Screeching! My ears are bleeding!

[dantesmama]

DS1 is barely 2 years old and has recently discovered the joy of screeching as loud and high-pitched as possible. It's not a tantrum or attention thing, it's just fun, apparently. But it's driving me up the wall. It hurts my ears, and startles the baby - and I'm sure our downstairs neighbor doesn't appreciate it. I've tried everything I can think of, to no avail - asking him to keep it down, talking about "indoor voices", explaining that it hurts my ears, trying to turn it into a "whispering game", pretending not to notice the screeching - and I don't want to squash his self-expression, but this has got to stop.

Any suggestions?

[loudmama]

No suggestions, but my DS does this too. He does do it though when he is upset. Hits a pitch that just shakes your ear drum. I try to remind him that there are other ways to express himself, but at 17 months its sadly normal behavior. I do think he does it more with his Dad though. I think he realizes it aggravates him more.

Its a good thing they're cute!

L