My daughter has a powerful voice. She can belt out and hold a note for so long, and put so much volume and power into it, I wonder if she’s doing diaphragm exercises behind my back.
Then I remember she’s 1.
I have to remind myself that she just doesn’t know how to talk yet. She is expressing frustration or excitement or desire for something I can’t figure out, testing the limits of her vocal cords, demanding attention, digging the sound of her own voice.
It does make doing things with her tricky. An outburst can happen at any moment, and it’s hard to predict when she’ll stop, even with mom-style interruption, deflection, distraction, pointed engagement, etc.
I avoid going places that her unexpected vocalizations might be overly disturbing, so I’d never contemplated taking her to a concert hall—until I saw a listing for Seattle Symphony’s Tiny Tots concerts, which have existed for nearly 20 years, according to Laura Reynolds, vice president of education and community engagement for the symphony.
