A couple nights ago, we were in the car when she requested her story, so I decided to do one on the theme of "The Gift of Too Much." I told the story of Belinda, who came home one day to hear her mother announce that she was tired of cooking, and from now on, they would be having chocolate for every meal. Of course, Belinda was on Cloud Nine -- she could hardly believe her ears! Oh, how she enjoyed her dinner that night. A big, fat chocolate bar for the main course, hot chocolate to drink, chocolate pudding instead of vegetables & chocolate ice cream for dessert. Of course, by the next morning Belinda was starving when she woke up. She wondered if it had all been a dream, until she went downstairs & found a chocolate bar on her plate for breakfast.
She took off to school after breakfast, but she was hungry again by 10:00. She had to wait until lunch to eat, so when lunchtime came, she could hardly contain herself as she opened her paper bag. And inside her paper bag, she found....another chocolate bar, with some Tootsie Rolls on the side & some chocolate milk to drink. All of her friend were envious of her lunch & begged her to trade, but Belinda had to say no, since her mother had always been very clear that she was not allowed to trade her food at lunchtime.
Belinda ate the chocolate lunch, but it didn't taste very good going down & it felt even worse in her belly. Within an hour, she was starving again & spent the rest of the afternoon dreaming of roasted chicken, bean soup, carrots & broccoli. She all but ran home after school, practically famished & eager for a snack. But, she was met at the door with a hot plate of chocolate cookies.
"No thanks," she told her mom. "And, um, mom? You've gone a little wacky with the chocolate. Can we just have real dinners again & save the chocolate for dessert?"
And her mom smiled & said, "OK, Belinda, sounds good to me."
Sassy loved this story. She recounted it to Daddy-o when we got home. I asked her if she would like to have chocolate for every meal & the answer was a resounding no.
Last night, she asked for another story as we were going to bed. I intended to tell another tale of "The Gift of Too Much," only this time it would be Christmas every day, & we would get presents every day until the house got so full of presents we had to move, and move again, and again, and again & we were so tired of stuff, we started breaking it on purpose just to get rid of it. We sent a special note to Santa (with delivery confirmation) asking him to PLEASE take us off his nice list. We thought about being very naughty so that we could get off the nice list, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. Finally, we baked a very special cookie tray for Santa with the finest ingredients money could buy & left a note that said, "Santa, if you please, please stop bringing us gifts, we will give all of our gifts to children who need toys much more than we do & we will also bake these delicious, special cookies for you every Christmas." And the next day, there were no gifts under the tree. We had a big party to celebrate & invited all the children in need who didn't have any toys & gave them all away. And, of course, we served our delicious, special cookies.
But, the story seemed to have a mind of its own, so it took a different turn.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Clarissa. Clarissa was a very sweet little girl. She always obeyed her Mommy and Daddy and she was at the top of Santa's list.
One day, she said to her mother, "Mommy. It's snowing outside. There is snow everywhere."
"Yes, Clarissa," her mommy replied.
"Mommy," she continued, "our neighbors have decorated a Christmas tree & I can see it in their window."
"It's very pretty, Clarissa," her mommy said.
"Mommy. Our other neighbors have a big, blowup snowman IN their front yard."
Her Mommy smiled. "That's right, Clarissa."
"Mommy? Is it Christmas?"
"Well, actually Clarissa," her Mommy said, "tomorrow is Christmas. Tonight is Christmas Eve. Tonight, in the middle of the night, Santa will ride in his sleigh, pulled by all of his reindeer. He'll land on the roof while we're all sleeping. He'll come down the chimney & leave presents for us underneath the tree. Then he and his reindeer will fly away to leave gifts at the next house. We'll never hear the pitter patter of reindeer feet, though, because Santa only comes when we're sleeping."
Clarissa was very excited, so she decided to start getting ready for bed right then. She took a bath, brushed her teeth, used the potty & put on warm & comfy pajamas. Her Mommy tucked her in, kissed her, & said, "Sweet dreams, Clarissa. If you hear any pitter patter on the roof, don't worry. It's just Santa & his reindeer," and she turned out the light & shut the door.
Clarissa focused hard on falling asleep. And she focused harder. And ever harder. But she couldn't. She just tossed and turned and tossed and turned and turned and tossed. At 9:00 she couldn't sleep, at 10:00 she couldn't sleep, at 11:00 she couldn't sleep and at 12:00 she couldn't sleep. At 1:00, she decided she was hungry, so she opened the door to her parent's room & went to her Mommy's side of the bed.
