Act It Out: Transitions

While many of our co-created stories occur during quiet times when the goal is settling down and peacefulness, there are also so many opportunities to use story to get into action. I'm trying to get more in touch with these active story opportunities...especially as the on-going cold rain has me feeling like curling up under a blanket and have someone tell me a story (and oh, yes, how I look forward to the day when LP does).

I'm experimenting with using story-acting as a transition when LP is coming to the end of an activity (or if I need her to come to the end of an activity). For example, if she has been building happily with the Legos but seems to be getting restless with it and hasn't self-initiated something else, I might join her with the Legos and make a few offers to see if we can transform the moment. (She has so many opportunities throughout the day to self-initiate, I like to see if at least once a day I can pay close enough attention to be a part of it, just for varieties sake...and it does also work if the "transition" LP has arrived at is whining.)

Currently her Lego creations are either parfaits or trampolines or parfait trampolines (sticky but sweet landings on that one)...so I might start a story about a trampoline who liked to make people go up and down and flip around. I'd repeat a key phrase like "up and down and flip around" and then stand up and do some action of "up and down and flip around" myself and then invite her to join me and do it together.

As we're going "up and down and flip around," I'd pay attention to LP's body and words to figure out where to go next. The story-moment can be brief and just the transition (as our action moves us to the big bed for some tumbling time) or can be an entry to a shared imaginative experience as we find out what happens when the trampoline flipped LP so high up into the sky that she landed on a cloud or perhaps she would become a pancake being flipped.


This post is part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.

Wrap it up!

We have entered the birthday season!

Between mid-January and mid-March, we celebrate 8 family birthdays (including myself, LP and ImprovDad) along with the birthdays of 3 of LP's girlfriends (all turning 3). So there has been a lot of talking about birthdays and opportunities to sing.

After making wrapping paper and wrapping up a present for a friend, LP was bit by the wrapping bug. She comandeered all the paper from the easel and brought a steady stream of lovies and books to be wrapped. Once wrapped, a present was gently carried to its recipient while LP sang "Happy Birthday." (Bartie the Bus made out like a bandit with Via the musical frog a close second although LP tells me her real birthday wasn't until Saturday.)

It was fun to watch the game evolve, especially when I got on board (and stopped putting away the tape each time as if it was over) and shared the birthday fun. I am, it seems, always learning that it is actually faster to say "YES!" and join in play and then move on to what I want (or need or think I need) to do. Delaying tactics lessen LP's fun because she moves her focus from her game (which she just was trying to share) to actively trying to get my attention.

I'm sure we'll be playing "wrap it up" again and next time I'll be ready to empower LP to do more herself (like pieces of tape lined up on the easel for her to use as she pleases).

This post is part of se7en's Fabulous Friday Fun (and no, it isn't Friday on any calendar except the improv one where it can always be Friday...thanks se7en for understanding that!)

Tell Me a Story: DIY Myth

And so our sleep-deprived story continues....

As LP (and we) serve out our transition time (that uncomfortable time when the old way of doing things no longer works and the new way of doing things isn't yet defined), there are many awake hours in wee hours of the morning.

Not my best time.

I'm trying many new things to shift our nights into a better and more sleep-filled experience. Along with some straight talk about nighttime (which is for sleeping) I'm also developing the story of the Sleepy Bird. I have a (hopeful) feeling that Sleepy Bird will become part of our bedtime and re-falling asleep routines. She has great potential to serve a mythic function.

A few nights ago, LP really settled down as I started to tell her about the Sleepy Bird getting up out of her nest and flying through the night sky, over houses and apartments and all kinds of places that people are sleeping. I was able to spin a long, long story about trees dreaming about tree things and so on. When the Sleepy Bird sees someone not sleeping, she comes and sings a soft, sleepy song to help them go back to sleep.

Last night when I said goodnight, I reminder her about Sleepy Bird, she smiled and softly said "tweet, tweet".

Fingers crossed that "tweet tweet" and lead to sleep, sleep.

This post is part of the Moms' 30 minute blog challenge over at SteadyMom.

A Happy Day

There's nothing quite like a break in the storm.

For the past few weeks LP has been wrestling with a developmental leap -- it has been clear in her behavior that she was frustrated a lot more than usual. There's been a lot more screaming and night-waking and whining.

And yesterday there was a breakthrough of joy and expression and she (and by extension we) had a much more fun day.

Overall her mood was upbeat and what really stood out to me was the new level of creative expression. She was a singing, storying, playing whirlwind. Goofy and delighted...and delightful too.

Most of it was in the moment so is just captured in my memory but here's a few pics anyway (as a side note, much as I dream of being an all-natural material toys home, a girl loves what she loves and currently what she loves is a Simpsons chest set we recently uncovered in a closet...c'est la vie!)

Here are the Simpsons (from a chess set) on their lego trampoline-bed reading The Mouse & The Buddha:


After that, they needed a snack of kafarla and fatooda (spellings approximate since LP can't spell yet):

Act It Out: Getting Started

Looking over my blog, I realize how heavily I rely on improvised verbal storytelling and have neglected getting into action. The reason is because verbal stories have been what seem to delight and inspire LP's imagination but as I'm working to challenge her to expand her play, it is good to challenge us both into more active storytelling.

Getting started can be easy...while sharing a story (either made up or already known like a fairy tale), find a place to do a little action together. You can flutter like butterflies or wiggle like worms. You can feed each other pretend spoonfuls of the Three Bears' porridge or clip-clop clip-clop around like the Billy Goats Gruff.

You don't have to commit to acting out the whole story to introduce action into storytelling... although acting out whole stories is something I look forward to with great anticipation!


This post is a part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.

Jenny on Improv, Kids & Storytelling

My friend Jenny (improvisor and mom of 2) wrote about telling improv stories with kids over at Improv Notebook. Go check it out!

Tell Me a Story: Meandering Along

One of the traps that I fall into in my storytelling is trying to make it all a neat package with a cohesive beginning, middle and end. Yet if I pay attention to LP during storytelling I find she is much more open-minded about where a story goes. It can be a reflection of (or my best guess) of some of her experience in the world. (Sometimes I think my storytelling job is to help build cohesiveness and other times I think it is simply to reflect.)

So today's storytelling challenge is to let yourself meander like your kiddo.

See something shiny in your story...go over there and describe it, explore it, find out what it likes to eat for dinner and oh, wait...look over there! It's a worm in a puddle swimming home. Follow the worm as she wiggle-swims along and then....Hey! Look over there! The worm found an apple to eat and there's an apple tree with a bird's nest in it and the nest has three eggs, one blue, one green and one red. The eggs are starting to hatch and out comes a dinosaur, a turtle and a bird. A little girl named LP climbs the tree and look sin the nest and then.....

well and then, see what happens next and next and next.