The Wild White Mustang

My child loves all the rides she finds in shopping centers. And always asks me for a coin. Does your child also love those rides ? Do you give her a coin ? How often do you allow them that small or big pleasure ? How does your kid react ? Share your story, here is mine...

The little girl saw the beautiful riding horse at the shopping mall. The great white horse was surrounded by Indians that seamed to try to help the horse. The little girl liked the horse, it seemed very fast. And she like the furry white with the black and grey mane. The white steed looked very noble although being a wild mustang of the american green prairies.
The little girl wanted to ride the white horse, but the white horse wanted the little girl to give it something precious, the white horse wanted a shiny silver coin, and the little girl had none. The little girl asked Papi for a shiny silver coin, and Papi told the little girl that she needed to earn the coin. The horse wanted something valuable, it could not be something that just appeared from thin air.
"Papi, how do I earn a shiny silver coin ?"

Papi took the little girl to the parking lot. There Papi opened the door to the little girl's backseat and showed the little girl all the confusion of toys and comic books all over the seats. Papi gave the little girl a small canvas bag to put everything. The little girl happily started putting away all her toys and comic books. Everything into the small canvas bag, and soon Papi's car backseat started looking much nicer. The little girl even found a small plastic white horse.
"Look Papi, the kid of the big white horse, I will take the small horse to meet it's Papi."
After the little girl put all her toys and comic books away, Papi gave the little girl a shiny silver coin. The little girl was very proud and happy and started running to the big white horse.
"Hello horsey, I have for you a shiny silver coin". The little girl hopped on the horse's back and gave the horse the shiny silver coin. The wild white horse neighed and started running.
The little girl was happy, she could feel the wind on her face as the wild white mustang raced across the Indian camp. All the Indians cheered as the little girl passed by them. The little girl was running fast on the wild white mustang. The little girl passed by a little Indian princess, she was called Tiger Lily, and the two little girls became friends and played together. They both rode the wild white mustang, and the wild white mustang ran around the Indian Village.

All Indians were happy as they saw their little princess playing with the new friend, the little girl. The chief was very happy, the Indian chief gave Papi the Indian drink of happiness, Papi drank this hot drink that had a strong smell. Papi called it coffee. Papi and the Indian chief talked while the little girl and Tiger Lily the Indian princess rode the wild white mustang around the village.
A bad man came to the Indian village. The bad man was saying bad things to Tiger Lily. The little girl did not like and made the wild white mustang go to the bad man. The wild white mustang stand on it's back legs and kicked the bad man's gun with the front legs. All the Indians laughed and the little girl shouted: "Go away bad man!". The wild white mustang kicked the bad man in his behind and the bad man ran away.
All the Indians were happy and shouted hooray for the little girl. The little girl was very happy, she had helped the Indian Village and her new friend Tiger Lily the Indian Princess.
The little girl climbed down the wild white mustang and happily told her father the story of how she helped the Indians with the white horse.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five

How did you teach the numbers to your child ? Did he pick them up ? Did you teach in a song ? Used the fingers ? Did he change the order ? And understanding the meaning when counting ? Tell me your story.
Here is mine...

- One, Two, Four, Five!
The sequence of numbers could be heard! I was amazed that the neighbors did not yet complain.
- One, Two, Four, Five!
And three kept missing.
- One, Two, Four, Five!
Yes, indeed, the three is still missing.
- Little Girl, let me help you, lets count the little fingers: One little finder, two little fingers, three, four little fingers, five!
- One, Two, Four, Five.
- Where is number Three Little Girl ?
- One, Two, Three, FIVE!
Ok, the three got in to replace the four... this is going to take some time!
- Little Girl, One, Two, Three, Four, Five!
- One, Two, Three, FIVE!
- Little Girl, let's count the fingers: One, Two, Three, Four , Five.
- One, Two, Three,  Five, FIVE!
Should I insist ? The Little Girl will tired and irritated, better switch now to something different.
And I started telling the number story to the Little Girl!

