Don't Shake Hook

Do you play board games with your kids ? Do you compete to win them or you let them win ? Is winning important ? Do you play until the end ? How fun is it to play ? Do they invent rules in the middle of the game ? You play with their silly rules or try to keep to the "official" rules ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl saw Jake grab a big gem right from under Captain's Hook pillow. Jake had nimble fingers and he managed to take out the gem without waking up Captain Hook. Captain Hook was sleeping in his hammock. It gave the feeling that the hammock would shake Captain Hook and make him wake up, but Jake's nimble fingers did the trick.

The Little Girl was excited, it was her turn to try and take a small chest from the top of the hammock. The exact same hammock Captain Hook was sleeping in. The Little Girl used Jake's sword to try and take the small chest. The Little Girl stretched her arm as long as she could with the sword tip almost reaching the small chest. The Little Girl approached a little more and could see the tip of the sword get into the small chest's hold.
The Little Girl was getting very nervous, she lift the sword slowly but the sword was not in a position to lift the small chest. the Little Girl placed the tip of the sword through the small chest's hold once more. The Little Girl stretched a little more her small arm and saw the tip get deeper through the small chest hold. Very calmly, very slowly the Little Girl lift the sword once more, and the tip of the sword was lifting the hold of the small chest. A little bit more of strength was needed to lift the small chest. The Little Girl made a big effort and lifted with strength the tip of the sword and the sword made an arc.

The Little Girl got nervous and reduced the strength.
"I Can't make it", cried the Little Girl.
All the friends encouraged her, Jake showed her a big big confident smile.
The Little Girl tried once more to lift the tip of the sword.
Gently, gently, the Little Girl stressed the sword and suddenly the sword straightened from it's arc and down came the small chest sliding by the hold down the sword.
"I made it, I made it!" shouted the Little Girl.
Captain Hook woke up, not because he got shook up on the hammock, but because the Little Girl woke him up with the victory shouts.
The party ended soon as Jake, the Little Girl and all the other boys from Neverland ran away from a furious Captain Hook.
Story based on Disney's game: "Who Shook Hook?"

The White Butterfly

Do your kids ask for bedtime stories ? Do you read them ? Do you search for books to have that night ritual ? Do you improvise ? Do you ask them for the first sentence and then you continue ? Do they interrupt you ? Do you continue the story after they fall asleep ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The great oak tree stood majestic in the garden. Covering the ground around the oak tree we could see many golden, yellow and red leaves. The tree was big, leaves were everywhere except for really far away from the tree. The great oak tree looked old and sad, it had no leaves, except for one small white leaf.
The Little Girl looked at the great oak tree.
"Are you sad big tree ?", asked the Little Girl, but the great oak tree did not answer back.
"Are you cold big tree ?", asked the Little Girl, and once more the great oak tree did no answer back.
"Do you want to play with me ?", asked the Little Girl, and once more the great oak remained silent.
The Little Girl did not wait for any answer from the tree, and she ran to the great oak tree. She ran around the great oak tree singing happily.

A great oak tree lived in the garden,

A little girl it could see was the warden,

And when all the leaves were absent

The great oak tree stood alone and silent.

It was then that the Little Girl saw the single white leaf on the great oak tree. She looked at the white leaf and wondered how it got there. Could it be a winter leaf ?

The Little Girl looked for something to help her get up the great oak tree. She found a ladder nearby and brought the ladder close to the big oak tree. First the right foot on the ladder, it looked like the ladder was secure and safe, then left foot on the ladder and the little girl climbed up. She moved to the big branches, and chose the branch closest with the white leaf. The Little Girl crawled on the branch and approached the small white leaf.

When the Little Girl was real close to the white leaf, the small white leaf opened into to sparkling white leaves. It was a small white butterfly that start flying when the Little Girl approached. The Little Girl looked surprised at the beautiful sparkling white butterfly as it flew around the big oak tree. The white butterfly looked like a snowflake that was happily flying the great oak tree.

The Little Girl fell of the big oak tree, luckily she landed on a big pile of golden, yellow and red leaves. The pile of leaves softened the Little Girl's fall. The Little Girl let herself stay on top of the pile of leaves and looked at the small sparkling white butterfly as it flew around the big oak tree.

The Little Girl flapped her arms as if she was flying, and the cleared the leaves around her showing the green grass. She left two green wings around her as the leaves cleared with the arm movement. The Little Girl had now two beautiful green wings and could fly with the butterfly. The small white butterfly was happily flying around the great oak tree. The Little Girl was happily flying behind the small white butterfly.

