Bethany and the Big Girl Bed

Bethany Price was 3 years old, and she was getting too big for her crib. Mommy and Daddy surprised her with a big bed. "Bethany," they said to her cheerfully. "This is your new bed."

Bethany looked at the new bed. It had flowered sheets and a big purple blanket. Bethany loved flowers and she loved purple, but she didn't love the big girl bed. She stared at it angrily for a few minutes wondering what had happened to her old bed. Then, she looked back at her Mommy and Daddy and shook her head. "No." she said "NOT MY BED!" She looked all over for her crib but Daddy had  already taken it down. She pointed to the space where the crib belonged and started to cry.

"Don't you like your new bed?" asked Mommy.

Bethany didn't answer. She pointed to the big bed and said "Not my bed!" and continued to cry.

"You are big girl now, Bethany, and you are so lucky." said Daddy.

"Yes." agreed Mommy. "You are lucky to have such a nice new big girl bed to sleep in".

Bethany shook her head no and pointed to the new bed. "NOT MY BED!" she repeated.She began crying again. She cried and carried on so much that finally Daddy had to put the crib back together.

Bethany instantly relaxed once the crib was assembled again in her room. "My bed." she said happily pointing to it.  She even went over and hugged it.

For  a week, Mommy and Daddy tried to transition her to the new bed. The put her to bed at night in the big girl bed. After Mommy and Daddy left, Bethany would get the step stool from the bathroom, Every morning, when Mommy and Daddy woke up, she would be back in the crib.

Finally,  Daddy brought Bethany home a new Dora doll. Dora was Bethany's favorite show.

"Dora!" exclaimed Bethany excitedly grabbing for the doll.

"Dora wants to sleep with you." said Daddy.

"Would you like to sleep with Dora?" asked Mommy.

Bethany's head bobbed up and down happily. "I sleep with Dora." she said.

"Dora is a big girl. " explained Daddy.

"So if you want to sleep with Dora you have to sleep in a big girl bed." added Mommy.

Bethany nodded. She hugged the Dora doll to her. That night for the first time, she went right to bed in her new bed without a fuss.

The next morning, when Mommy and Daddy woke up, Bethany was still in the bed, but Dora was in the crib. Mommy and Daddy were surprised. "Why is Dora in the crib?" they asked.

"Dora's a baby. Bethany's a big girl." replied Bethany proudly.

Curious Calla

Calla Worthington was a very curious girl. She wanted to know everything about everything. Sometimes she asked questions. However, when she felt she needed to she took matters into her own hands. That was what got her into trouble.

Mommy woke up one morning bright and early or so she thought  it was bright and early. She walked into Calla's room to wake her up. Calla, however, had already been up for hours. She sat on her bed on top of her flowered  comforter completely surrounded by the white fluffy stuffing from her formerly stuffed and now stuff less animals. "Calla!" exclaimed Mommy surveying the mess.

"Hi, Mommy." said Calla bright and cheerfully. "I wanted to see what was inside my animals and if it was all the same."

Mommy just shook her head. She and Calla set about cleaning up the mess and  then went down for breakfast. "Calla, " said Mommy. "You go in the other room and watch TV while I make breakfast." Calla nodded and trotted into the den to watch TV. "And don't take the insides out of anything!" her mother called after her.

It was quiet for a few minutes except for the sounds of the morning cartoons coming from the TV. Mommy sighed in relief and started to make breakfast. Suddenly, a loud crash came from the direction of the den. Mommy quickly moved the eggs to an unlit burner on the stove so they wouldn't get overdone and hurried to see what happened. "Calla, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

Calla sat in the middle of the room surrounded by books. "I'm fine, Mommy." she replied. "I just wanted to see how many books it would take to reach the ceiling."

Mommy frowned. "I'm glad your okay, but please put the books away now and come have breakfast."

By the time, Calla finished it was time to eat so for the moment she couldn't get into any more trouble.

After breakfast, Mommy thought it would be best if Calla went outside for a while. "Why don't you go play in the backyard?" she suggested.

"Okay." agreed Calla. She stepped out the backdoor into the fenced in yard.

"And don't take the insides ouf anything or stack anything up!" Mommy called after her.

It was peaceful for a while. Mommy decided to start a stew for dinner. She looked everywhere for her favorite big pot, but she couldn't find it. Finally, she opened the backdoor and called out to Calla. "Have you seen my big pot?" she asked.

Calla said nothing but stared at the ground. Mommy came outside and went over to Calla. She looked down and saw her big pot entirely filled with dirt. "Calla!" she angrily.

