Posted by Jaicee
Naivie has inherited her father's gift for story telling. She's very young still, and her stories are primitive, but when she tells stories it is evident that she has a vivid imagination. And when she grows up, she will be absolutely entertaining-- either that or a compulsive liar.
Today, I was in the kitchen chopping up potatoes for dinner when Naivie woke from her nap and wandered into the kitchen.
"Hey, sweetheart! Did you have a good nap?"
"Yep. Can I see what you're doing?"
"Sure."
So she pulled up a chair to the counter and quietly watched me for a few minutes. But she was not actually focused on the potatoes. What I didn't know at the time, was that she was actually formulating her next amazing story. After a few minutes, she started to talk:
"Mommy, I saw the giant, scary monster!"
"The monster? Oh no! Did you have a dream about monsters?"
"Yeah I did. I had a dream about a giant, scary monster. It had long, skinny fingers and it chased the kids."
"Were they scared?"
"Yeah, they all ran away from the monster because they were so scared. They ran to a safe place."
"Oh. Where did they go?"
"They went to get some food."
"Oh! Food, that's a good idea!" I said between laughs.
"Yeah mommy, they went to the grocery store to get some food. They got some yogurt and eggs. And they got some milk and some pork chops!"
I was just laughing so hard I didn't even know what to say.
"And the kids ate all their food and they got a treat!"
"That's great! So what did the monster do?"
"Oh the monster just growed up. He got bigger and then he went to his school. But he didn't scare the kids anymore."
Now, I know that this was not actually a dream. I know that our three-year-old just came up with this on the spot. It was so amazing to watch her brain work. We need to encourage this imaginative ability that she has. She tells me crazy stories almost every day.
For another example: on her birthday I was so busy making her cake and putting up the decorations that I wasn't really paying attention to what the girls were doing. When Naivie came up to me later that afternoon, she had a big scrape down her nose that was starting to bleed a little. When I asked her what happened, this is what she told me:
"Mom, the big kitty scratched me right in the face!"
"What kitty?"
"The big kitty in my room!"
The only kitty I knew of that we had in the house is a little stuffed puppy she sleeps with every night. (We've never had the heart to tell her that "kitty" is a puppy.) But even though I told her we don't have a real kitty at our house, she never changed her story and told it to daddy and to the other kids I was babysitting at the time. As a result, they all believe we have a kitty at our house that they have never seen.
I still don't know where that scratch came from.
I love my funny girl!