The little girl lived in one tent. With the little girl lived with her father Chief Numbercounter in the same tent. In the one tent lived two people, the little girl and the big chief. The tent had 3 corners inside. The door in the middle, two corners each side, and another third corner in the back!
The tent had three corners, one, two, three.
The little girl gave a gift to the big chief. She had the surprise wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper. The Chief Numbercounter was surprised with the gift. The little girl had used beautiful pink paper to wrap her surprise. The Chief Numbercounter unwrapped the gift. The big chief pulled one corner of the paper, he pulled a second corner of the paper, he pulled a third corner of the paper and the surprise was revealed to Chief Numbercounter. Wrapped in the pink paper was a corner, a brand new corner for the tent.
The big chief picked up carefully the corner and took it to the tent. Now the tent had one more corner. So the Chief Numbercounter started counting the corners of the tent: One, Two, Three and the new one FOUR. Now the tent had four corners! One, Two, Three, Four!

The little girl looked through the door to the inside of the tent. Before the new corner, the floor of the tent was a triangle, it had three corners. But big chief put the new corner to the tent. Now the floor of the tent was different, the floor of the tent was now a square. The little girl looked into the tent through the tent's door, magic, it was now a square.
The big chief teaches one more thing to the little girl... magic! Look little girl, look to the top of the tent, there is another corner, see up there ? The little girl was amazed, yes, in the ceiling of the tent there was another corner. That is corner number FIVE! so let's count the corners now.

- One corner, two corners, three. Four corners, FIVE!
- One, Two, Three, Four, FIVE!
The tent now is a pyramid. It has a square floor, and four triangle walls, with a total of five corners.
- One, Two, Three, Four, FIVE!
- One, Two, Three, Four, FIVE!

The Tent

What happens when you dress up your child in costumes ? Does your child play the part of the costume ? Does he enter into roleplay ? Do you play games with him in costumes ? What are his reactions ? Does it generate stories that live for a while ? Tell me your story.
Here is mine...

The little girl tied the red scarf around her neck. It was part of the little girl's dress code together with blue jeans and yellow shirt. A white waistcoat with black patches topped by a cool cowboy hat.

Sheriff Woody would definitively pick her for deputy. The little girl was soon to meet the Sheriff as he was out searching for the lost black sheep of the herd.

The little had made a drawing of when Sheriff Woody crossed the bridge at the borders of the town. It was an impressive moment for the little girl, for she had never seen anybody go so far from town, and even less to cross the bridge to unknown land. The drawing was to be her present to Sheriff Woody. She made the drawing with all the details, the green Sheriff with the big blue sheriff cross that went from boots to the sheriff's hat. The noble and faithful purple horse to every detail crossing the long red bridge over the curly blue river. You could see the fear in the sheriff's eyes as he tried to avoid eye contact with the huge mouth green crocodile with five dangerous teeth. It would certainly be very bad for Sheriff Woody if the huge mouth green crocodile would have laid the two top teeth or the three bottom teeth in the sheriff's leg.

The other side the little girl did not see. She only heard stories from her father that was working in the saloon cleaning glasses all day. But her father was the best bartender of all the town. There was not a better bartender in all of the town to be found, even at the only saloon where the Indians went to fetch the firewater. The little girl never understood why the Indians liked firewater or firerice, or firechicken, or firepotatoes. All of those firethings made her breath heavily and drink a lot of water. But the Indians liked their curry very much, they eat it all day, they eat it all night, they were always eating curry.

But the little girl's father did tell her the stories of the other side of the bridge. Father always told her the stories of the strange land of the Indians. The little girl even listened once to her father talking with the Indians after he had sent her to bed. She did not sleep. The little girl and her white stuffed dog Lightbulb had gone on tiptoes to the saloon's kitchen door and listened on father speaking with the Indians.

Father told the story of the magic tent that traveled to the moon every night that the moon was a full circle up in the night sky. It seemed that the Indians traveled many times to the moon, and brought all wonderful things from the moon. And one time Sheriff Woody went to the tent to have tea with the chief father of Tiger Lily and Peter Pan, it was when the astronaut crashed on the moon. Sheriff Woody with the help of Peter Pan and the magic tent went to the moon to rescue the astronaut.

Now father gave the little girl the magic tent. It is now in little girl's room. Every night that the moon is a full circle, the little girl will sleep in the magic tent, and in the mornings will tell father the real stories of what happens in the moon. And she knows the secret. The moon is friend of a painter. But the painter is very bad, he is always painting the moon and erasing the moon to make the circle good. The painter does not know how to make good round circles, that is why he is always erasing and painting the moon.