Isabel: The storyteller, the star

Isabel is an extremely imaginative child. I sometimes can't believe the stories she tells, and the language and vocabulary she uses to tell them. The other day, she was taking a bath with a plastic toy tiger and a little plastic horse. The tiger was itself, but the horse she made to be a fish (?). For a good 30 or 40 minutes, she made up this elaborate story with these animals. After she got out of the bath, she resumed the story. At this point I decided to grab and pen and paper and record what she said as she was saying it. I missed a sentence or two, as it was difficult to keep up with her. She doesn't pause; the words just keep coming. I had to share her story, which again, is about one-fifth of the entire story, as it started way before I started recording, and continued for a while after my hand got tired and I stopped. *Note* I have added paragraph breaks where I think they should go; sometimes it was obvious, other times, not so much. And yes, she says, "and mom" a lot when she is talking to me. I didn't even include all the "and moms." And my favorite part is when she is sad and "dropped one tear off of her nose." Because Isabel wouldn't just say she was sad or crying.

"One time a big storm came, and mom, we have to hide in our campy camper. And so the fish and tiger were safe. And the storm stopped, and a big mean lion came and pushed the tiger off the cliff. But the fish was holding the tiger’s tail to be safe from the danger. A mean tiger came and pushed the nice tiger off, so mom, she (the fish) had to hide in the nice tiger’s mouth to be safe on his back.

And mom, the kingdom was flagged. The flag waved in the wind, and mom, the flag stopped and the nice tiger said, “What’s your dream come true?” So the fish said to the tiger, “Let your dreams come true the flag.” Because they love American. They wanna keep the flag and they didn’t want anything to hurt it.

The fish went on the tiger’s back and they went walking and walking. So mom, they went back in the camper to be safe from the big storm. The storm went away. The nice tiger put the flag in his mouth, and the fish got it. Then a girl lion came and the flag was staying there. I grabbed the flag, and then a big rainstorm came. They didn’t want their flag to get wet, so to be safe, they changed it into a little umbrella to stay dry.

The storm stopped, then another big storm came. And mom, the fishy and the nice tiger went to be with their cozy American flag.

One time a mean daddy tiger came and tried to push me off the cliff and the cliff had prickers and thorns down it. So I said ouch and I wanted someone to rescue me. Suddenly a fire lady came and rescued me, and I climbed down the ladder and saw my daddy waiting for me. We ran to each other and hugged. It was a nice story.

Then the fish and the nice tiger went to a nice place called American.

Then I got to put a little necklace and a lollipop in the squishy ball for them to tuck in and be safe. The necklace was their little blanket and the lollipop was their little stuffed thing.

My daddy put me to bed and said “I’m sure we’ll find the mama tiger in the morning.”

It was morning and I saw my mother standing and I ran to her and I hugged and kissed her. I held her little hand then we looked at our house and we ran in our house so no mean tigers or lions could get us. Then I was on the cliff on a red ladder, and I saw my brother Daniel the lion standing there. We went to the house and went in it and I saw my baby and my mom and they were all sleeping and a big rainstorm came and I was getting all wet.

I also got really, really wet. A pricker flew by me and came in my claws and I said “Ouch!” and I got the pricker out. Then I went in my house and laid down. I tucked myself in.

Then in the morning my mom and dad made breakfast for me.

Then a rainstorm came and I hid between 2 rocks, but they were fuzzy and prickery. So mom, I ran in my house and said, “hmmmmmmm…”

I was sad because I wanted to see my grandma and grandpa, and I dropped one tear off of my nose, and I wiped it away. And I saw my grandma and grandpa, and I ran to them really, really fast and I held their hand to be really, really safe. And I saw my cousins Grace and Emma and Ben, and I said, “Come on in.”

I grabbed my teddy bear and grabbed my sleeping bag and put my head on my pillow and went to sleep.

In the morning I found my grandfather. It was getting late and dark. It (something about family) makes me so happy and it's my special world."

-- Isabel Charlotte, age 3

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Also, Isabel is LOVING preschool. Not that I was worried. The highlight thus far was getting to bring the Star Bag on Thursday. The children rotate bringing home the Star Bag, and they get to bring it back with 5 things they want to show and tell everything. She was so excited, and planned for 2 days what to bring. Here is the result (you'll notice her naming abilities seem to be overall lacking in creativity)-
1. "Carrie" the Care Bear, a gift from Uncle Nate and Aunt Alli when we were in MN this summer.
2. "Licky the Cow," a tiny, rubber, pink cow Isabel got when we toured Cozy Cows Dairy in June. She and Licky have been inseparable ever since.
3. Lollipop the stuffed rattle, which is indeed a baby rattle, but Isabel believes it to be a stuffed lollipop.
4. Her princess ball.
5. A toy penguin that was from a McDonald's happy meal. This was a stand-in for the original #5, Maddy her toy ambulance (as she is going to be a "girl paramedic" when she grows up. Can you see her older brother's influence here?)

Oh my. I love my Isabel.