Dear Sawyer,
JieJie just reminded me today about a bedtime story that I had made up years ago and used to tell you all of the time, at your request. It was about a baby bunny who loved eating carrots and it went like this:
"Once upon a time, there was a baby bunny who loved eating carrots. He loved eating carrots in the morning in his carrot oatmeal and carrot pancakes, he loved eating carrots in the afternoon in his carrot sandwiches and carrot juice and he loved eating carrots in the evening in his carrot soup and carrot pasta. In fact, he loved eating carrots so much that he didn't want to eat anything else. His parents tried to get him to eat other foods, like strawberries, spinach, chicken and fish but all he ever said was, "No! I only want to eat carrots! Carrots carrots carrots!" And so that's what his parents always cooked for him.
One morning, the baby bunny woke up and tried to get out of bed--but something was wrong! He had no legs! Or arms! He pushed his body off of the bed and managed to roll into the bathroom where he looked in the mirror--and saw that he had turned into a giant carrot! He had eaten so many carrots that he had actually turned into one! He rolled down the stairs and into the kitchen where his mom was making breakfast. He called out, "Mama! Mama!" His mom didn't look up because she was busy making carrot waffles. He called out again, "Mama! Mama!" This time, she looked up--and saw a giant carrot standing in her kitchen! She was so shocked that she fainted right there. The baby bunny's dad heard the commotion and came running into the kitchen. "Why is all this noise coming from the kitchen?" he asked. And then his next question was, "Why is there a giant carrot standing in the kitchen?!?" Then the baby bunny's sister came into the kitchen, "Is breakfast ready? My bus is going to be here soon. What is all this screaming about? OMG, is that a giant carrot?!?" The baby bunny cried out, "It's me! I turned into a carrot!!"
At this point, the baby bunny's mom had woken up and she said, "This is why you have to eat other foods! You can't only eat carrots!" The baby bunny said, "Okay, I will try other foods!" And so for the rest of the day, the baby bunny ate all kinds of things that he had never eaten before: corn, broccoli, watermelon, blackberries, grilled shrimp, meatloaf, beans, eggs--and he actually liked all of it! He said, "These foods are delicious!"
That night, the baby bunny went to bed. When he woke up the next morning, he hopped out of bed and ran to the bathroom mirror, where he saw that he was no longer a carrot--he was a baby bunny again! He ran down the stairs to tell his family and they all happily hugged each other! The baby bunny still likes to eat carrots--but he eats a lot of other foods, too! The end."
Okay, so my original story is not going to be turned into a published children's book anytime soon but for some reason, you really loved it and asked me to recite it to you night after night. I don't remember when you stopped asking for it and I actually hadn't thought about it in a long time. I'm not sure what made JieJie think of it all of a sudden but at least the story is now documented here in your blog. And maybe you'll tell it to your kid one day!
Love,
Mom
