Story Time

Every night, when I'm putting Connor to bed, it ends with me turning off the lights and getting him to lay down under the covers so that I can tell him a story. The first story I ever told him involved him going to see his Uncle Kevin in Japan, and Kevin saying, "Konnichiwa!" when Connor arrived. Connor expects me to include "konnichiwa" in every story now, and laughs every time he hears it.

Every night before last night, Connor has always asked me to tell him the same story over and over. Last night, though, he asked for a new story each time, and he was making up new ideas for stories! Our format goes like this:

Me: "Once upon a time-"
Connor: "a - little - boy - named - Connor!" (wiggling with each word for emphasis)
Me: "- there was a little boy named Connor! And he liked to-"

This is where I let Connor tell me what story he wants to hear.

His common choices so far have been:

1. "Splash the chalk" - Referring to his favorite game, throwing chalk into a bucket of water over and over.
2. "Splash the ice" - His favorite game got a seasonal twist when it snowed, so he asked to hear stories about throwing ice in the water.
3. "Go see Mama and Baby Eamon" - Stories about Connor having to go places to find Mama and Baby Eamon, where Connor will sometimes feed me the location they need to be found. His favorite place is, "Awawa," which he made up. I think he likes the way it sounds.
4. "Play a little boy named Connor" - in which Connor and his fictional friend Connor tell each other hello back and forth.
5. "Say konnichiwa family" - Where I list off the names of everyone in our extended family, and Connor says "konnichiwa" to each of them

Last night, instead of picking one of those and sticking to it, he requested:

1. "Splash the chalk" - No surprise there.
2. "The diaper story" - Never expected to hear him request this story. I told it to him once when I was frustrated that he went wild while I was changing a poopy diaper, and things almost got messy. It was about Dada wanting Connor to be calm and still while he got his diaper changed.
3. "Take the trash" - Never told him a story about this before, so I made up one real quick where Dada asked him to put his diaper in the trash, and he slam-dunked it.
4. "Get the numbers" - Also a new concept, so I told him about how he had to go on a journey to find the numbers one, two, and three. (I wasn't very creative; he found a stick, a snake, and a worm in the shape of the numbers).

Then, when he wouldn't go to sleep, and I had to go back in to see him, he asked me to tell him a story where Connor "gets the letters."

Our little Connor is getting bigger! I'm excited by his new capacity for creative thought. I keep hoping one night that he'll want to tell his Dada a story, since I'm sure it'll be more entertaining than any that I tell him.