The small white butterfly flew once, twice, three times around the great oak tree, and then flew towards the church tower. The Little Girl flew after the small white butterfly. When they arrived at the church clock tower it started to ring and tell time. It was 12 o'clock, and the bell rang 12 times. With each hour a small group of white butterflies flew away from the church tower. When the 12 times had rang, there was a great number of small white butterflies flying around.

All the butterflies surrounded the Little Girl, and the Little Girl went back to the great oak tree. The Little Girl sat on the garden and looked at all the small white butterflies flying around the great oak tree. It looked like it was snowing, and the snow was alive around the great oak tree.

The great oak tree now looked very happy with all the small white butterflies flying around. Some butterflies sat on the great oak tree branches and looked like a thousand of beautiful white leaves. Other butterflies continued to fly and looked like it was snowing. the great oak tree was now covered in white foliage.

A great oak tree lived in the garden,

A little girl it could see was the warden,

And with all the butterflies flying around,

The happy oak tree was a playground.

The Little Girl sang happily her rhyme and went back home. Papi had said to the Little Girl that Christmas this year was not going to be a white Christmas. But Papi was wrong, Christmas this year was a white Christmas after all.

Santa's Helper

Does you kid love Christmas ? Does he want to help Santa Claus ? Does he believe in Santa Claus ? Do you feed that dream ? What do you role-play in this fantasy come true ?

It was the day before Christmas. The Little Girl looked out of the window very excited and saw the field covered in white. What a beautiful morning, the sun was about to shine very intensive, so it was going to be a nice day to go out and play.
The Little Girl had been waiting for snow all these days since she started hearing the Christmas Carols everywhere. She was finally going to slide throw the snow with her beautiful sledge. The Little Girl even got two little golden balls and a branch of the Christmas tree at home to decorate her sledge. The Little Girl's sledge was going to be the most beautiful sledge sliding downhill.
The Little Girl went out on her sledge, she wanted to test the snow. But when she got out of the house, it was not snow, it was just simple ice everywhere. The Little Girl could not go downhill in her sledge. What could she do today ?
The Little Girl got an idea,she would fly like Santa in her sledge. But the Little girl needed the help to pull the sledge up in the sky, so she went to talk with her special magical friends. The Little Girl ran back home and went to the special kingdom where she knew she would find her magical friends.
On the way she met Bolt the Plush Dog! "Hello Bolt", said the Little Girl, I need you to help me pull the sledge into the sky, "are you strong enough ?", "YES!" shouted Bolt the plush dog. And together they went to find another friend to pull the sledge.
On the way, The Little Girl and Bolt met Wolfie the Plush Wolf! "Hello Wolfie!", said the Little Girl, I need you to help me pull the sledge into the sky, "are you strong enough ?", "YES!" shouted Wolfie the plush wolf. And together they went to find another friend to pull the sledge.
On the way, the Little Girl, Bolt and Wolfie met many other strong friends wishing to help. They met, Scamp the plush dog. They met Berni the FC Bayern mascot. They met Gelbie, the Plush Fox. They met also Katzi, and Leo.

The Little Girl had now seven strong friends to help pull the sledge into the sky. The Little girl organized the brave and strong friends by size, the smallest in the front and the bigger in the back. They were organized in two orderly rows. The Little Girl found some magical string and tied all the strong friends together and onto the sledge.
The sledge was beautiful, decorated with the Christmas tree branch and the golden balls, and pulled by the seven brave and strong friends. The sledge was being pulled by Bolt, Wolfie, Scamp, Berni, Geldie, Katzi and Leo.
The Little Girl just needed one more to bring the magic to her sledge. She went to the Christmas tree and fetched all the presents. the Little Girl knew that if she gave presents to other people she would bring the magic to Christmas. Christmas was all about giving and making other people smile.

And with her own smile, the Little Girl had her magical sledge being pulled to the sky. The Little Girl and her seven brave and strong friends were helping Santa this year. This was going to be the best Christmas ever.

The Helicopter

Papi is coming back, Papi is coming back, Papi is coming back.
Mami, let's go fetch Papi at the airplane.
Mami smiled in agreement to the Little Girl.
Can we go in the helicopter Mami ?
No Little Girl, we are going by train.
No, No, I want to go in the helicopter that Papi gave me the last time he went on a plane.
What helicopter ? Asked puzzled Mami.
The Little Girl ran to her room, and picked up the helicopter.
Mami, the helicopter, can we go in the helicopter ?
OK Little Girl, let's go then, let's get ready.
The helicopter started spinning, a whoosh of air suddenly came has the rotor came to life.

