Story Telling

Olivia loves to tell stories. Her imagination is always in overdrive.

Tom took the girls to my mom’s yesterday afternoon so he could pick blackberries and pears (we have sort of community gardens/trees around here. We give my mom and stepdad cucumbers and tomatoes and they give us blackberries and pears.)

While Tom was picking produce, the girls were inside watching television. My mom was in town and my stepdad was in his garage.

The moment I walked through the door, Olivia raced to me, her excitement palpable.

“Mom!” she almost shouted. “While you were at work and Daddy was outside picking berries, Gram’s phone rang. And then! Then it TALKED to us.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. “I think it was Gram calling and leaving Pawp a message.”

Olivia didn’t care for that logical explanation. She LOVED that she could hear the message as it was being left and she was enamored of the idea of the phone TALKING to them. She told the story three more times, once to Tom, once to my stepdad and finally to my mom, the one who’d left the message. Each time she said exactly what she wanted to say without getting flustered by being the center of attention.

I hope this is a step in the right direction for speaking at school. I want her teachers and classmates to see how animated she can get when she’s telling a story. I want them to hear her excitement and appreciate her humor.

This morning at the bus stop, Alyssa and I were talking. I don’t even remember about what.

Just before the bus rolled up, though, Olivia had had enough. Finally, she called out, “Guys! Mom, Lyssie!”

We looked at her.

She continued, “Now we’re going to talk about something that I like, okay.”

Again, Alyssa rolled her eyes. I laughed and said, “Okay.”

Then Olivia decided to test me. She asked me, “Do you even know what I like?”

I ran through a quick list of things Olivia likes, “You like Hello Kitty, the colors pink, red, purple and sometimes black. You like ballet and gymnastics. You like Barbies and princesses and reading. You love having your back scratched and being pretty. You like to read and watch iCarly with your sister.”

I paused for a breath and she grinned at me. “You do know what I like!” she exclaimed.

Of course I do, silly girl. I hugged her just in time for the bus to arrive to take them to school.

I hope she went away knowing how very much she is loved, how very lucky I feel that I do know her, that I do get to hear her stories and watch her grow and learn and change every single day.