Wake Up

How difficult is it for your kids to wake up ? Do you use an alarm clock ? Do you wake them up yourself ? How do you wake them up ? Are they grumpy ? Are they with energy ? Do they jump out of bed or drag themselves to the breakfast table ? tell me your story, here is mine...

The alarm clock rings. Papi is the first to get up. He gets up and soon after we can listen to the coffee machine. The Little Girl as transformed the coffee machine noise into her personal wake up call.

But today the sound was different, and the Little Girl woke up because she didn't hear the coffee machine noise.
"Papi, Papi ?", the Little Girl got out of bed to check the different routine today.
The Little Girl went to the kitchen and found Papi trying to figure out how the electric kettle worked.
"Papi, what are you doing ?", asked the Little Girl.
"Tea, or at least trying to, do you want tea or milk Little Girl ?"
"Beehhhh, I don't like tea, I want cocoa milk!", answered the Little Girl.
"Let's get the chocolate for the milk..."
Papi and the Little Girl prepared the breakfast, the Little Girl even put butter on the toast.
Then she saw something different, Papi was putting everything in a tray with a beautiful red rose. But he did not take the tray to the dinner room, he went back to the bedroom.
The breakfast was for Mami.
"Happy Birthday Mami!"

Where's my water ?

Do your children play tablet games ? Do you allow them ? What to they like to play ? Is it easy to make them switch off ? Do they play just a game or always wanting a new game ? Do you teach them how to control themselves ? Do you play with them ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl was digging the sand, and the water was all around. She needed to find a way to get all the water to the drain pipe. There where a lot of obstacles. She was digging, she was digging as hard as she could.
Surprise, she found a rubber duck.

"Hello Rubber Duck, do you know the wain to the drain pipe ?", asked the Little Girl.
The rubber duck did not answer the Little Girl.
The Little Girl did not bother and continued to dig. Soon she found a large cave, filled with water.
All the water from above drained to the underground pool filling it up.
The Little Girl swan to the bottom of the underground cave and found some underwater seaweeds. She pulled the seaweeds and the water flowed downwards.
She found the drain pipe.
The water flowed through the drain pipe.
She heard a voice:
"Thank you Little Girl, I can now take a shower, I was really needing one to get clean. Thank you Little Girl."

Late night kiss

How do you feel when you come home late for your kids ? How do your kids feel when it's time for bed and you are not home ? Do they wait for you ? Do the go to bed missing your night kiss ? Do you come home late often ? Do you try before to at least talk by phone with your child ? What does your child say to you when you arrive home ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl was sad, it was time for bed and Papi was not home. Mami was reminding the Little Girl to go to bed every 5 minutes now. And Papi was not yet home. Papi promised to build a Lego house for the horses. The horses did not have anywhere to sleep. This is very bad.

Outside the window the Little Girl could see the stars. A small and very bright star came to the window.
"Hello Little Girl, why are you sad ?", asked the small bright star.
"Papi is not home, I want Papi !", answered the Little Girl.
"Go to bed Little Girl, Papi will be home in the morning.", suggested the small bright star.
"The horses don't have a place to sleep, this is very bad."
"Do you want me to show Papi the way home ?", asked the small bright star.
"Yes little star, please show Papi the way home !"
The small bright star flew up in the air and it became bigger as it went up. the small bright star was not small anymore, it was now a big shiny star. The big shiny star could be seen from long distance now. Somewhere Papi would see the bright star and know the way home.
After some time the Little Girl could listen somebody rattling keys at the door, she ran to the door very excited.
"Papi, Papi, did you follow the small bright star ?", asked excitedly the Little Girl.
"No Little Girl, I saw a big shiny star.", answered Papi.
"That was the small bright star that grew bigger so that you knew the way home, the star wanted you to know where to go.", explained the Little Girl.
"Now I am home Little Girl, we have to say thank you to the small bright star."
"Yes Papi, come, we have to build the horses house, they do not have a place to sleep."
Papi went to the Little Girl's room and started building the house for the horses. The Little Girl was very tired and she fell asleep after the first stone of the house was layered.
Papi tucked the Little Girl into bed and continued to build the horses house. After all a promise is a promise, and the horses could not sleep without a house to protect them. The Little Girl would see the horses house when she wakes up.

50 entries

The We didn't fly to that cloud yet! Blog commemorates now it's first 50 entries of simple stories for parents and kids. It's a different blog dedicated to parenting and transforming day to day choices of parents into small stories of imagination and creativity.

Come share your stories at the blog together with other parents and storytellers:

http://flytothecloud.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/flytothecloud

Snowman

Who loves more to make snowmen ? You or your child ? Do you build it together ? Does he tell you to go away ? Does he care about the details such as carrots for nose, buttons for a shirt, stones for eyes ? Do you destroy the snowman together afterwards ? Who does what when making a snowman ? Or you just watch other kids making the snowman ? Do you wear gloves ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

"SNOW, PAPI, SNOW... Let's go outside and make a snowman!", shouted excitedly the Little Girl when she woke up and saw the beautiful white morning outside.

Suddenly the house was rushing around all busy doing something.

Mami making fast breakfast, Papi looking for the old buttons, the Little Girl searching for a carrot... and then they switched.

Mami dressing the Little Girl, Papi looking for the gloves, the Little Girl being dressed.... and then they switched.

Mami getting the carrot, Papi drinking a fast coffee, the Little Girl putting on the gloves... and then... they went out the door and onto the courtyard.

Papi started rolling a ball of snow, we needed a bog ball of snow to support the snow man. the Little Girl making a small ball of snow for the head.