The "Prrr prrr prrr" of the rotor could be hear, and along with the sound little pieces of spit as the Little Girl looked enthusiastically at the helicopter.
It was a tough job for Mami to dress the Little Girl with all the wind coming from the rotor blades. But the Little Girl put on her red dress, socks and the beautiful red boots shed selected last time Papi took her to the boring boot library.
The Little Girl and Mami hopped on to the Helicopter has the rotor blades started to spin faster.

There goes the helicopter with the Little Girl and Mami down the staircase and to the street.

What a nice trip to see the road to the train from high above the helicopter. All the houses very small, and down bellow they could see the train station. The Little Girl waited for the train to arrive at the station, then with great skill the Little Girl went flying above the train to the airport.

Once reaching the airport, the Little Girl was excited, she was piloting the helicopter high above the train, and she could see all the big planes landing around her.

Papi is on that airplane Mami ?

No Little Girl, answered Mami.

Is Papi on that red plane ?

No Little Girl.

Is Papi on that blue plane ?

No Little Girl.

...

After 99 airplanes the Little Girl saw Papi.

Excited she flew with the helicopter to Papi.

Come Papi, com with the helicopter, we are going home.

The Nightmares

The Little Girl did not want to go to bed. She was afraid of closing her eyes. She had bad dreams and she did not want for the bad dreams to come to her in the night while she was alone in bed.
"No Papi, I don't wan't to go to bed", cried the Little Girl.
"Mr. Sandman is putting sand on your eyelids, soon you will want to sleep."
"No Papi! I don't want to sleep", continued crying the Little Girl.
"Why don't you want to sleep ? Sleep makes you stronger and tomorrow you will be full of energy to play."

"No Papi! When I close my eyes I can see the monsters in the night, there are a lot of ugly animals waiting for me to sleep", cried the Little Girl.
"Ha, you are afraid of the monsters and ugly animals....", said Papi.
"Yes Papi! I am afraid of the monsters and ugly animals that come in the night when I am sleeping."
"Then we need to find you the fox with the light sword, that will protect you during the night."
"Where is the fox with the light sword Papi?", asked the Little Girl with the heart renovated with hope.
"Today the Fox with the light sword is protecting your friend Bella," explained Papi, "but tomorrow Bella does not need the fox, I will ask the fox with the light sword to come and protect you Little Girl."
The Little Girl seemed happier, and was in hope for Papi to bring the fox protector of her dreams.
But the Little Girl fought the sleepiness until she could fight no more.
Soon the Little Girl fell asleep, and Papi gently took the Little Girl to her bed, pulled the blanket and tucked her in. The Little Girl was sleeping peaceful, she slept with a big smile and Papi stayed for a bit looking at her.
Papi went back to the computer in the office.
Next day the Little Girl woke up, she came straight to Papi.
"Papi, is the fox here ?", at that same moment the doorbell rang, Papi wen't to the door ant talked with somebody in a yellow and red suit. When Papi came back he had a big box.
"What is that?", asked the Little Girl.
"I do not know, let's open the box".
And the Little Girl opened the box with excitement....
In the box there was a gold shiny fox, with very soft fur, and with a huge smile.
"Papi, Papi, ", shouted the Little Girl excitedly, "it's the fox that came to protect me from bad dreams".
The Little Girl played all day with the fox, she presented the fox to all the other toys and plush animals. It was a new and excited day at home.
When night came the Little Girl turned to Papi:
"Papi, I am going to bed with foxy, night night Papi", and the Little Girl went happily to bed.
Papi was happy, the Little Girl fell asleep very fast, she now had a new protector from her bad dreams.

The Yellow Balloon

- Papi!

Happiness. I always get a rush of pure happiness when this simple word is followed by this little being with the big bright eyes.

- Mommy?

- Mommy could not come today.

- Why?

- Mommy had to go to the doctor.

- Why?

- Mommy is ill.

- Why?

- Come, let's change your shoes, we are going home now.

I always wonder when should I stop the why train. The Little Girl always manages to get to places I don't know how to answer.

- Papi?

- Yes?

- Can I go in the yellow balloon?

- Of course!

- Yeah! I am going in the yellow balloon. I am going in the yellow balloon.

Another rush. I have truly been blessed everyday for the last 4 years. I let myself watch the Little Girl as she jumped around, and has she jumped around she wanted to make sure every kid knew that she was going home in the yellow balloon.

We pulled the yellow balloon from the locker, it was still full of air, floating against the locker's ceiling. It was there as if by magic knowing of this one more mission, to take the Little Girl home safely.

