While buckling our granddaughters, Little One and Sweet Caroline, into their car seats yesterday, the all too familiar battle of who gets to hold what stuffed animal had already begun.
It intensified to a whining pitch as animals were tossed, caught, then tossed back across the open void between car seats again and again as cries of, “Don’t want it!” tried to drown out, “Nooooo!” even before backing out of the garage.
This was much earlier than usual. To say I was worried that someone would melt down (them or their Big Papa) before making our destination, the pre-school 10 LONG miles away, would be an understatement. I was downright terrified!
Whoever said, “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” must’ve been the parent of toddlers because after just two miles with the stuffed animal war raging in the backseat, I was really desperate and willing to try most anything.
My solution not only ended the war (at least until they were picked up from school), but it kept the girls entertained during the entire morning commute. It also accomplished something else. It gave me a unique idea for this week’s column.
You see, the rest of this story I did not write. A 2- and a 3-year-old penned this story, and how it ends was a surprise even to me.
A long, long time ago on a familiar street not so far away [okay, that line actually was from me] two sisters went walking into the woods with their Big Papa and Gigi. They walked for a long time until they came to a fallen log, and they all sat down to rest. Ladybugs came out from under the log crawling up their arms tickling and said, “Hello.” After a kiss, the red and black ladybugs flew away.
The girls spend most everyday outside walking in the woods with Big Papa and on weekends with their Gigi. Mother Nature is the best babysitter after all. That, and it’s really hard to tear up a forest.
During our walks we’ve seen many a fallen log and caught countless red and black ladybugs. Each ladybug has spent time crawling up the little girls’ arms and faces before eventually flying away to safety. Don’t really know if ladybugs can kiss, but wouldn’t blame them if they did. Our girls are really, really cute.
We started walking again, stepped on a snake, ran away and jumped over a creek. In the creek was a big crocodile, and he went SNAP, trying to eat us. But we got away.
On our walks, we have seen many snakes. I’ve picked them up and let the girls touch them while explaining how important snakes are and what role they play in nature. The crocodile going SNAP comes from one of our bedtime stories. The girls think he lives in the creek that is at the bottom of our subdivision.
Soon we were out of the forest and saw a lake full of ducks and geese. Mommy was standing on the bank feeding them Cheerios. We saw white butterflies and woodpeckers.
Since the girls were born, a week hasn’t gone by without a visit to our neighborhood park I call Twin Lakes. Mom often meets us there when she gets off from work. Filled with turtles, frogs, ducks and geese, the lakes are a wildlife refuge. The ducks simply love eating Cheerios out of little girls’ hands and off their shoes.
Walking trails through the deep woods on the far side of the lakes provide hours of exploring and escape from the hot summer sun and are a haven for butterflies of all colors — even white. The red-headed woodpecker is a small stuffed animal Little One picked out during our last visit to the Atlanta Zoo.
Walking in the woods again, we saw a big bear. He was brown with long hair. He roared at us, but we weren’t scared; he wasn’t mean and could dance. My little sister and I fed him marshmallows and rode on his back. Mr. Bear’s name was Kendall and he could talk. He said he wanted to go to school with us. We rode him to school where he met all our friends. They fed him marshmallows too.
One of the girl’s favorite movies to watch is “Jungle Book,” and they simply love Baloo, the big dancing singing bear. In the spring we bought a family pass to the Atlanta Zoo where we have taken the girls four times this year. The last time they went, they saw elephants, giraffes, and bears being fed.
If the weather is good, we try to have a fire out in our backyard on Saturday nights. After a dinner of hotdogs, hamburgers, and chips, the dessert is always S’mores with extra fat marshmallows. Don’t really know if the zoo folks feed the bears marshmallows, but perhaps they should. They would be so happy they might start singing and dancing just like Baloo.
It’s amazing to me what kids can learn, take in, and remember from everyday events. Even at the tender age of 2 and 3 years old. As to where Little One and Sweet Caroline learned to tell stories such as the one above? Well, I guess that will remain one of life’s great mysteries.
[Rick Ryckeley has been writing stories since 2001. To read more of Rick’s stories, visit his blog: storiesbyrick.wordpress.com.]