"Papi, not fair, we need a ball in the middle, fast, fast, I have the ball for the head."

And Papi made a medium size ball to put in the middle.

The Little Girl put the small head ball on top.

The snowman was getting form now.

Papi went to fetch some branches for the arms, and the Little Girl was putting the carrot nose on the head ball.

Soon after everybody was happy looking at the snowman, Stones for eyes, buttons for a shirt, a hat made of newspapers, a beautiful carrot nose.

But the Little Girl continued making snowballs, but this time to target Papi. The started running around the snowman throwing snowballs at each other. The snowman got dizzy and decided to pickup some snow and started running in circles around Papi and the Little Girl.

Everybody was running now, no longer in a perfect circle, just circling around each other.

And when they circled, the snowman became bigger, it was getting new snow with it's feet has it ran around. So Papi and the Little Girl decided to help the snowman. they fetched the snowballs form the snowman's belly.

The Magic Box

Do your kids play with the big cardboard boxes ? What do they play ? Do they use them for constructions ? Do you allow them to play ? Do they fall playing ? Do you play with them ? Do they play alone or with other kids ? Do you paint the cardboard boxes for them ? Or they paint the boxes themselves ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

== Act 1 ==
The Little Girl blocked the pirates sword with her own sword, and kicked the pirate on the leg who fell down to his knees. Another pirate coming from left came towards the Little Girl who immediately disarmed him. The Little Girl jumped into the ship, protecting from the pirates. The Little Girl ran across the ship from board to starboard, repelling the Pirate's attack.
The Pirate Captain watched the energetic Little Girl defending her ship, he told the crew to attack from starboard while he attacked from board. The Little Girl cut the sails and the sails fell on the Pirates attacking from starboard entangling them.
The Little Girl concentrated her efforts now on the Pirate's Captain. The Pirate's Captain was quite a swordsman, it was a fantastic sight to see the two fencing each other. Finally the Little Girl found an opening in the Captain's attack and kicked him. The Captain fell to the see where eager sharks were waiting for him. The Captain swimmed to shore as fast as he could swimming away from the hungry sharks.

== Act 2 ==
The Little Girl arrived at the house. She went to fetch all her friends. She saw Woody the cowboy sheriff and took woody to the little house. She saw Bernie the bear and Mouthy the dog, and took both in the little house. She saw Stripee the zebra, Roarie the lion and Flash the horse, and took them all to the little house.
The Little Girl went to fetch the tea cups and the tea pot. She served tea to all her little plush friends in the little house.
The little girl turned on the TV, and from the little house, the Little Girl and her friends enjoyed the movie on TV. The Little Girl and her friends chatted a lot, Woody the sheriff cowboy was one of the stars of the movie.

== Act 3 ==
The Little Girl was late for the party, she had her beautiful blue dress on, and she was going to have a fantastic party. The carriage was ready, but the horses to pull the carriage were not there. She had to search for them. She went to every corner to find the horses.
She found Bernie the plush bear, "Come Bernie, you need to pull the carriage.".
She found Mouthy the plush dog, "Come Mouthy, you need to pull the carriage."
She found Flash the plush horse, "Come Flash, you need to pull the carriage."
She found Roarie the plush Lion, "Come Roarie, you need to pull the carriage."
"No", said Roarie, I am the King, i do not pull carriages, the carriages pull me.
"Please Roarie, I need to get to the party", begged the Little Girl.
"I can go to the party with you, but I sit in the carriage with you", answered Roarie.
So the Little Girl had to look for another horse to pull the carriage.
She found Stripee the plush zebra, "Come Stripee, you need to pull the carriage."
The Little Girl and Roarie sat on the carriage and went to the party together.

Painting

Do you like to see your child paint ? Do you encourage him ? What does he paint ? Does he like to paint ? Do you remember his first painting ? What does he like to paint ? Do you paint with him ? What paints you and your child use ? How does the house look like after your child painting activity ? What is his favorite theme ? Does he paint mummy and daddy ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl was holding the little brush. What color should now she put on the little brush ? Blue ? Yes blue, blue is a good color.
The Little Girl painted the top of the page blue. papi always painted the top of page blue, blue is the color of the sky.

"Look Papi, I have painted the sky."
The Little Girl was proud of her blue sky. Now she needed to put clouds. But she did not know how to paint white.
The Little Girl was sad because she could not paint white clouds.
"Papi, I do not know how to paint white clouds. How do I paint white clouds ?"
"You have to leave space where you want the clouds. But you can paint a happy yellow sun now."
"Yeah, I am going to paint a happy yellow sun."

The Little Girl was looking at the colors and deciding what color next. Red, red is a good color. And the Little Girl painted a red ball in the middle of the page.
Next she got the black, and made a circle above the red ball. The Little Girl was inspired.
"Papi, I think there is a cartoon hiding behind the red ball."
The Little Girl continued drawing with the black paint. And now she just needed the shoes to look like usual.
She painted the shoes yellow.
"Look Papi, Mickey Mouse was hiding in the painting, but I found him.", said the Little Girl giggling.

Rockstar

How do you feel when your little kid copies a rock-star ? Do you encourage him ? Do you teach him how to play the instruments ? What about a guitar or electric guitar ? Can he play something ? Do you get one of those toy guitars that always play something with style ? How do you go about in the house while he is playing the guitar ? tell me your story, here is mine...

Little Girl get's on stage, she is not frightened, it's not the first time she does this. Holding the guitar she enters with confidence the stage. The room is dark, but as soon as she enters the stage a swirl of color lights go on bringing light and magic to the stage...
The crowd cheers in enthusiasm, and it takes some minutes before the Little Girl can start to play.