"MOMMY!" she said.
"What?" Clarissa's Mommy asked, in a rather grumpy tone.
"I'm hungry," said Clarissa.
Her mother sighed, but she took her downstairs & gave her a little snack of toast & peanut butter with a glass of milk. When she was finished eating, her Mommy tucked her back in & reminded her, "Now go to sleep so that Santa can come." After a kiss on the forehead, the room was dark again & Mommy was back in her own bed.
Again Clarissa focused on going to sleep. But again she tossed and turned and tossed and turned and turned and tossed. At 2:00 she couldn't sleep and at 3:00 she couldn't sleep and at 4:00 she couldn't sleep. At 5:00, she decided she had to go potty, so she went potty & when she came back, she thought it might be fun to play with her toy animals for awhile. She was still playing with her toy animals when the morning sun began to peek through the curtains. She was very excited when she burst into her parents' room.
"MOMMY! DADDY! It's CHRISTMAS!" she yelled.
Her Mommy and Daddy smiled & sleepily got out of bed to go downstairs. They all went straight to the Christmas tree, but underneath the tree, there was....nothing. No gifts at all. Mommy and Daddy looked at each other with very puzzled expressions.
"It is December 25th, right," Mommy asked Daddy.
"Yes," said Daddy with a furrowed brow. "Hmm....maybe Santa got lost? Or maybe he's running late?"
Everyone was quiet for a minute as they thought about what had happened. Then Daddy said, "If there's no gifts, there's no gifts. But we can still have fun! Let's go outside & build a snowman."
So Daddy and Clarissa put on their snowpants, their coats, their hats & their gloves & went outside to build a snowman.
They were just finishing the bottom ball of the snowman when Clarissa noticed something on the roof.
"Um, Daddy, what's that on the roof?" she asked & pointed up near the chimney.
Daddy squinted his eyes & looked. "I have no idea," he said. "Let's get a closer look."
He pulled the ladder from the garage & placed it on the ground near the chimney. He climbed up all the way up to the roof.
"Why, it's our gifts!" he exclaimed. "With a note -- from Santa!"
He brought everything down and called for Mommy. There was one gift for Mommy, one for Daddy, one for their puppy & two for Clarissa. They all read the note together,
"Dear Clarissa's family,
I couldn't bring in your gifts since Clarissa wasn't sleeping. I've left them here for you & I hope you enjoy them. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! HO, HO, HO!"
Clarissa smiled and said, "I knew something was keeping me awake. It must of been all that pitter patter of reindeer feet."
THE END
After I told a story, Sassy decided to tell a story & I think she is becoming quite good. (Maybe I'm prejudiced?)
Here's hers:
"Once upon a time there was a Mommy and her little girl Marissa. One day, it was snowing & they went to the market. But when they got home, there was no food in their house. They looked in their refrigerator, there was no food. They looked in their freezer, there was no food. They looked in their top cabinets & their bottom cabinets & there was no food. There weren't even any dishes left in the whole kitchen.
Marissa's Mommy said, "Oh no! Something has happened to all of our food! What are we going to do?"
And Marissa said, "I think we should go to the grocery store & buy all their food and then go to the dishes store & buy new dishes."
So they did. But when they got to the grocery, there was no food there either & all the people in the whole town were there looking for food. They all said their food in their houses was gone & so were their dishes! Marissa and her Mommy and all the people of the town looked on the top shelves, but there was no food. They looked on the middle shelves, but there was no food. They looked on the bottom shelves, but there was no food. So Marissa and her Mommy went back home.
Still, their cabinets were empty of food & they didn't know what to do for dinner. But they looked under their cabinets & there was all the food! It had fallen on the floor where they couldn't see it. They were very happy because now they could fix dinner.
THE END
OK, so it's not mutli-million dollar, professional children's book writing. But, I'm so proud of her for her 4-year-old storytelling skills.
She has the introduction, the naming of the characters, the plotline & a solid conclusion. She even uses repetition to engage the listener. I think it's quite good, even if I am bragging over my own child.
Perhaps I should videotape these stories (if she'd let me).
1 comment:
Adorable!
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