Thursday, October 09, 2008

Laughing game, story time...

KB loves to be silly and loves to laugh. He gets into laugh mode and just cannot stop sometimes. Much like how I used to be as a child. One day when I was giving him his cereal, just when we were close to being done, I suddenly broke into laughter (fake) - buahhh....ahhh....ahhh...and pretended like it was uncontrollable laughter and then I stopped. He was so taken aback by this sudden outburst but he clearly loved it because he just started laughing loudly - but his laughter was real. KG saw us both laughing (when he really laughed, I found it funny was laughing too) and even though she had no clue what this was about - she came to the high chair and started chortling and laughing herself. It was overall so much fun. KB of course got addicted to this laughing game. When I took KG upstairs and changed her diaper and then put her on the bed to just run around, KB said to me, "Mamma, buaahh pannu" (laugh like that). And all over again we went through it and we were all laughing like looney bins! :)
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Story time:

B used to either whistle tunes or just sing children's songs for KB when he pats him to sleep for the night. We dont' read to them during bed time. All reading happens downstairs before he gets into bed. One day I suggested to B that he should tell KB stories for bedtime. KB used to enjoy stories I told him at random times during the day. So for a few days B used to look up children's stories on the internet and then tell KB modified versions of these stories. It usually revolved around some animal stories. Tortoise and the hare type stories. One day, I asked KB what story he wanted B to tell him that night. And KB suggested some random title like "The crab and the whale" or some such title. And that night B just made up a story about the crab and the whale. It so happened that the next day I came up with a title for the story for that night. Since then it has become a routine for us. KB and I take turns in suggesting a story for B to tell him at night. And each time we come up with a title KB says "I don't know Daddy if can handle it (he puts the "If" after daddy)". And I have to say, "I don't know !". And then KB says, "Daddy can handle it"! KB enjoys these random little stories we make up (mostly B, some days it is me) during his bed time. Every morning, he tells me the story. He cuts out all the frills and just gets to the meat of the story. Some days, he gets into it and tells me the story with his own frills attached.

One night it was my turn (KB never forgets whose turn it is to suggest the story) to come up with a story title. I suggested "Bubbles and the dog" randomly. I thought B would be getting KB into bed but it turned out he had some work so I had to do it. This is the gist of the story.

"There was a little boy named John. He was going to turn three years old. His dad asked him "What do you want for your birthday, little John?". John told him that he wanted bubbles to blow and a water table in the yard. His dad said, "Sure, we will get you bubbles and a water table for your birthday".

John liked to go to Grove park. It had a ladder that he could climb without any help from his dad. (based on the park that KB likes to go to where he climbs a curved ladder).

One day at the park, when he came down the slide he saw two little puppy dogs. John and his little sister loved playing with those puppies. John was sad to leave the puppies behind when he had to leave the park. The lady said that she could not take care of both puppies and would be happy if John wanted one. But his dad told John they had to leave the park.

On the day before his birthday, John's dad asked him why he looked sad. John said to him, "Dad, I don't want bubble or water table, I want that puppy. Please Please Please dad".

"But John, you said you wanted them. You love bubbles and you loved playing with the water table at Adam's house. Are you sure you don't want them?"

John exclaimed, "Daddy, i only want that puppy, I don't want anything else".

On the day of his birthday, after John cut the cake and the kids sang him a birthday song, John's dad said to him ,"John, come to the yard, I have a surprise for you".

John went to the yard and saw the little puppy sitting by the big plant. "Arf, Arf" the puppy said and ran to John. John petted the puppy and said, "Wooooooww, Daddy! I love this puppy".
(At this point KB's eyes open wide with excitement as well).

"Thank you Daddy", John says.

Daddy asks John, "What would you like to name the puppy?".

John jumps up and down in joy and then turns to his daddy and says, " I want to call the dog "Bubbles", daddy.

John and his little sister and "Bubbles" played in the yard for a long time that day.

That's it , the end!
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KB loves hearing this story over and over and he just loves the feeling of surprise and celebration. He liked this story so much that he asks me to say it to him even during the day sometimes. In all both myself and KB enjoy this new routine (about two months now) of coming up with random titles and having B tell him those stories and then hearing about it the next morning.