When the crowd is lowering the cheering, the Little Girl pulls the first chord from the guitar, and the crowd cheers once more.
The Little Girl encouraged by the receptive crowd pulls second and third chord keeping the crowd in a hypnotic trance. The Little Girl moves the guitar and moves herself on stage at the sound of her music. The lights follow the Little Girl creating an even more magical atmosphere.
The sound goes on and the crowd cheers with each chord of the guitar. The long hair enhances the move of the Little Girls head as she synchronizes the movements with her guitar.
The drums kick in enhancing the music and bringing it to a new level and rhythm. The crowd is getting to craziness level dancing with the Little Girl.
A star is born.

The Giant Rabbit

How do you ask your kids about their day at school ? Do your kids tell what happened during their day ? What activities ? What made them laugh today ? Do you listen to their stories ? Is there some other meaning to what they tell you ? Do you make it a ritual for everyday to know how was their day ? What do they like to do everyday ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

Today we went to play in the snow. The snow was cold and we made a snow man. Little Johnny made a big ball for the legs, and Little Paul made a ball for the belly. I made a ball for the head. My ball was the best ball, it was like a head. I put two stones to make the eyes, and Little Paul found two branches to make the arms. Little Johnny found an old scarf and we put around the neck.
The snow ball that Little Johnny made was the biggest snowball. It was very big. Little Johnny is very strong.
And then we had to find a carrot for the nose. But we did not know where to find a carrot. We were up in the mountain, and it was snowing everywhere.

But then we saw the big giant rabbit. We all ran after the giant rabbit to catch it, but Little Paul was afraid to go near, so we could not catch the big giant rabbit. Little Johnny was also afraid, and Little Johnny is the strongest. So I was also afraid. When we where almost near the big giant rabbit we all got afraid to go near the big giant rabbit. We all stopped running after the big giant rabbit.
The big giant rabbit saw me, and the big giant rabbit came to me. I started running away from the big giant rabbit. And the big giant rabbit made big jumps and he got to me. The big giant rabbit had a big giant carrot. I was scared, but the big giant rabbit was a good rabbit. The big giant rabbit gave the big giant carrot to me.
But the big giant carrot was bigger than the snow man.
Little Johnny, Little Paul and me started eating the big giant carrot and the end we had a little piece left.
We used the little piece of the carrot to make the nose of the snowman.

The Walk

Do you need excuses to have some quality time with your child ? Do you have it regularly ? Do you want it ? Does your child want that time with you ? How frequently you have it ? What do you do during that time ? What does your child want to do ? What do you do together ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl was looking at the piano, she was sad, the piano did not play the music.
"Papi, the piano has no batteries", cried the Little Girl.
"We should go out and buy batteries, let's go Little Girl", answered Papi.
"Yeah!", shouted happily the Little Girl.
They went out of the house to the street, the Little Girl went't excited explaining all the things she could do with the piano. Papi went calmly by her side choosing the best path to the shop.
"Papi, catch me, catch me...", started the Little Girl running down the path.
Papi pretended to be running as much as he could to catch the Little Girl. The Little Girl ran laughing. and Papi ran in very short steps after saying "I will catch you, I will catch you."
Suddenly she came to a stop, she was looking at a strange thing on the wooden fences. "What is this Papi ?", Papi looked at the mushrooms and answered "Mushrooms".
"Mushrooms, what are mushrooms ?", asked the Little Girl.
"Do you remember your cartoons, that's the house of your little bugs.", explained Papi.
"Oh, let's visit them Papi...." begged the Little Girl.

"We have to ran fast around the mushroom so that we become smaller and smaller to be able to visit the mushroom.", proposed Papi.
Papi and the Little Girl ran around the mushroom, and ran, and ran as the mushroom became bigger and bigger. They could see the little door and the little window grow with the mushroom. At a certain moment the Little Girl stopped, "Let's get inside Papi!".
"Little Girl, we have to run a little bit more around the mushroom, or else Papi cannot get in", said Papi.
"Oh! Oh! you are right Papi.", and they ran together another full circle around the mushroom. They played the doorbell and the grasshopper opened the door.
"Oh Hello, you came just in time for tea," the grasshopper invited them him.
The Little Girl was happy, she asked the grasshopper the story of the honey and the bee, and she listened to the story with full attention. Papi was delighted to experience the Little Girls stories come to life.
After the story the grasshopper gave the Little Girl a gift, and told the Little Girl that she could only open it when she was big again. Papi and the Little Girl went outside, said thank you to the grasshopper and ran the other way around seeing the mushroom becoming smaller and smaller.
The Little Girl opened the grasshopper's present, it was a set of batteries.
"Look Papi, we have the batteries, we can fix the piano now". And happily they went running and looking at all the plants and flowers on their way home, talking all the little details of their encounter with the grasshopper that had tea, cookies and batteries.

