Bub's First Story
One of the questions I found difficult to answer last week was about whether Bub was capable of telling a connected story in sequence. I couldn’t recall him doing so, and having observed him since, I have noted that his remarks tend to focus on isolated, unconnected events.
Until this morning.
Bub: Mama, can we tell the story of the Colour Babies?
Me: Sure. What are the Colour Babies doing?
Bub: They are sleeping. I’m going to wake them up! (He goes over to the garbage can, opens it and pulls out an invisible handful of sleepy Colour Babies.) Here you go. It’s the Colour Babies!
Me: How many are there?
Bub: There are ten many.
Me: What are they going to do?
Bub: They are going into the Magic Cave! (He crawls under my legs, which are propped up on the coffee table.) Follow me, Colour Babies!
Pie: (determined not to be left out) I’m a Colour Baby!
Me: What colour are you?
Pie: Yellow!
Bub: The babies are at the beach. It’s time for them to be going to dress up!
Me: Which Colour Baby are you, Bub? Pie is Baby Yellow. Are you Baby Green?
Bub: No. (reprovingly) Mamas don’t like to talk. The Colour Babies are dressing up.
Me: (getting back with the program) They’re dressing up in a costume? What are they dressing up as?
Bub: I’m a koala.
Pie: I’m a koala too!
Bub: Grrr. Grrr. The babies are scared! Don’t worry, babies – we will save you! (He gathers up the babies and places them on the diaper-changing pad, counting to make sure all ten Colour Babies are present and accounted for.) It’s time for the babies to have some celery.
Postscript: After some consultation with hubby, I have discovered that this narrative is actually a continuation of a story Bub came up with yesterday in which the Colour Babies’ garbage-can-sleeping and celery-eating habits were firmly established.
Post-postscript: In the Further Adventures of the Colour Babies, on the way home from church today they were pursued by a herd of ten horses. Fortunately, just as the terrified babies were about to be trampled, the horses got small and the babies got big, and then they turned into SuperBabies and flew away. Should I mention again that Bub has never produced a narrative-like structure before this weekend?
39 comments:
yay Bub!
Story telling is such a gift. I am excited about the stories he will come up with. Even if they do involve celery.
Awesome.
My favorite part, though, is no, mamas don't like to talk.
Yay Bub!!! KayTar isn't quite to involved, but she does attempt pretend play. It has just started recently, "Fishing hole! Reee big fish! Catch it!", little scenarios like that.
I, too, love the reminder that mamas don't like to talk. LOL.
wow, that's a very involved narrative - not to mention the attention span and the imagination (the horses got small and the babies got big -what a great solution.)
Wow! That's amazing! To be able to tell a story that continues over a day or two is impressive. Very positive sign I think, don't you?
Thank you for sharing the exciting news.
:)
Trillian and I have watched and listened as Scooter has gone from rehashing old Thomas plots to making up entirely new adventures for his trains.
Amazing how it can suddenly come together. Not sure what wires connect, but when they do...
How awesome is that?
TOTALLY AWESOME!
Karen - That's the part that really struck me too - the first narrative was fairly incidental (there were other parts to it too: a car ride, a dance class, with no real cause-and-effect relationship between them), but the SuperBaby story had a real plot: it had suspense, and emotional content (the babies were scared), and then some creative problem-solving. He has been influenced, clearly, by the WonderPets, but he was also weaving the story from the impulse of the moment (we pass some horse farms on our way to church).
Truly, I am blown away.
For lack of a better comment:
That is friggin' amazing.
Go Bub!
That is fantastic!
I give him extra points for including babies of all colours. And celery, of course. ;-)
That is totally awesome!
Perhaps now that the door has opened...? I can't wait to hear more of Bub's stories!
He made that story up?! Soo cute, I loved it.
So exciting. Wonderful post to read right before I go to bed.
Holy smokes! And it's funny that he won't let you talk. I love it when kids get all earnest and adopt the tones we so often turn on then.
Then again, holy smokes! Hooray for Bub. Good thing the colour babies have him as a protector ...
sounds like he's been saving it up!
That is really great! This brought a smile to my face. Go Bub. Go Colour Babies.
That is fantastic. My kids used to love me to write the story down and then they would "draw" pictures. We still have them. For their birthdays, I get them out and everyone has a good laugh. You should be so proud. I love how Pie is trying to participate.
That was a great color baby story especially the one where the babies got big and the horses got small. That is darn good imagination.
And on an entirely different note, I was surprised you write colour instead of color as it is here. I did not know that you follow the British version.
"No (reprovingly) Mamas don't like to talk"
That line made me laugh out loud. My son disapproves of my unsolicited involvement in projects he's doing, too. I just love the way Bub put it.
Ohhh, how thrilling that must have been for you. I think you have an author in the making.
So incredible on so mamy levels-- narrative itself, the interaction with you and Pie, the depth of emotion (the hwole fear thing!), the problem solving, incorporating elements around him like the horses and the "cave" of your legs. WOW. Quite the creative child. Brilliant.
Not only a narrative, but it's episodic as well! Very impressive. Way to go Bub!
Wow, congratulations, and hugs all around!
So glad that Bub is progressing so well, holding my breath and hoping it will continue. :)
Wow, great job Bub! I can't wait to hear more adventures of the color babies!!
"(reprovingly) Mamas don’t like to talk."
I wish I had known and saved myself all of this talking!
Seriously, good work, Bub!
Love love love kid stories... They are so unhindered by convention! And it's so exciting to see their imaginations working!
Good job, Bub!
Totally cool. Superbabies, indeed!
Clearly, the lad was waiting to tell a grand story. Cheers to him!
mmm.......celery.
Wow, awesome pretend play! Terrific imagination :)
I'm liking the Adventures of the Colour Babies! Hooray Bub!
Are colour babies his own invention?
We have the ongoing adventures of the two doggies, who have names and ages, though the ages fluctuate to fit the story we are on at the moment nad the behaviours she wants them to have.
I love to watch the imaginations at work - how neat to see Bub's kicking in nicely.
What a way to begin story-telling! That's a great one.
Good job Bub. Good Job. I am so proud of him.
By the way, BubandPie, I was telling my boyfriend about Bub a couple of days ago. His comment - "What do you mean the child's autistic? He's just a f'ing genius!"
I have to agree.
Oh, I love the imagination of children. It sounds like Bub has a great one.
smiling over here ... big smiles for you.
Right on, Bub! I love to hear things like this.
Yes, totally awesome.
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