I dressed her up with the pink water suit and the green gummy boots. It's raining outside and we will not be able to go to the playground. I didn't have a backup plan, would have to rely on my improvisation for the long hours Mommy would be undergoing the  exams.

On the way out, the Little Girl passed by her friend Bella. They talked very happily in their very unique magical language to which grownups are not invited. I did get the words yellow and balloon, I saw the Little Girl's excitement, and I got a feeling for Bella wanting to come with the Little Girl.

Rain. Still hasn't stopped raining for the last 2 weeks, sunshine would surely be welcomed by us. As we got out I could hear the sound of a little trampoline, almost as high as a musical high pitched drum. It was the sound of raindrops on the yellow balloon. The yellow balloon was the Little Girl’s umbrella.

The yellow balloon looked like a small private sun very bright, making an high contrast with the pink water suit. The yellow balloon was glowing privately for the Little Girl as if responding to her smile. The Little Girl’s smile became wider and the balloon intensified it’s glow.

The yellow balloon seemed to be growing, getting bigger and bigger, the raindrops getting louder and louder drumming on the yellow balloon. Suddenly the yellow balloon was covering the sky above me, and the Little GIrl was holding to the yellow balloon.

The yellow balloon was moving upwards, and the Little Girl as well. I held on to the Little Girl's legs as the yellow balloon pulled the Little Girl into the sky. I got nervous, afraid of the yellow balloon taking my Little Girl. But the Little Girl felt my fear and smiled back at me.

- Papi! We are flying, we are flying.

Somehow, knowing this bigger than life experience seemed usual to the Little GIrl, I relaxed a bit. The Little Girl was feeling my restlessness.

- Papi! We are going home in the yellow balloon.

- We sure are Little Girl. Put your legs tightly around my shoulders.

The Little GIrl was holding tight, I surely felt the Little Girl happy to be going home in the yellow balloon with her father.

- Papi, I don’t want to go to Neverland and the pirates. I want to go with Peter Pan when I am like this.

She showed me her stretched hands with the ten fingers up. Who is holding the balloon ? The Fox in purple superhero costume was holding the balloon in one hand and the Little Girl on the other. Good thing we discovered the Fox, it used to protect the Little Girl from bad dreams and from the darkness. Always good to have it around.

We passed the green gardens on the way home. Our neighbors looking at us and waving, they always exchanged accomplice smiles with the Little GIrl. She knew all of them.

- Hello Little Girl! What a beautiful yellow balloon you have there.

The Little Girl would just smile, giggle and look back.

- Hello Little GIrl! Papa came to pick you up today.

And the Little Girl would smile, laugh and wave back. She stretched her arms, mimicking a pink plane. Looked like the Fox was riding the plane and holding the yellow balloon. The Fox smiled back at me, I could read in it's eyes that it would always be there to protect the Little GIrl.

We saw the cars passing on the street, the other kids with their parents looking from the windows at the Little GIrl. I believe they all wanted to be in the Little GIrl’s place. The Little GIrl was flying home in the yellow balloon.

Bella waved her little arm from the window of the small blue car.

- Little Girl! You are flying in the yellow balloon!

The Little Girl stretched her arms in the direction of Bella, and showed the full ten finger from both hands.

- Yes, I am flying, and when I am like this, I am going to fly with Peter Pan to Neverland and the Pirates.

- Bye bye Little Girl!

We saw Bella move away waving her little arm from the window of the small blue car. The small blue car became smaller as it moved away from us.

We could see the clouds above us, the clouds looked familiar. I could see Rapid the rabbit. I could see Hearty the lion. I could see Uli the owl. I could see Mickey Mouse. And the Little Girl knew all the clouds. She waved at the clouds telling me excited the names of all of them as we flew by.

We passed by the retirement home. The woman with fluffy white hair and round cheeks looked and smiled at the Little Girl. The woman with the silver hair and long nose looked at the Little Girl in disapproval. The lady in blue with the big round glasses clapped her hands as we passed by.

- Papi! Fast, Papi, fast Papi!

The Little Girl didn't want to be too long there. She saw the old bald man in black holding the big stick. He’s nose was reminded us of an eagle. His eyes were red and we could see the lasers coming out. If the lasers pierced the balloon we would be in danger. I moved frantically my legs as if I was swimming away from of the crocodile, and we moved as fast as we could increasing our distance from the old bald man in black.

We could see the stone fountain in front of the house. We were getting closer to safety. But the Little Girl didn't want to go into the house yet. She wanted to talk with all the stones in the fountain. So she approached the stones. It had stopped raining. The sky was clear now, the clouds had changed color from grey to white.