"I'm sorry Mommy, but I wanted to see how much dirt would fill it."

Mommy shook her head in disappointment in Calla. "I know you are curious about things, but you musn't touch things that don't belong to you."

"Okay, Mommy." said Calla genuinely sorry. She didn't mean to cause so much trouble but she just needed to know things.

Mommy brought Calla into the house and cleaned her up. By then, it was lunch time. She brought Calla into the den and sat her on the couch and gave her some picture books. "Sit here for while and look at these while I make lunch. Don't take the insides out of anything. Don't stack anything. Don't fill anything. In fact, don't get off the couch."

"Okay, Mommy." agreed Calla.

Mommy went in the other room and started to make lunch when she heard Calla frantically calling her.

"Mommy, mommy!" called Calla sounding as if she were going to burst into tears at any minute.

Mommy ran into the other room as quickly as she could. "What is it baby?" she asked worriedly.

"Mommy!" cried Calla. "There is a button up my nose."

Mommy was afraid to ask but she did anyway. "Calla, how did a button get up your nose?"

"I took it off my shirt, and I put it there because I wanted to see what would happen, but now I can't get it out." admitted Calla in a panic.

This time, Mommy was too worried to think about being angry. "Don't worry , baby." she said. "We'll take care of that." She hurried Calla into the car and took her to the emergency room where they carefully removed the button.  As they were leaving, the nurse tried to hand the button back to Mommy, but Mommy shook her head no. She never wanted to see that button again.

In the car on the way home, Calla asked, "Do you hate me, mommy?"

"Good heavens! No! Of course, I don't hate you. What would make your think that?" asked Mommy.

"I'm a  lot of trouble." replied Calla.

"Well, yes." admitted Mommy. "Sometimes, you are but that doesn't mean I don't love you. I know you are curious about things, but you have to learn to ask before you do things."

"Okay, Mommy." Calla agreed happily in relief that after all the trouble she caused her Mommy still loved her. And after that sometimes, she did ask before she did things, but not always.

Maisy and Daddy and the Big Mess

It was  a rainy day and Maisy Delano was bored. She was tired of playing alone. She went looking for something to do and found Daddy sitting on the big brown couch watching car shows. "Daddy, play with me." she begged.

"Not now, sweetie." said Daddy never taking his eyes off of the TV.

"Daddy, play with me!" said Maisy a little bit louder this time.

However, this time Daddy was so busy watching TV that he didn't even say anything.

Clearly being bossy wasn't going to work. She was going to have to try something different. She climbed up on his lap, tilted her head on his shoulder, looked up at him with her big brown eyes and said sweetly. "Please daddy."

Daddy melted. "Okay." he said. "Maybe for a little while just until Mommy gets back from the store."

He followed Maisy up to her room. Maisy took out her Candyland game. "Let's play Daddy." she said. They played 2 games of Candy Land in a row. Maisy won both.

In the middle of the third game. Masy got tired of the game. She left the board and all the pieces on her floor and went to her closet "Let's color," she said starting to take out her coloring books and crayons.

"Shouldn't we put away the Candy Land game away first?" suggested Daddy.

Maisy shook her head. "Color." she said handing Daddy a green crayon and pointing to a page in her coloring book. Daddy colored. Maisy colored too.

After about ten minutes, Maisy was bored again. "What should we do now?" she asked.

"Why don't we clean up the crayons and coloring books and the Candyland game." suggested Daddy.

"No that's boring." said Maisy. "Let's play Teddy Bear tea party." She got about ten stuffed animals out of  her closet and gave half to Daddy. They set all the animals up at her little table and set out toy dishes to serve them on.

By the time they finished setting up, Maisy was bored of that too.  "Let's read books." she decided. She started to pull a stack of books off  of her red wooden book shelves.

"Here is something to do." suggested Daddy. "Let's clean up the Teddy bears, and the dishes, and the coloring book, and the crayons and the game. That will be really fun."

Maisy looked at him as if he had suddenly grown two heads. "Daddy, " she said finally, "that wouldn't be fun at all.  She proceeded to take books off her bookshelf . After she had pulled about ten books off of the shelf. She sat down on Daddy's lap and put the pile on the floor next to them. "Read!" she commanded.

After Daddy had read about half the books, they heard the noise of Mommy's car pulling up in the driveway. The front door opened. Then, they heard Mommy's footsteps on the stairs. Mommy popped her head in Maisy's room looking for them. "Oh my!" she exclaimed when she saw the toys and the books and coloring books and crayons and the game scattered all around Maisy's room.

