Forty-two years ago, when my first child was turning two years old, I began telling stories.
I love making up stories spontaneously.
I must have told scores over the years.
Now that I have grandchildren, I am doing it again.
This time technology is helping out as I record each story.
I want the stories to be entertaining.
As a former teacher, I also want them to be educational.
Why do I record the stories? So I can replay them to the kids and use them to verify questions I ask about the stories.
I tell most of the stories now when my granddaughter needs to take a nap. I sit next to her crib and begin.
Here is a story I recorded last week:
There was a boy named Henry.
Henry liked different kinds of papers.
So he said to his dad, “Dad, can you give me some different kinds of papers?”
And his dad said, “Okay, I have three kinds of papers to show you.
“The first one is this drawing paper, the kind you use with your crayons.
“The second kind of paper is this toilet paper — isn’t that funny?
Another kind of paper I have here are napkins. They are what you use to wipe your mouth.
Then Henry went to his mom.
Henry said, “Mom, can you show me three kinds of paper?”
His mom said, “Okay, here are paper towels. We use them to wipe up the spills on the table. Here is another kind of paper, wrapping paper for presents.
Another kind of paper I have is a newspaper. Your dad reads the newspaper in the morning before he goes to work.
Henry’s dad said, “Henry, I showed you three kinds of papers and mom showed you three kinds of papers.
“How many kinds of papers did we show you? Let’s see.”
Dad held up three fingers on one hand, and three fingers on the other hand.
Dad said, “3+3 = 6. We showed you six kinds of papers.
“Henry, you like different kinds of papers so much.
“Mom and I can’t think of any more kinds of papers around the house.
“Let’s go to the store and look around the store for more kinds of papers.”
At the store, dad put Henry in the shopping cart. They went around looking for more papers.
Henry saw paper towels, but he already had seen paper towels at home.
Henry saw napkins, but he also had seen napkins at home.
Then Henry saw coloring paper and wrapping paper and even a newspaper. But there were no new papers yet.
“Dad, I would like to see two more kinds of papers before we go home,” Henry said.
Just then Henry saw a sticker book with characters from his favorite movie, Frozen.
“Dad, stickers are a kind of paper, too,” Henry said. “Now we need only one more kind of paper.”
Dad said, “I will buy you the sticker book. But now I am sorry that it’s time to go home now.”
So, they went to the checkout.
As they checked out, the clerk put the sticker book in a new kind of paper.
Can you guess what kind of paper it was?
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen51@gmail.com
