S's story

S has been helping a lot lately. I think she really treasures time with me. The other day after we had cleaned the fridge together and I was painstakingly mopping the kitchen floor she went to the other room, obtained several sheets of construction paper, and illustrated a story--a long one. She proceeded to tell it to me. It goes something like this.

Once upon a time there was a queen named Queen Lovely (names have been changed to protect the innocent--actually I forgot but it sounds more interesting that way), King Artist (that is the right name she gave him), Prince Kingboy (again the name S gave him), Princess Beautiful and the baby. They went on a picnic and they found a baby dolphin that was an orphan and both its parents had died. They put it in a huge tank so it could swim around and it was very happy (sorry environmentalists--you can pretend it says and it was adopted by a huge pack of dolphins and lived in the ocean).

The family got lost all except for the daddy. They were swallowed by a shark (I think she meant whale). King Artist and the dolphin looked in one ocean and then another and finally he found the whale and got swallowed. They couldn't get out through the teeth--there were only little spaces. Their dolphin friend was there (but not swallowed) and pulled them out with a rope through the blow hole. And they all lived happily ever after.

I'd say that is a pretty good story for a 4 year old (though parts of it sound oddly like the movie Pinnochio--but still).

With any luck a video of her telling it will be coming soon.