Ben's First Story

"I'm going to tell you a Leah and Alex story. Once upon a time, Leah and Alex walked to the cemetery. To look for animals."

And then he kind've ran out of steam, but still we were pretty impressed. This was at lunch today, and I had told him a story about Marvin the Cat (a character invented on the spot). Then Neil told him a follow-up story about Marvin. So Ben was in the groove, and decided to tell one of his own.

We often tell him Leah and Alex stories. Leah and Alex are two of the main characters in the Signing Time DVDs that Ben loves. Since we can't/won't watch Signing Time DVDs every minute of the day, then we started filling in some of the remaining minutes with made-up stories. Somehow, Alex always ends up incurring a small boo-boo requiring a band-aid -- it's the same principle (although not of the same magnitude) as Kenny's recurring demise in each South Park episode.

Ben has been engaging in fairly elaborate imaginative play lately. Almost every day he puts his Curious George doll down for a night-night nap. "He needs a pillow," Ben will announce, and go off and get a pillow. "He needs a blanket." "He probably needs a ba-ba [pacifier]." He has also been seriously into picnics for awhile now, and his various plastic and stuffed animals often join him for a picnic on the family room floor. Invariably, "spinach and naan" is served, this being Ben's favorite food.

He has added some more nursery rhymes to his repertoire. Here's his current favorite:

"The man in the moon came down too soon
And asked the way to Norwich.
He went by the south and burned his mouth
With supping cold plum porridge."