The Bus

How are your days when your kid simply doesn't want to go to the kindergarten ? Do you try to convince him ? Do you simply take him and end of discussion ? Do you negotiate ? Do you explain why it'S good ? What are the reasons your kid doesn't want to go ? It happens everyday or just occasionally ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

"No!", shouts the Little Girl running away from Papi.
"Come Little Girl, today it is nature day at kindergarten...", Called Papi.
"No! I don't want to go! I want to stay home.", cried the Little Girl.
"Why you want to stay home?"
"Because I fall and I get hurt, I don't like to fall!", cried the Little Girl.
"Do you know why we fall Little Girl ?", asked Papi.
"No! Why do we fall ? I don't like to fall!"
"We fall so that we can learn to stand up. Standing up is good, you have to stand up so that you can do things."
"No, but it hurts when you fall down."
"But each time you fall down, you learn something new, you learn not to fall so easy again."
"But it hurts...", cried the Little Girl.
"You don't fall down so many times now Little Girl, you are getting better."
"If I fall down a tree I learn not to fall again ?"
"At least you learn that to fall down a tree you must climb the tree!", explained Papi.
"But i like to climb the tree"
"And you know that if you go to the thinner branches you will fall, right ?"
"Yes!"
"So when you climb the tree, you know that you should not go to the thin branches or you will fall, right ?"
"Yes!"

"Come Little Girl, let's go get the bus to take you and your little friends to nature day at kindergarten."
"Yes Papi"

Thank You Facebook Fans

Hello friends,

today another nice milestone has been achieved.
The page on Facebook for this blog has reached 100 likes.

A great thank you to everybody that made it possible!

From Papi :)

Getting out

Do your kids have moments when they simply don't want to get out of the house ? How do you make them want to get out ? Do you have regular activities at weekends ? Are you the one that doesn't want to get out ? Is your kid pushing you to get out of the house ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

Outside is foggy, don't see much out of the window, seems to be cold outside and we are in the nice cuddly warm in the house. The Little Girl is playing with the Lego blocks, she seems very entertained.
"Little Girl, let's go the the swimming pool ?", asks Papi.
"No Papi, I am playing", answers the Little Girl.
Papi goes make an espresso coffee. Reads a couple of articles on the newspaper. Some time passes.
"Little Girl, let's go to the playground ?", asks Papi.
"No Papi, I am playing", answers the Little Girl.
Papi goes make a cappuccino. Reads a couple of articles on the internet. Some time passes.
"Little Girl, let's go to the bowling alley ?", asks Papi.
"No Papi, I am playing", answers the Little Girl.

Papi goes make a latte macchiato. Watches a couple of channels on TV. Some time passes.
"Little Girl, let's go to the Grimm theme park ?", asks Papi.
"No Papi, I am playing", answers the Little Girl.

Papi goes make a cafe lungo. Browses a couple of magazines. Some time passes.
"Little Girl, let's go to ride a boat in the lake ?", asks Papi.
"No Papi, I am playing", answers the Little Girl.

"Little Girl, Papi is electric now, had to much coffee, we need to get Papi calm or the Little Girl cannot play anymore", says Papi picking up the Little Girl, tickles the Little Girl energetically, and walks out of the apartment. Papi makes silly faces and jumps around. Soon after they are by the lake and the Little Girl sees some big transparent spheres which kids use to walk on the water.

"Papi, I want to walk on that..."

The Little Girl gets an extended ride on the giant plastic sphere, Papi can ear her laughs as she walks around excited.

End of ride, the giant plastic sphere gets pulled back to the lake margin.

"Little Girl, time to go home now", says Papi to the Little Girl.

"No Papi, I don't want to go home...", answers the Little Girl.

Skying

Do you encourage your child to practice all sports ? or just some ? Do you want your child to go with you in sport adventures ? Or you let him go on his own adventures with his friends ? Did you go with him to select the equipment ? Is getting the right equipment part of your common adventure with your child ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

"I like these skies Papi, they have a very tiger... and it's like the tiger on the helmet", said the Little Girl enthusiastically looking at the orange skies.

"They look good, and they will make you go fast, do you want to go fast on the snow Little Girl", asked Papi.

"Yes, I want to go fast in the snow, like Nicholas in the reindeer sleigh."

"Papi, Papi, I want these boots, they are red and they also have a tiger ."

"Do you have all that we need for the ski lessons ?", asked Papi.

"We need the glasses and the dinosaur mouth.", answered the Little Girl.

"The dinosaur mouth ? what is that?"

"This!", pointed the Little Girl to a ski mask to protect nose and mouth from the cold air with a big dinosaur mouth with big teeth painted.

"You are going to look scary in this Little Girl, sure you need it ?"

"Na, but it looked cool!", said honestly the Little Girl.

At the kindergarten the all the kids with their parents were waiting for the bus. It looked like a colorful army with little rainbow soldiers of peace. All the kids with their colored ski suits, colored helmets, colored glasses holding the long colored skies was really a cool sight to be seen.

The bus came and all the kids went on board.

Behind stood a lot of parents waiting for their kids to come.

The hours passed and Papi was nervous and excited. How was his Little Girl behaving at the ski lessons ? Well, soon the bus would come back and he could talk with his Little Girl.

The bus arrived, the Little Girl ran on her clumsy ski boots to see Papi.

"And then we went whoosh, and we fell on the snow, then I got up and went like this and this...", the little girl was very excited telling her story, running around in zigzags. "Then the red boy passed, and the green boy passed, and the pink girl fell, and we laughed, and we had a party, and we painted the noses, and we went with the hands on the knees, and the blue boy fell, and the yellow girl fell, and I passed, and we had a party..." and the story went on for a couple more hours. Papi wanted to know everything, and he got everything, just not in the correct order.