Last night it was "The Lamp and the car". (B made up this story where the little boy goes and meddles in his mom's closet and happens to find an old lamp. He rubs it by mistake and a robot comes out of it. And the robot tells him he can give him three things. And the little boy says he wants a car. And the robot says, "Yes, Master" and so on. KB imitates B and changes his voice to sound robotic and says "Yes, master!". I just look forward to KB's rendition of these stories each morning. Tomorrow morning, I will get to hear the story of "The dog and the ball".
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21 comments:

Cantaloupes.Amma (CA) said...

Don't we feel so good when we have created a habit / pattern ... almost like a ritual with the kids. Me and Cantaloupe share a special time before sleep we discuss all the "Good" and "Bad" things of the day. Cantaloupe does the talking part mostly and I listen. This helps me see a lot of things from her perspective.

Regarding the imaginary story part ... good work ! We do this a lot too ... how many stories can you possibly know to satisfy the kids hunger for stories ... so the imagination sure helps !! In our house imaginary stories have ranged from Cimba (Lion King) being potty trained during her training time to a little girl helping her mom.

Nice, feel good post !!

aMus said...

oh..this was such a cutesie post...you made my day...

and that's a lovely storytelling ritual you've created for KB...

noon said...

Hi CA - that's such a nice ritual you have there too...what a nice way to set up some real communication...I should do this too when KB is a little older - just casually make him talk. Another routine I didn't post about - I should so I remember it for myself yrs later - every afternoon after lunch he calls his dad and tells him "morning news". Meaning what he did in the morning. Sometimes he reveals details like "Mamma yenna kochi panna" (mamma got angry with me) and B asks me why do you get mad at him!

Suma (And CA) - have to thank you both for patiently reading through my long post! I mainly wrote it so I at least remember some part of this routine and at least a couple of stories we told him - every night we tell him a story - but I hardly remember the titles. Tonight's story - the leopard and the bull! :)

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

You should really write these stories down and get them published! They are just too precious for words!

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

Wish for you on my blog...

Anonymous said...

The girls and I have this routine where, we would tell each one sentence to the story.
Me:Once upon a time,there was a boy
Ashu:His name is Peter
Ava:He had a adog named Johnny.

and so on and so forth.

I told my boys the Bubbles story. they both liked it

noon said...

Mammamia - That is such a sweet thing to say! Thanks! Although this is probably the only story I will remember since I blogged about it!
I can publish a "one tiny story" book! :)

Asaaan - that is such a nice idea. I should remember to do this when KB and KG are a little older - it will be so much fun. Hope I am still blogging then - if not you have to remind me in a few years! :)
And you totally made my day - that you told the bubbles story to the boys and they liked it - you have no idea how happy that makes me feel! Thanks so much!

Mama - Mia said...

wow!! :)

you guys are really creative!! am really bad at this whole story telling thing and feel quite bad about it!

maybe you can keep publishing your original works and help us uncreative mommies! :D

lovely lovely post!

cheers!

abha

Rohini said...

Love the Bubbles story. And you came up with that on the spot??! I am impressed

Mystic Margarita said...

This is so creative, Noonie - what a nice way to entertain as well as encourage kids to be imaginative! :)

Yet Another Mother Runner said...

What an ingenious idea!! Lovely story too. How you lose perspective as the kids grow up!! Between the chores and HW and stuff, I'm brain-dead to keep up with such cool ideas.
I spend maybe 5-10 minutes a day talking to the girls about their day!
With my focus for T1 now on writing, I'll be sure to steal this idea and ask her to pick a "title" and write a story :)

noon said...

Abha - smiley happy Abha! :) That's how I always remember you.
Anyways - thanks! Am sure if you start you will also manage to come up with some story or the other. Not all are hits even of the ones we tell KB. He sweetly listens to them all but the next morning he will tell us the gist of the story only if it struck a chord with him.

Rohini - thanks! :) It's all based on KB...he likes bubbles and loves playing with the water table (which he saw at his American friend's house - hence the name Adam in the story)...and KG loves puppies even more than him...so loosely just made a story around all that...although no way I will get him a puppy myself!

Mystic - thanks! :) Not so much an idea - just randomly happened one day since he was taking so long to fall asleep - we thought we would try story telling...

GND - am sure I will say the same thing a few years from now. Now we don't have the pressure of "learning" and "homework" - so just having fun with stories and what not. He goes to bed at 10.00 pm - God knows how I am going to change that first of all! 8.00 pm to bed - man how will I ever do it with this night owl kid!

