Bedtime stories

Typically David or I read Grace a book or two before bedtime.  Lately, however, she has been asking for a story instead.  Usually something like, "Momma, you tell me a stoh-ree?  Bout bee-bee Dace?"  (Momma, will you tell me a story?  About baby Grace?)  She really enjoys stories about herself and has been asking for them quite often during the day.

After thinking for a few moments, I began.

Once upon a time, Grace was a little baby girl.  She was so little she couldn't walk yet.  She couldn't even crawl.  So do you know what Grace would do to get around? "Watt, Momma?"  (What, Momma?)

Grace would lay on the floor, pick one arm up in the air, and roll over onto her back.  Then she would roll over onto her tummy.  And she would roll and roll and roll all across the room to get where she wanted to go.

One day, Momma and baby Grace were in the basement playing.  Chloe was outside playing with Champ, the doggie from next door.  Soon, Chloe wanted to come inside so she stood at the door and barked!  "Wuff wuff!  Yike dat, Momma?"  (Woof woof.  Like that, Momma?)  Yes, baby, just like that.

So Momma went to the door and let Chloe inside, and Chloe started rolling on the carpet to scratch her back.  "See-yee Toe-y!  Toe-y so see-yee."  (Silly, Chloe!  Chloe is so silly.)  Yes, Chloe sure is a silly dog, isn't she? 

Well, Grace saw Chloe rolling around on the floor and she wanted to play with Chloe.  So Grace rolled and rolled and rolled all the way over to Chloe, but Chloe ran away.  So baby Grace sat up and looked to see where Chloe had gone.  While she was looking for Chloe, guess what she found?  "Watt, Momma?  Watt Dace fine?"  (What, Momma?  What did Grace find?)

She found a worm on the floor!  The worm must have been hiding on Chloe and fell off when Chloe came inside.  "Uh worm-ee?"  (A wormy?)  Yes, a wormy.  And do you know what Grace did when she saw that wormy?  "Watt, Momma?"  (What, Momma?) 

She ate it!  Grace ate the wormy!  "No, it's uh mon-sur!  Worm-ee turn into uh mon-sur!"  (No, it's a monster!  Wormy turned into a monster!)  No, Grace ate the wormy.  "Aaaaaaah!  Dace ate duh mons-ur?!?"  (Aaaaah!  Grace ate the monster?!?)  Wormy's not a monster.  And baby Grace really did eat the worm.

Grace seemed shocked and a little horrified by the story.  I don't think she believed it even though she really did eat a worm just like the story said when she was only 4 months old.  All David and I could do was laugh uncontrollably.  Her expression was priceless!

As for Grace calling the worm a monster, she got that from a Spongebob Squarepants episode.  Spongebob and Patrick were pet sitting for Sandy and were supposed to feed Wormy, a caterpillar, while she was gone.  When they came by the next morning, Wormy had turned into a butterfly.  So Spongebob and Patrick opened Wormy's jar looking for him and the butterfly flew out.  So of course they came to the logical conclusion that the butterfly was a monster and had eaten Wormy.  When Sandy came back, she set them straight, but I guess all Grace remembers is Wormy turning into a monster...

Grace truly has an amazing memory and her thought process always surprises me.  I love our little conversations and I can hardly wait for our next story time together.