The Ugly Duckling

What is the reaction of your child do birds and ducks ? Ever visited a zoo or a lake with eager ducks to get a piece of bread ? Do you let your child feed the birds ? How does your child react ? Is your child eager to get some bread to give to the birds ? How does he feel with all the birds surrounding him for a piece of food ? How do you teach him to react to the birds ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

"Quack, quack, there is a little girl approaching, let's go there", quacked the yellow duck to the orange duck.
"Quack, quack, No, the little girl will kick you...", quacked back the orange duck.
"Quack, quack, I know that Little Girl with the red dress, she always brings bread for us, quack, quack"
"Quack, quack, she looks like the Little Boy with the red shirt, and he kicked me..."
"Quack, quack, wait back then, let's see"

Soon they could hear the Little Girl shouting "Papi, come here quickly, the ducks are there, quick quick or they will run away..."
"Quack, quack, see, she wants to get us, let's swim away..." quacked the orange duck to the yellow duck.
"Quack, quack, wait a bit more, look she has something in the hand..." quacked back the yellow duck,
"Quack, quack, it's a stone, swim away..."
"Quack, quack, no, it's a piece of bread, come quick..."
"Quack, quack, she has more, good, let's go..."
The Little Girl was throwing pieces of bread everywhere, the ducks, the geese, the swans, the seagulls all came for the pieces of bread.
"Quack, quack, this is crowded, come, I'll get a piece of bread for you", quacked the yellow duck to the orange duck.
"Quack, quack, I can't, my leg still hurts from the Little Boy's kick, I can't approach", quacked back the orange duck.
"Quack, quack, I'll get the bread for you", and the yellow duck jumped as high as he could to catch the pieces of bread, but the seagulls flying around were faster, they caught all the bread.
The ducks heard the girl shouting, "Look Papi, that orange duck is sick, he has a bad leg, let me get to the orange duck, I have bread for him".
The Little Girl flapped her arms for the birds to move away as she approached the orange duck, but the orange duck was afraid.
"Papi, the orange duck is moving away, I can't give bread to the orange duck, can you help?"
The ducks saw the big man hold the Little Girl so that she could approach better, and then the miracle happened, the Little Girl was throwing the pieces of bread in the direction of the orange duck.
"Quack, quack, thank you", quacked the orange duck to the Little Girl.
"Papi, Papi, the orange duck is eating the bread", said the Little Girl happily.
"Quack, quack, thank you", quacked the yellow duck to the Little Girl.
"Papi, Papi, the yellow duck is friend of the orange duck, it said thank you to me." shouted happily the Little Girl.

The pied piper of Frightelin

Do you want your child to be able to express through music ? Do you encourage him to play a music instrument ? How do you deal with the initial learning curve ? Do you stop your child when the sounds are irritating ? How do you encourage him in those initial phases where it's just loose notes ? Did you experience getting the first hint of a tune ? How do you feel when you start to recognize music in the fanfare ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

"FON FON FIIIEEEMMM.." are the sounds that are coming from the delicate flute in the hands of the Little Girl. Surprising that somebody could say a flute is a delicate instrument.
"Papi, do you like ? It is very good, I am now going to play another music.", says proudly the Little Girl with the flute in her hands.

"FIIIEEEMMM FON FUN FON FIIIIEEEEMMMM..." is another amazing sound coming from the delicate flute. Papi is about to say bad things about the inventor of the flute.
"You like it Papi ? Do you know the music ? It's Jingle Bells!" continues the happy Little Girl.
"Fantastic Little Girl, you are playing much better than yesterday", answers Papi with a hint on desperation.
"FIIIIEEEEE FIIIIEEEE FON FON FUN..." continues the flute and the Little Girl on top "Jingle all the way...", and back to the flute, "FIIIE FIIIEEE FO FON FUN..."
"That is so good Little Girl, it's getting much better, let's pause now a little bit for you to regain your breath.", suggests Papi wanting a recess for his poor ears.
"No Papi, I must practice, the teacher said we must practice every day..." answers the Little Girl.
"So nice your teacher, he likes hard work...", sighs Papi, "let's change instrument, let's try the piano, you are getting very good at the piano..."
"Yeah, let's try the piano....", and the Little Girl runs to her room to fetch the little piano.
"TOING TOING TUNG THAM...", hammers the Little Girl on the piano keyboard like Chopin, perhaps like Chopin when Chopin was a little baby that had no clue to what a piano was...
"Yes Papi, it is so good, it's the happy birthday song..." shouts happily the Little Girl.
"TOING TING TOING TUHUM THAM..." are the hammered sounds made by the piano, and the Little Girl started singing on top "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you....".
The environment was lound and festive, nothing like you could imagine, and suddenly the piano went "RE RE MI RE SOL FA..." and Papi's ears said silently  "Thank you".
Papi jumped out of the sofa to watch the Little Girl playing piano, she was really playing Happy Birthday song, at least some small set of notes that had melody.
Papi felt glad for all the patience he had the last months, and the Little Girl was really proud of her achievement.
"Happy birthday to you..." continued the Little Girl...

Pizza Time

Kids tend to like pizza pretty soon. But there is a moment when after seeing us cooking, they believe it is simple and want to cook as well. Have you teached your children how to make pizza ? Do you let them select the ingredients ? Do you let them put the ingredients on the dough ? Do they want and ask you to do it ? Is one of the ingredients chocolate ? And the other cheese of course ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

"What's that Papi?", asks the little Girl always very curious.
"This is Pizza dough."
"Papi, are you making a pizza ?"
"Yes Little Girl, I am making a pizza.", answered Papi.
"I want to help, I want to help, let me help Papi!"