B o o said...

Thats such a sweet post, Noonie. Loved the story. Told it to Ashu and she loved the "bubbles" twist at the end and had a big smile. Of course, I changed the name of the boy to Kutti Boy and now she wants a Kutti boy story called "The horse and the popcorn"!! Here comes the Kutti boy series.... You should totally write a book dude! :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely Noon!!I have been reading ur post for a long time but this is the first time to comment. I told my son this story and everyday during eating session,he is asking for bubbles story and started for bedtime too..;-)..
This has become so famous in our house and my son never gets tired to listen the same story again and again!!!

Sudha

noon said...

Boo - thanks! So strange, I read your post just the night before and I looked at a couple of older posts of yours also - and I saw your comment the next morn. Am soo happy that Ashu kutti liked the story. You know I keep writing KB (kutti boy) here and I find myself writing that in my emails to my cousins etc...have to watch or soon the whole extended family will know I blog! :) No big secret here...just a little corner where I like to hide! :)

Sudha - totally thrilled that you told the bubbles story to your son and that he likes it so much. And thanks for delurking too! How old is your son? KB is the same way - he listens to the same story over n over and over. And books - we read it once and read it again right away. I close the book and he says "Thiruppiyum padikalama?" (Can we read it again?).

noon said...

BTW - tonight's story, "Joe the plumber"! :) In case you saw the debate yesterday. KB loves all fix it type stories - so figured I would suggest this story - since it is my turn today to come up with a title.

Yet Another Mother Runner said...

LOL! Joe the plumber who is not a plumber (yet) after all :)

Anonymous said...

Noon, My son also turned 3 in July and i find lot of similarities in KB and him. He says the same after i read every book. Although i converse and insist him speaking tamizh he has not yet picked tamizh words at all but understands them perfectly:(..not to blame him, he spends "Major 8-9hrs in day care"...I too swtitched him to montessori in Sep and althou he is used to day care since he was 8 months, i went thru everything u wrote in ur blog. Finally he now goes to half day session and me travellign everyday to pick him and drop him home. My MIL is here now to take care of him the rest of the day. But i take 1.5 hrs lunch break :(..which makes me feel so guilty. I started to type a big comment when u wrote all ur stories that i was also goin thru the same inspite of my son used to day care life but deleted it :(...but this bubbles story really made be delurk and comment.;-).

Sudha.

Neera said...

Noon - lovely way of sparking his imagination and even ur own :) Vansh somehow prefers being read stories than being told even though I feel its better to tell stories , so they totally use their imagination unlike books where they get to see the pictures. Shall try this again with him with ur suggestions :)

And yeah Joe the plumber, the hero of the US currently!

noon said...

GND - yeah the famous Joe the Plumber - he is a plumber but not licensed yet. But a famous plumber - I wouldn't call him if our pipe had a leak - who knows a CNN camera might be following him!
That story gist (for myself!) : Kutti boy was a prankster who kept doing "veshamam". One day he put a whole lot of tissue into the toilet and it all got stuck and couldn't be flushed. So had to call Joe the plaumber and ask him to rush and come and fix it. The rest were frills attached to the story! Tonight's story btw - the light bulb and the poster!

Sudha - thanks so much for delurking...our kids are so close in age. KB turned three on Aug 3!

Neera - actually the way he started listening to stories was through two kind of books - one Calvin and Hobbes - we would pick the kiddy ones - where Calvin refuses to eat etc and just change it to make it really simple and understandable for KB. The other was Amar Chitra Katha - we would do that same thing - Dasharatha story as KB says for Ramayana - just say "Payasam" for Amrut etc etc...am sure soon Vansh will love stories so much you will be talking in stories to him. Now every thing is a story for KB. Like today I told him no way, no more "Dashavatar" comic, you have to go to sleep...and he tried to act like he was going to cry etc...so I told him, look Anita is asleep, Shreya is asleep etc etc naming all his friends and he said,
"sollu, Anita sotry sollu thiruppi" (tell me Anita sotry again) and made me go through all the names of the kids and how they are all asleep and he is the only one still awake !:) Every thing is either a game or a story now. I should have just emailed you all this! :)

Usha said...

Please make sure you tell us those stories the next day - they sound like so much fun!