends in the group and having a lot of fun.Each class is a little different. On this day we started it off with a whistle and a bowl bell its one of those bowls where you rub the stick around the edge and it makes a pretty sound.Holly really liked playing with these, and in general all of the instruments that are put out during class. This is a little whistle she is trying to blow into.She is such a sweetie, on this day we arrived early so she would greet and welcome the other kid. She was trying to help this little boy out of his stroller.We usually go to class right after Holly's nap so she is often very hungry. Here she is eating a snack. Sometimes we have a bottle. Occasionally we have time to eat before class.Here Holly is saying hello to Mira and trying to get her attention, Mira is one of our new friends, from music class and then the park afterwards.Here are Holly and Chloe playing across the room from each other. They like to play chase and follow each other around.When the instruments come out it is total chaos, the kids love them. Holly has so much fun playing with the drums and the shakers. She grabs something and plays it then hands it off and runs and gets a new instrument.Here Holly is playing with some finger clickers. She loved discovering how to use them. That's part of the fun of it, watching her discover how to do and use new things.This are clappers. At the time she didn't know how to clap yet, but she was able to bang together these two clappers. She had all the motions of clapping but it hadn't clicked yet.We have this book at home from Stephanie the Speech Therapist and there is a picture of a little girl clapping. Holly grabs the book, turns to the page and says more. She then expects us to sing."When your happy and you know it clap your hands" We have been practicing a lot. The other song we have been singing we learned in music class. It goes like this:"Open - shut them, open - shut them, put them in your lap lap lap.. Open - shut them open - shut them you can make them clap clap clap.."Since these photos were taking Holly has started to learn how to clap after weeks of practice. She asks for the Happy when you know it song by clapping and signing more. Then she will open and shut her hands and "ask" for the song. It is so sweet the more she learns to communicate the more she can tell us what she wants. I love it.This is a really cool felt story book. We sometimes sing songs and sing stories in the book. There is the Itsy Bitsy Spider and there is the one about Five Little Frogs. It is really neat.We do all kinds of fun songs, some are finger puppet songs and some are songs that we sing while marching in a circle. In the beginning Holly didn't like it when all the grown ups got up to sing those songs, but now she is getting used to it. The room where music class is held is really hot. I have resorted to wearing tank tops even on cold days. Holly is always sweaty from the dancing and running around by the end of it.But we survive and have a good time. Some days the teacher plays guitar, and others she plays piano. Holly has really taken to it and enjoys it a lot.Maybe one day she will even get lessons of her own. She always stops and pays attention when the piano starts playing. The other day the teacher sang Rainbow Connection. We loved it.