Submarine

Once upon a time, Benjamin and Peter climbed into a submarine and closed the door. The submarine went down, down, down into the ocean, and Benjamin and Peter looked out the window. They saw hundreds of fishes and giant turtles. They wished they could get out and go swimming with the dolphins. Then they saw a sting ray and a shark, and they were glad to be safe in their submarine. Benjamin helped Peter so that he wouldn't get scared; the sharks couldn't get them in there! They saw giant whales that were even bigger than their submarine, and at the very bottom of the ocean, they saw fishes that glowed in the dark. But then Benjamin and Peter wanted to go home, so they went back up to the surface and climbed out. They were glad they could see so many neat things and stay safe in their submarine.

Over the past few days, I've told dozens of silly stories like this to Benjamin. He usually runs off after the first sentence to grab appropriate props and will role play along with the story as I tell it. I make them up as I go along, and they usually include elements that I know he gets excited about, like baseball, camping, swimming, playing in the snow, fire fighting, trucks and diggers, trains, going to grandma's, going to the beach, going in a rocket ship, etc. He even prefers hearing these stories to reading his books, which is a first. What I'm loving though, is the fact that he's starting to refer to Peter as his buddy. Today in the car, he said to a tired and frustrated little brother, "It's OK, Peter. You don't need to cry. I'm your best friend!" Each morning, Benjamin is the first to go to Peter's bed to entertain him and keep him happy until one of us can get up. They've come up with a chasing game where I hold Peter's hands and he "walks," following Benjamin to his bed. Then Peter "jumps" on top of Benjamin and they giggle and giggle. It's so much fun to watch this budding friendship, and in some small ways, help to nurture it.