Maisy frowned and pointed her finger accusingly at Daddy. "Daddy made a  mess in my room!" she said.

Zani Wants to Go to the Zoo

Zani Walters loved animals. She loved animals of every kind. More than anything she wanted to go to the zoo. She begged and begged but somehow Mommy and Daddy never found time to take her to the zoo.

One morning, Zani sat at the breakfast table. One minute, she was sitting there quietly eating her pancakes. The next minute, she started roaring like a lion.

"Zani!" exclaimed her mother. "Why on earth are you making that racket? What's gotten into you?"

"I'm a lion." explained Zani. "If I can't see a lion, I have to be a lion."

"Well, please don't be one at the kitchen table." replied Mommy.

After breakfast, Zani went into the living room. Instead of turning on the TV or playing with one of her toys, she started jumping around the room and making monkey noises.

"Zani!" said Mommy poking her head into the room.

"I'm a monkey, mommy." Zani told her as she continued jumping around.

"Why are you a a monkey?"

"Because if I can't see a monkey. I have to be a monkey."

"Well, please don't be a monkey in the living room." said Mommy.

Zani gave her a mother an unhappy look and went up to her room. For about a 1/2 hour it was quiet and then, there was a loud crash. Mommy rushed  up the stairs and hurried into Zani's room. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. Zani nodded. She was sitting on her bed, and she did look perfectly fine.

Just then, Mommy saw the big blue ceramic pieces of  broken lamp on the floor. She frowned at Zani. "How did that happen?" she asked.

"I broke it with my elephant trunk."

"So now you're an elephant?"

Zani nodded. "If I can't see an elephant I have to be an elephant."

"Well, please try to be more careful with your trunk." said Mommy.

At lunch, Zani repeated everything Mommy said.

"What can of sandwich would you like?" asked Mommy.

"What kind of sandwich would you like?" repeated Zani.

"Zani!"" said Mommy.

"Zani!" repeated Zani.

"Stop it now, Zani." said Mommy in her angry voice.

Zani knew better than to keep repeating things. "But mommy."  she replied. "I'm a parrot. If ..."

"Yes, I know." cut in Mommy before Zani could finish."If you can't see a parrot you have to be a parrot."

Zani nodded.

At dinner time, before Zani could become another animal, Mommy had surprise for her. "Tomorrow, Daddy and I are going to take you to the zoo." she promised. 

"Oh Mommy!" cried Zani excitedly. "How did you ever know that is where I most wanted to go?".

"A little bird told me" replied Mommy "and an elephant and a monkey and a lion."

Waiting for Annabelle's Birthday

Annabelle Upton was 5 years old, but she was about to turn six. For her birthday, she was going to have a completely princess party. They would have princess cups and princess plates, and princess decorations. Even the guests were going to dress up like princesses with sparkly tiaras on their heads. Annabelle couldn't wait.

On Thursday, Annabelle woke up bright and early in the morning. It was so early that the sun was just barely peeking its head out over the clouds. She ran excitedly into her Mommy and Daddy's room. Mommy and Daddy were lying in bed snoring away. Annabelle climbed up next to Mommy and poked her in the side. "Mommy! Mommy!" she said excitedly. "Today's my birthday! When is my party?"

Mommy tiredly opened her eyes. When she was able to focus them, she looked at the clock. It read 5:00 in the morning. "Annabelle, " said Mommy quite unhappily. "It is 5:00 in the morning, and today is not your birthday."

"Go back to sleep." added Daddy as he opened his eyes for a minute and saw Annabelle.

Annabelle sadly shuffled back to her room.

On Friday morning, Annabelle woke up early again. This time she waited in her room for a while before she went into her parents room. It was 7:00 in the morning. Mommy was still sleeping, but Daddy was awake and getting dressed.

"Daddy!" called Annabelle excitedly throwing herself into his arms.

"Good morning, Princess." replied Daddy gently putting her down and picking up his tie and starting to put it on.

"Good morning, Daddy." said Annabelle cheefully. "Today is my birthday, and I am going to have a princess party.

Daddy shook his head  no.

"I'm not going to have a princess party?" asked Annabelle sadly. All this time, she had been waiting for nothing. She wanted to cry.

"Yes, you are going to have a princess party." replied Daddy, "but not today. Today is not your birthday."

"Oh." said Annabelle with a mix of relieve and disappointment. She was so happy she was still having a party. She was so sad that her birthday was taking so long to get here.

On Saturday, Annabelle woke up a little later. She waited in her room for a while and then went looking for Mom and Dad, but couldn't find them. Instead, she found Grandma.