I looked at her, as she gently placed her green gummy books on top of the first stone. She was holding the yellow balloon tight in her hand. She touched the stone with the other hand, and the black stone turned white. She jumped from one stone to the next circling the fountain of the big stones. With each step of the green gummy boots the stones turned to white.

As she jumped around the big stones fountain, the stones made all the fountain look like a circular piano, with the stones in place of the keys in the huge piano keyboard. In my mind I could listen to the tune. She was playing happy birthday as she jumped from stone to stone, as she pressed each big key.

The Volcano

I always feel like my children are adventuring when we go to a theme park. Do you take your children to theme parks ? Do they get a feeling of exploring a new world ? Does it feel like an adventure always bringing new surprises ? Do your kids feel like it'S real life for them ? Do you role-play the adventure with them ? Do you make them play their part in the adventure ? Do you tell stories the next days enhancing the experience of the memories created ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl entered the dense forest. The forest was dense and as she walked through she had to get the giant palm leaves of her way. She couldn't see except for the next giant leaf in front of her. She remembered stories of people who used the giant leafs as plates to eat food. It was said the food was tastier when you ate the vegetables off the giant leafs with your own hands. Fried bananas on the leaves with rice was the favorite food of the Little Girl's friend.
She wondered what fruits she could see on the plants, she believed she saw bananas, mangoes and coconuts. And she liked all those fruits.
Another giant leaf in front of the Little Girl. The leaves were so big that it was hard for the Little Girl to push the leaves so she could pass. A monkey came by the Little Girl, he was standing in a branch just above the banana tree leaves. The monkey looked curious at the Little Girl, and the Little Girl looked back curious at the monkey.

The monkey gave a big shout and the Little Girl stopped. When the Little Girl looked down in front of her, she could see a river, and she was on a ledge. The monkey saved the little girl from falling. The Little Girl gave the monkey a big smile. The monkey came down from the branch and gave a piece of mango to the Little Girl. That piece of mango was so sweet, the Little Girl delighted herself with the sweet mango.

She started climbing down the ledge towards the river, and the monkey led her way down through a safe passage. The Little Girl climbed down the ledge excited, she could see other kids crossing the river in wooden rafts. She wanted to cross the river in a raft.
As she approached the river, there was a dock with an old man with a big beard. The old man looked like Nicholas, but was not dressed in the red suit the Little Girl found very funny. But it was not snowing, the red suit would be to hot now.
The old man said: "Hello Little Girl, do you have something for me ?". The Little Girl remembered the coin Papi gave her. She fetched the silver shiny coin from her pocket and gave it to the old man. the old man pulled a wooden raft and helped the Little Girl get on top. He then pushed the raft to the river with a long staff. The Little Girl was excited has she crossed the river. The monkey sat on the raft, sticking it's fingers in the water as to test the temperature. She reached the other side of the river and continued her journey. The monkey followed her.
The trail was full of dangers, first a big pit, the Little Girl needed to swing on a rope to cross the pit. The was a muddy slide, as the Little Girl slide down, she could feel the increasing speed and the shouts of the monkey behind her. They soon reached the bottom of the slide and continued the muddy trail. They had to push many balls that where in their path to reach the other side. Once they reached it they found a huge net which they climbed. A narrow passage was in front of them, and the Little Girl just ran sideways into it. Soon after they reached the end of the trail, and they saw a majestic volcano.
Guarding the path to the volcano was a mighty dragon. Each of the dragon's teeth was the size of the little girl. But that did not inspire any fear on the Little Girl's heart, instead she leaned forward with the monkey and jumped on each giant leaf surrounding the mighty dragon, the leaves acted like a trampoline and the Little girl jumped high enough to go over the head of the mighty dragon as it breathed the fire. She followed the monkey. She jumped once on the dragon's head and slide down the dragon's tail. She was again in the path of the volcano, and nothing more to stop her from reaching it.
The volcano laid in front of them, and the Little Girl started to climb, but the climb was slippery, for the volcano spit a liquid mud that made the climbing difficult. The monkey could not climb any further, but the Little Girl did not quit trying, she continued to climb. At a moment it looked like for each step she gave forward that she slide back two steps. But she continued, she insisted, and as the climb became more slanted the Little Girl climbed more slowly and more carefully selecting with precision each placeholder for the hands and feet. She climbed, some moments she almost felt quit, but somehow she felt encouraged to continue. She saw other kids failing to reach the top, one after another she saw them returning to the volcano base. But not her, she continued and pressed on with all her courage and determination.
She reached the top of the volcano! She sat for a while, admiring the surrounding, seeing everybody from high above, seeing the other kids failing halfway. She was victorious. Today was her day.