Okay, so we’re in a bit of a rut with the story telling. As I’ve mentioned, Isabella likes to jump in during my storytelling. Lately, though, all of the stories must be of the “a witch turns a boy into something” ilk. For example:

“Daddy, tell me a story about a witch who turns a boy into a tree.”

No big deal, right? The problem is that she’s like a Terminator who constantly adapts and improves her techniques, though instead of killing and maiming and busting out a can of mayhem, her mission is to keep stories from ending. Granted, that’s not quite as bad as murderous (but still cool) robots from the future, but still.

She utilizes two main techniques, which I’ll dub “intrastory” and “interstory.”

Intrastory: She steers each story away from the ending so that it continues.

Me: … and the witch ran away and never –
Isabella: But she came back.
Me: Huh?
Isabella: The witch came back and turned him into a rock.
(I then take it from the top again, retelling the entire story)
…

Interstory: For followup stories, she suggests story ideas that are identical to the previous ones but which put another obstacle in the hero’s path.

Isabella: Tell me a story about a witch who turns a boy into a tree, but the tree is hidden deep in the woods and it doesn’t smell like a boy and the tree can’t talk or walk or hear or do anything and there’s no backpack nearby and no footprints and no one saw the witch turn the boy into the tree and no one can steal the witch’s book of spells.
Me: Oh. Uh –
Isabella: And the witch’s spell doesn’t turn off when the moon is full.
Me: Ok…. Hmm. Once upon a time a witch turned a boy into a tree, and then a … uh… magic bird lands in the –
Isabella: The bird’s not magic.
Me: Huh?
Isabella: It’s just a regular bird.
Me: No magic?
Isabella: Nope.
Me: How ‘bout a sister? Can the witch have a nice sister witch?
Isabella: No way.
Me: Rats.
…

Like I mentioned in a previous blog, one huge upside is that she’s really working her brain to get what she wants – namely, a long freaking story. A second upside is that I must work my brain too to get around her obstacles so that the story can end and she can get to bed.

No pain, no gain.