"Grandma?" she said in surprise. "What are you doing here? Where are Mommy and Daddy?"

Grandma smiled and kissed Annabelle leaving a smudge of lipstick across her cheek. "Would I miss my favorite granddaughter's birthday?" she asked. "Your mom and Dad went to pick up some things for your party." she added.

Annabelle's face lip up. "Today is the day!" she cried excitedly. "Today is my birthday!"

Grandma shook her head no. "Not today." she replied. "I came early to help out." she explained.

"Oh." replied Annabelle disappointedly as all the happiness instantly flew out of her.

The next morning when Annabelle woke up, she was going to get out of bed, but she decided not to. She didn't want to be disappointed again. She was sure her birthday was never going to get here. She lay in bed staring at the purple and yellow flowers on her bedroom wallpaper.

Soon Mommy came in. "Good morning, Annabelle." she said cheerfully opening the drapes. "Aren't you going to get up? What are you waiting for?" asked Mommy.

"Is today my birthday?" Annabelle asked hopefully. Mommy nodded. "Finally!" exclaimed Annabelle as she hurried out of bed.

Yara's Yellow Dress

When Yara Detweiler turned 4 years old, her grandmother gave her a bright yellow dress for her birthday. Yellow was Yara's favorite color. Her dress was as bright as the sun. Yara thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "Oh thank you!, Grandma!" she gushed excitedly.

"Your very welcome, my dear." replied Grandma as Yara hugged her.

"Gee could that thing be any brighter?" asked Yara's older sister, Udela. Udela was 9. She thought it was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. She couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to wear bright yellow anyway.

Their mother gave Udela a warning look. "It's Yara's birthday." Mother reminded her. Udela instantly shutup although she still thought the dress was ugly.

Yara, however, loved her new dress. She could hardly sleep that night because she couldn't wait to wake up the next day and wear her new dress.  She was so excited that she woke up in the night and put on her new dress and went back to sleep in it.

The next morning, Mommy smiled at Yara. "My you look beautiful in your new dress." she said. Yara beamed back at her. She spun around in her pretty dress.

Udela rolled her eyes. She just hoped they weren't going anywhere today. She wanted to get through the day without any of her friends seeing them.

Yara slept in her dress again. The next day, she wanted to wear it again. "Please, mommy." she begged. "It doesn't have any dirt on it." she insisted twirling around in it in front of her mother and showing her.

"But you've been wearing it for two days." replied Mommy with concern.

"That's disgusting!" piped in Udela. Mommy gave her a look, and she instantly shut up.

Yara kept begging and pleading to wear the dress. She made puppy dog eyes at Mommy and sad puffy lips. "Please, please, please!" she said.

Finally, Mom agreed on two conditions. "You have to let me wash it first, and no more sleeping in it." she insisted.

Yara readily agreed. She stayed in her pajamas all morning until her dress was ready to put on.

Every day after that all Yara wanted to wear was her beautiful yellow dress. She wouldn't wear anything else. She only took it off to take a bath, to go to sleep, or to let Mommy wash it.

Udela was horrified. "How could you let her wear that ugly thing all the time?" she complained. "Everybody has seen her in it."

"People are a lot smarter than you give them credit for." replied Mommy. "I'm sure they know that what your sister chooses to wear has nothing to do with you."

"But they'll think we are so poor that we can hardly afford to buy any clothes." replied Udela.

"I doubt that."

"But I hate that stupid dress, and I am tired of seeing Yara in it." screamed Udela.

Mommy smiled and nodded. "That's really what is bothering you, isn't it?" she said. "You don't like the dress."

"I'm just so sick of it." Udela admitted quietly. She didn't bother adding that she never really liked it all that much to begin with.

"Don't worry." Mommy assured her. "I'm sure it's just a phase. She'll grow out of it."

Days, weeks, and even a couple of months went by. Yara didn't grow out of her yellow dress phase. She still loved it. She still wanted to wear it every day. Udela still hated it but she kept her mouth shut. Even Mommy was beginning to wonder if Yara would ever get tired of it and wear something else.

Finally one day, Grandma took Yara  shopping. "We are going to get you a brand new dress." she told Yara. Yara didn't really want a new dress. Grandma kept showing her things to try on, and she kept shaking her head no. After a while, even Grandma was getting discouraged.

Then, just as they were about to leave the store, something caught Yara's eye. It was a bright orange dress with yellow flowers. Yara ran over to it. "I want this one, Grandma!" she said excitedly. They found it in Yara's size and went in the dressing room to try it on. It fit perfectly!