"Sure, let me explain you, look here, the first thing is to stretch the pizza dough.", explained Papi.
"Ah, let me, let me.", said the anxious Little Girl.
"Gentle, gentle, do not rush. That is good Little Girl, that is the right way."
"I like it Papi, Pizza is my favorite food."
"Now we put the tomato sauce on it, here, take a spoon and spread over the dough."
"Its red Papi, tomato, I like salad, can you make a salad pizza ?"
"That is a novelty for me Little Girl, but we sure can try, let's put now over the tomato sauce some cheese"
"Like this Papi ?"
"Yes Little Girl, you are doing it right."
"There is a spot there with no cheese, we need more cheese Papi."
"Here it is Little Girl, let me cut a tomato in slices and we put over the cheese, you like tomato in the salad?"
"Yes Papi, tomato and the funny green leaves..."
"Rucola, Little Girl, the funny green leaves are called rucola."
"Yes Papi, our salad pizza has tomato and rucola."
"Let me now put it in the oven, in 20 minutes it is ready. Thank you Little Girl for helping Papi make the Pizza."
"Thank you Papi, I want the salad pizza."

Spider-man fetches Papi

How do you feel when you are one week away from your children ? What are you thoughts during that week ? What does it feel like coming home ? Do you bring a toy or souvenir for your children ? How do they react to it ? Do you tell them the story of that toy ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

"Hello Spider-man, you found Papi and brought him back", says the Little Girl to Spider-Man.
"Yes, Papi was bad, he was away for too long, it was time for him to come home!", answered Spider-Man.
"Yes, I said the same thing to Papi on the phone tomorrow!"
"You mean yesterday?"
"No, yesterday me and Papi will go to the swimming pool."
"Hum, I talked with Papi yesterday, and I was going to bring him."
"Spider-Man, why did you not bring him?"
"He look like he really needed to work." answered Spider-Man.
"Papi is always working, he only wants money and more money.", complained the Little Girl.
"But Papi needs to get food, toys, clothes.... and for this Papi needs money."
"But I want Papi!"
"Papi is back today, he came with me!"
"Thank You Spider-Man, you are the best, I wanted to have Papi as a present, thank you."

Money

Have you explained what is money to your child? How often you use the excuse that you don't have money? Is it common to talk about money? What does your child think about money? Is your child valuing money? What do you want your child to think about money? Tell me your story.
Two years ago I had an interesting one, here is mine...

"Papi, you going out? Can you bring me a chocolate? Take here a bill to buy the chocolate" Said the Little Girl handing very proudly a play money bill from the play cash register.
Papi laughed when he got the bill, "Hello Little Girl, so now you know that we need money to get things".

"Yes Papi, this is for a chocolate, this is for an ice-cream, this is for a doll." said the Little Girl handing over several play money bills.
"But you know that you have to do things to get the money?"
"That is why Papi goes to work."
Papi was proud.
When Papi came back he looked for the Little Girl. The Little Girl was happy to see Papi coming.
Papi put a money bill on one hand and on the other the chocolate.
"Which one do you want Little Girl?
"The chocolate." Shouted the Little Girl.
"But if you take the money you can buy a doll."
"But I already have a doll, I don't need another."
Papi gave with a big smile the chocolate to the Little Girl.

Milestone 2014 T-Shirts

Today we have a different entry, today I am not writing you another story.
Today I am writing something very personal, today I am writing about a milestone from my resolutions 2014.
I received today the T-Shirts for the family to use at the promotion day for the future book "We didn't fly to that cloud yet".

This helps me visualize and focus on what to do :) and it keeps the family on the timeline.
Small steps indeed, and I was so happy to see my daughter excited about the T-shirts that match Papi's book.
Also bought some new books to keep me inspired. I strongly recommend the following 4 books that has created new reading moments with my daughter.

English versions at Amazon.co.uk:

• Guess How Much I Love You Here, There and Everywhere by Sam McBratney
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

German versions at Amazon.de:

• Weißt du eigentlich, wie lieb ich dich hab? by Sam McBratney
• Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt by Eric Carle
• Brauner Bär, wen siehst denn du? by Eric Carle
• Der Regenbogenfisch by Marcus Pfister

At the movies

Do you remember the first time you took your child to the movies ? What movie did you see ? At which movie theater ? Was your child excited ? Were you excited ? How did he react during the movie ? After the movie, what was it like ? For how long did your child remember the experience ? Tell me your story.
Here is mine, I went to see Disney Planes for the first time...

The Little Girl was excited, Papi had told her she was going to see the cartoons come to life. She could see the posters everywhere while she was with Papi in a queue. Papi wanted to talk with the nice lady, he was asking her where they could sit, and the nice lady gave us dark glasses.
Papi gave me the small dark glasses, I put them on, it was very cool.

"Papi, Papi, look, I look like the pilots of the planes..." shouted excitedly the Little Girl putting the dark glasses on.
They passed by a big poster with all the airplanes, they looked so cool, just like the cars.
"Papi, why is it so dark ? And why they give us dark glasses if it is dark ? I don't like this darkness, I want to go away!" said the Little Girl very scared.
"Look Little Girl, all the other kids are also going into the room, and look at them, they are all happy, come, let's enter the room, there should be more light!" pacified Papi.
They entered a big big room, with a lot of chairs, many chairs, and the chairs in the back more high than the chairs in the front. Papi took the Little Girl into one of the central chairs, they seemed to be in the very center of the room. Everybody was sitting, all the other kids had their dark glasses on. It all looked so cool, everybody was looking at a very big screen.
The Little Girl got excited with seeing so many people in this room, from time to time she shouted high calling Papi to look to some kid doing something strange and silly.
Soon after a bell rand and everybody sited immediately on their chairs. the lights went off, but just as this happened the screen came to life and lots of cartoons were jumping happily on the screen.
"WOW" shouted the little girl as a plane got out of the screen and passed by her left year.
"PAPI, PAPI, the plane passed by me, did you see it ? Wow, it was very very fast."
The Little Girl watched with attention as the movie played, whenever a music came she would stand up and dance with the cartoons. When excited races came, she would stand up and shout for Dusty, she wanted the little red plane to win the race. When the planes were sad, she would ask Papi why... the Little Girl was living the movie, and the movie characters were her friends.
She did not let Papi exit the movie in the end, she wanted to dance the end credits song, she stayed in the room until the very last sound.
She came out, she repeated the story, she told the full story, incredible her memory, she remembered every character, every name, every detail on the movie...
Papi was proud of his Little Girl.

