When my niece, Ballerina, was two years old, she excitedly looked through the new Christmas toy catalog and stared lovingly at the pages of dolls and accessories, dainty dresses and shoes, pink buggies, strollers, and bassinets.
Ballerina at two-and-a-half years old
"You mean you want to go inside the catalog?" Cindy asked.
Ballerina nodded. Cindy explained that you can't go inside a catalog, but Ballerina couldn't understand why not, so she kept pestering her mom.
Finally, Cindy decided she'd have to let Ballerina discover for herself that she couldn't go inside a catalog. "Okay," Cindy said, "try and squish yourself in there." She held the catalog up to Ballerina's forehead while Ballerina pushed her head against it.
When nothing happened, Ballerina grew mad and cried. Cindy remembered her own childhood disappointment when she was unable to get inside a mirror to explore the world on the other side. She compassionately told her two-year-old, "You can't get in there. You're not Alice in Wonderland."
Although Ballerina gave up on her desire to get inside the toy catalog, she turned her attention to other things, wanting to get inside the pictures on cereal boxes and books! Years later she learned the real secret of how to get inside books: She learned to read and was swept away on exciting adventures.
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. ~ John Lennon
What happens to the wide-eyed observer when the window between reality
and unreality breaks and the glass begins to fly? ~Author Unknown
Everything you can imagine is real. ~Pablo Picasso
So, do you have a parenting or grandparenting incident?
If you're not a parent, memories from your own childhood count, too.
Warning: I might feature your story in a future post!
(Names can be changed to protect the guilty.)
I'd like to thank everyone who shared a parenting story with me last week.
I'm saving them and will publish some in future posts.
If you don't want to leave a comment but would rather contact me by email,
here's my address: lynkelwoohoo at yahoo dot com.
28 comments:
Oh, what an adorable photograph :-)
I loved this post, such a sweet story!
Ballerina! You are a true artiste! May your imagination and world continue to be open to impossible possibilities! Take care
x
Wow!!! So sweet and cute post. Really loved it. Thanks for sharing.
Take the test Caring For Toddlers and find out how good are you at caring for toddlers.
I used to imagine myself playing in the scenes of paintings when I was little. Adorable story and pictures.
What a sweet story! When I was younger, I would lose myself in beautiful pictures - wooded forests, walled gardens, fairytale lands especially. I'd lose myself and make up stories.
Love the ballerina photo!!
And discovering reading was probably the greatest thing for her!
gorgeous girl, and it's very cool that now she loves getting swept away by books. Don't we all? :o) <3
Great post and nice quotes.
Very cute picture.
I love how she kept trying to get inside. Great story.
Sarah - Thank you! My niece was such a cutie when she was little!
Ellen - Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the story, and thanks for stopping by.
Old Kitty - I'll be sure Ballerina gets your message. You're so sweet and always say the nicest things!
Daily Morning Coffee - Thank you! And thanks for that link on toddlers. I'll definitely check it out!
L.G. - Sounds like you were a lot like Ballerina when you were little!
April - Aha, those were the beginnings of your writing career. Very, very cool!
Thanks, Coleen!
Alex - Yes, discovering reading is always the best thing for all of us. I'm so glad you stopped by!
LTM - Yes, the magic of books! If all children loved reading, the world would be better off.
Simone - Thank you! I'm glad you liked the quotes, too!
M Pax - She was a determined little girl! Thanks for your comments.
Enjoyed the story. Keep telling them :)
Jerzey72 - Aw, thanks for the support!
I bet Ballerina has grown older to be a very imaginative girl! Can't believe more of us writers haven't tried to do that!
First story that comes to my mind is one of the "kids say the darndest things" variety: When my daughter was five or six, my mom took her to the kids' discovery museum. When they got to the insect exhibit, my daughter saw the roaches and said, "Look, Grandma, just like at your house!" My mom (who honest, is a very good housekeeper!) was totally mortified! I was LOL!
Ballerina is a born reader and a child after my own heart.
When I finally told my son, who was 7 the truth about Santa, he was angry. Apparently some kid in kindergarten had told him the truth and he'd argued vehemently - even getting into a fight with that kid.
poor boy - finding out his belief in his mother was misplaced - at least as far as concerns Santa.
LOL; when my daughter was 4, she wanted to be a tomato when she grew up.
I think she was watching one of those vege cartoons :)
This was too cute :)
........dhole
What a cute story. I'm sure those happy people in the catalog looked like they'd be fun to join.
When I was about 4-yeas-old, I remember listening to the radio and not understanding where the sound came from. I asked my aunt how it worked. She told me there was a man in the radio. I was skeptical.
"But how does he do all the voices?" I asked.
"He's very talented."
I didn't know whether or not to believe her. For some time afterwards, I'd bring my ear close to the speaker to see if I could hear that sounded like a man really lived in the radio. I could picture all his furniture inside, like the radio was a miniature house for the little man.
I was an idiot.
Of course your niece wanted to get inside where all the goodies were. Through the Looking Glass. Down the rabbit hole. How about inside the chocolate factory? I got a lot of advice when I was her age, but nobody gave me the best kind. Nobody said, "Don't bother to grow up." Guess I didn't need it. I'm still trying to find a way into those magical places.
Great post, Lynn!
This is so cute, Ballerina is the sweetest. I sometimes would like to go into the blog web! :)
I must be more wiped out than I thought I was. I could have sworn I replied to some of these comments already! Oops!
Jennette - That's a pretty funny story, and I'm going to save it for a post sometime soon. Thanks for the chuckles!
Pat - Thanks! That's so sweet!
Louise - Santa can be a sore subject with some kids and parents! Years ago, our little neighbor girls didn't believe in Santa. They told some other kids there was no Santa. The one mom got pretty ticked about it and had a talk with the other mother. Didn't do her any good! The kids all grew up without too much trauma! LOL!
Donna - That's pretty darn funny! That made me LOL! Saving that one, too!
Theresa - Oh boy, that's another great story. I love it! Thanks for sharing that childhood memory!
Lee - You have such a beautiful way with words, even when leaving comments! Thank you!
Oceangirl - That's another great story, wanting to go into the blog web! So unique and it sure reflects on the times we're living in, doesn't it? A modern version of Alice in Wonderland! I, myself, don't need to go into the blog web to get all tangled up. Nope, I do that just staying at my keyboard. If I wandered into the blog web, I'd never find my way out! So much fun imagining these things!
How sweet! I love how children think about things in a different way - wanting to get inside the catalogue, or through a mirror. Those pictures are adorable.
Sorry I'm so late in commenting. I'm playing catch up now.
Peanut always loves bedtime stories...since she was a baby. We'd have a stack of books read each night (love the Sandra Boynton books). When she was about 2 we introduced her to movies. Dumbo was one of her first. There's a scene where Dumbo's mom cradles Dumbo in her trunk thru the bars. Peanut asked me if Dumbo's mommy read him stories as well. I told her yes. So the next night when we were watching the movie, she brought a book up to the tv during that scene so Dumbo's mom could read to him.
Love those moments! It's one of my favorites.
Lovely story :) I don't remember being that young, and I don't have children yet, so unfortunately I don't have stories to share with you, but I'm enjoying the ones you post :)
CD - I know, I love the way kids think of these things because they don't know the ways of the world yet!
Stephanie - That's such a sweet parenting story. Thanks for sharing it with me. I'm saving it for a future post!
Marcy - Thank you. Any stories from your childhood count, too, so if you remember any, I hope you'll share them!
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