"You look beautiful!" gushed Grandma.

"Thank you, Grandma." replied Yara happily spinning around in the dress.

Yara didn't even want to take it off. At the register, Grandma asked them to cut the tag off so she could pay for it.

At home. Yara excitedly showed off her new dress. Mommy thought it was beautiful. Udela thought it was even uglier than the other one, but she was so happy to see Yara in different dress that she didn't say anything.

The next morning Yara came down to breakfast in her new dress again. Udela still didn't like it but she figured it was still brand-new she could get through another day of it. The day after that when Yara came down to breakfast, she was wearing the new dress yet again. Udela put her head in her hands and sighed. "Here we go again." she  thought unhappily.

Not Nora

Nora Nelson was good at getting out of doing anything. She never want to be bothered with anything. Whenever, there was something to be done, Nora did not want to be the one to do it.

When her mother asked "Who wants to help me fold  the laundry?"

Nora said. "Not me." and she ran upstairs and started playing with her toys.

Her sister, Casey ended up helping Mom, and she was not happy about it. It was not that she minded helping her mom. However, just because she was older, she did not think she should have to do the helping all the time. Folding laundry wasn't any less boring to Casey than it was to Nora.

When their father said, "Can somebody help me empty this dishwasher? " He looked right at Nora.

Nora quickly looked away. "Not me." she said as she hurriedly scrambled out of the room.She did not look back for a minute.

This time her brother, Andrew ended up doing the helping. He was tired of Nora always getting out of doing things too.

Casey and Andrew constantly complained to Mom and Dad about how unfair it was. "She may be the youngest, but she's not a baby." Casey pointed out as Andrew nodded in agreement.

Mom just smiled. She was sure things would work out. She and Daddy had a plan.

That afternoon, Mom asked "Who wants to go run errands with me?"

Nora was reading a book. "Not I." she said quickly. She buried herself in her book. She did not look up once.

Casey did not want to go either. Neither did Andrew. Mommy looked at all of them and frowned. "Why don't you all go?" she suggested.

"Okay, I'll go." said Casey although she did not seem happy about it.

"I will too." said Andrew. He did not seem any happier than Casey.

The  three of them headed out the door to run the errands. An hour later, they came back. They were all laughing. Casey and Andrew were licking lollipops. Casey's was grape and Andrew's was cherry. They looked delicious. Besides, grape and cherry were Nora's two favorite flavors.

"Where did you get the lollipops?" asked Nora jealously.

"A lady at the bank gave them to us." replied Casey.

"Is there one for me?" asked Nora hopefully.

Casey and Andrew shook their heads no.

"Why not?" pouted Nora sticking out her lower lip and lowering her eyes sadly.

"You weren't there." pointed out Andrew. "She gave them to us because we were there."

The next day, Daddy needed to pull out the weeds in the yard. When he asked for help, Nora hid out in the bathroom. "Not me." she called out from behind the closed door pretending she was busy in there. It was too hot anyway. She did not even want to go outside.

Casey and Andrew ended up having to help instead. They didn't seem happy about it at first either. However, when they turned on the garden hose to wash off, Andrew suddenly turned the hose on Casey. She got soaked. She grabbed the hose and turned it back on him. Before long, they were having a full out water fight.

Nora jealously watched from the window. Casey and Andrew were smiling and laughing and looked like they were having a ton of fun. Nora wanted to have fun too.

Mommy came over and saw Nora staring out the window. "What's the matter?" she asked when she saw Nora's sad face.

"Oh mommy." said Nora throwing herself into Mommy's arms. "I want to have fun too. I want to have fun like Casey and Andrew." she cried .

"Casey and Andrew worked hard." replied Mommy. "When you work hard you get rewarded." she added. "Maybe, it's a lollipop or maybe it's a water fight or maybe it is just the satisfaction of doing a good job. Do you think that you can work hard, Nora?" she asked.

Nora bobbed her head up and down. "Yes! Yes! Yes! I can." she insisted.

The next day when Mommy was straighening out the living room, Nora volunteered to help.  She found 75 cents under the couch cushions. "Look what I found, Mommy!" she shouted excitedly holding up her coins.

"You see that Nora." said Mommy. "Sometimes, when we work hard we literally get rewarded."

"It makes me feel good inside to help you too," admitted Nora, "because your my mommy and I love you."

"And that is a reward that comes from the inside. " replied Mommy, "and that is even better because that is a reward that cannot be used up or lost or taken away."