Christmas is over

Did your child see you take down the Christmas tree? Did you use his help to bring down the Christmas decorations? How did your child react? What did he say? Did he want to keep any decorations ? What did he say he saw the tree without any decorations ? What did you explain to him? Tell me your story, here is mine...

"Papi, why are you taking down the tree?" Asked the Little Girl.

"Christmas is over Little Girl, we now have to start a new period.", explained Papi.

"NO! I don't want, I want Christmas!", cried the Little Girl.

"But it is over, we need to start going to school and begin the new year!"

"NO! If we take the tree Nicholas will not come, I want Nicholas to come!"

"Nicholas is not coming for some time now, he his now in vacations, and soon he will start again preparing next Christmas."

"NO, but I don't want!"

"We will have more parties coming, soon we are going to have carnival."

"No, I want Christmas and Nicholas."

"Come Little Girl, help Papi, Nicholas will be happy and get you a nice present in next Christmas."

"No, I want Christmas now."

"Yes, you may want Christmas, but Christmas only comes once per year, we have to wait a new year, come, let me show you with the boxes on your wall calendar."

And once more, the calendar was useful...

Check the story about the explanation of the calendar and the days.

Another Little GIrl

Has it happened to you that suddenly in a park your child is best friends with another child ? What do you do ? Do you encourage ? Do you talk to the other child parents ? Just exchange smiles ? Give your phone number to setup a playdate ? Tell me your story.
Here is mine...

The Little Girl was chasing the monkey in the tropical forest. It was difficult to keep pace with the monkey, it jumped fast over all the obstacles and the Little Girl had to climb over them, go under them, jump, duck, slide to avoid each different obstacle on the way. But the Little Girl was not alone, another Little Girl was also chasing the monkey, also having tough challenges to overcome each obstacle.

"You go that way and I go this way, we catch the monkey in the middle," - said the Little Girl in the red dress said to the Little Girl in the pink dress.
The monkey ran from the Red Girl and did not notice the Pink Girl. Suddenly the monkey was running straight into the Pink Girl.
"The monkey is coming, the monkey is coming!" - shouted the Pink Girl.
"Yes, catch him." - shouted and ran the Red Girl.
The monkey jumped into the air, caught a high branch, and passed high above the Pink Girl's head. The monkey landed just to get the Red Girl jump on it.
"We got the monkey!", shouted the Red Girl.
"Yes, we got the monkey!", agreed the Pink Girl.
"Look Papi, me and my best friend, we caught the monkey!", said the Red Girl while the Pink Girl was giggling.
"Look Papi, it's the first time I got the monkey!", said the Pink Girl very happily to the Pink Papi.
Red Papi and Pink Papi exchange smiles while the Little Girls ran through the maze with the monkey.
They both got out of the maze and went through the river with crocodiles.
The crocodile would chase the Red Girl and the Pink Girl called the attention of the crocodile. Then the other way around, the crocodile would chase the Pink Girl and the Red Girl distracted the crocodile. Playing this game the Red Girl and the pink Girl reached the other side of the river. Once on the other side both shouted happily jumping up and down.
The Red Girl and the Pink Girl reached the base of the volcano. the Red Girl climbed the first steps, gave the hand to the Pink Girl, and stone by stone, step by step both climbed the volcano. High up the volcano both Girls jumped up and down showing their conquest of the volcano. They waved their arms and Red Papi and Pink Papi could see them very cheerful.
The Red Girl and Pink Girl caught a lava burst and both slided down the volcano very fast. They reached the base of the volcano and both jumped together holding hands.
The Red Girl and the pink girl laughed, giggled, ran, played, jumped...

The Bird's Nest

Has your child asked you about an empty nest ? Or why can he see the nest ? Why does the tree not have any more leaves to hide the nest ? Why are there no birds near the nest ? Did you explain the seasons ? Or migration of birds ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

- Look Papi! A bird's nest! Shouted the Little Girl from the backseat of the car.
- Papi, look, another bird's nest. Continued the Little Girl.
- Oh! Papi, Look, look, a bird's nest. Shouted the Little Girl now getting very impatient for not having anybody paying her attention.

Papi was wandering what was the Little Girl talking about, when he noticed that the winter trees without leaves revealed the birds nests. It was a interesting detail he never noticed.
- Yes Little Girl, Papi sees now the birds nests. Said Papi soothingly to calm the Little Girl.
- Look, Look! Another bird's nest! Shouted the Little Girl now in a more excited tone.
- Yes Little Girl, the trees opened their branches for the birds to fly away. Explained Papi.
- I don't see the Birds Papi. Said the Little Girl disappointed.
- The birds moved to a place more warm, not so cold, like grandma's house. Tried to explain Papi.
- Why ? The Little Girl brought her favorite question.
- Well, the birds do not have warm clothes like the jackets of the Little Girl, so they have to go to warmer places .
- Why ? The birds do not like winter ? asked the Little Girl.
- It's not a matter of liking, it's that they can't live in a cold place, they get snow on their wings and fall to the ground.
- No, that can't bee, they fly only after the snow falls. The Little Girl shook her head.
- Look at the bird's nest, do they have a roof ?
- Eheheh! That is funny Papi, off course not, the birds need to fly and the roof stops them flying. Explained the Little Girl.
- So, when the birds are sleeping, the snow will cover the little birds and they will be very cold.
- Papi, let's get the birds nest and put in the house, they can stay in my room. The Little Girl was very proud with the solution.
- And how will the birds fly to the nest ? You leave the windows open for the cold and birds come in to your room ?
- Ah! Ok! That is unfair!

Rainbow Cookie Monster

Have you ever told your child the story of the pot at the end of the rainbow ? Do you remember what did your child want to do ? Chase the rainbow ? Did he make a lot of questions ? What would you do with the pot of gold ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

- Good, said Papi, it has stopped raining. Look Little Girl, there is a beautiful rainbow. Do you know that at the end of the rainbow there is a pot of gold ?
- Why ? asked the Little Girl.
- To make you happy if you fund it.
- Why ? asked again the Little Girl.
- To reward you if you can get to the end before the rainbow fades.
- Why ? continued the Little Girl.

- The rainbow is made of the same things as your dreams, if you follow your dreams, and don't quit before they fade, then you will find your pot of gold and be very happy.

- Papi! Then if I follow the rainbow I will not find a pot of gold, said the Little Girl.
- Why ? was Papi's turn to ask.
- Because the Cookie Monster will get the pot of gold and buy a lot of cookies.

Finding Nemo

Is your kids bathing time a pain for you ? Do they like to have a bath ? Do they fight to get into the tub ? Do they bring their toys with them ? Does the bathroom looks like a war just happened after the bath ? Do they want to stay for hours in the bath playing with the water toys ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl lost her Nemo plush toy. She was looking everywhere for it, she was really missing little Nemo. Last time she had a great adventure with Nemo. The little fish went everywhere, it went in the car with the Little Girl, it went to kindergarten, it went to the aquarium visit. It was very good to have Nemo during the aquarium visit. Little Nemo told the Little Girl the name of all the fishes.

She surprised Papi when she told him the name of the shark was Bruce. Papi did not know that the shark was called Bruce. The Little Girl always liked to explain things to Papi. Papi never knows anything about the important stuff, Papi only knows boring stuff.
Now the Little Girl was very sad, she did not find Nemo, and she wanted to go and see the turtles with Papi.
She asked all the other toys where Nemo was, but no toy seemed to know where Nemo was.
She found the little blue and yellow fish. The little blue and yellow fish was called Dory, and it was for sometime now that the little blue and yellow fish did not swim.
- Hello Dory, where is Nemo ? Asked the Little Girl.
- Get me a battery and I will help you find Nemo. Answered Dory.
- I do not have batteries, I will have to ask Papi, wait here Dory.
The Little Girl ran out of the room looking for Papi.
- PAPI! PAPI! Where are you ? Shouted the Little Girl.
She ran around the house looking for Papi until she finally found him. She explained Papi that she was looking for Nemo and that Dory would help find Nemo but she wanted a battery and a bowl of water.
Papi smiled at the Little Girl and went to look for a battery for Dory. Came back and then talked for a long time with Dory. After a while Dory was happy and wanting to swim. Papi handed over Dory to the Little Girl.
The Little Girl went to the sea with the Dory and swam for a long time. Mami went with the Little Girl to help her swim, get the ears cleaned and get the hair shiny. While Mami helped the Little Girl, the Little Girl was swimming with Dory.
After they came from the sea, Dory had explained to the Little Girl where Nemo was.
The Little Girl went straight into the room and found Nemo where Dory said he would be.
Nemo was next to the book from the aquarium, he was happily reading the book and remembering the visit he made to the aquarium with the Little Girl.
The Little Girl than explained all the adventure of little Nemo to Papi.

First Day

The Little Girl went to bed afraid.
Papi said it was the last day of the year.
After she sleeps we would have a new year, a whole new year to fill with many happy days.
What is it like for a year to end ?
The Little Girl was afraid. She did not like this thing of no more days in the year. The last day of the year was really scared.
It was difficult to sleep today. Many noises outside, many explosions. The sky was beautiful, with all the fireworks, lots of colors and lights, and everybody seemed to be very happy. Were all the grown-ups crazy? Was the Little Girl the only one afraid of the year ending?
The Little Girl tried to be awake for as long as she could, the noises were helping her stay wake. But she was tired, she could not continue awake much more. Little by little the Little Girl fell asleep.

- Good Morning Little Girl.
It was Papi's voice. The Little Girl woke up with a jump, and immediately hugged Papi.
- Papi the year did not finish.
The Little Girl was happy, everything seemed to be the same, there was no reason to be afraid.
- This is a New Year Little Girl, welcome to the New Year, I have something special for you today.
Papi gave the Little Girl a big wall calendar.
- My Little Girl, this is a calendar, it is for the New Year. See this little box ?
- Yes Papi, what is the little box ?
- This box is your birthday. When we are in that box you will become 5 years old, This little box here in the beginning is Today. Today is the first day on the New Year.
- Wow.
The Little Girl was amazed with what she was learning.
- With this big pen, everyday we wake up we mark a little box, when we marked all the little boxes until this special birthday box it means it is your birthday party.
- Wow, and on that day we are going to Mickey's house? I want to see Peter Pan, Mickey, Buzz, Woody.
- Yes Little Girl, we will go and see Mickey when it's your birthday party.