Short on story ideas the other night at bedtime, I told Uta the story of the Wizard of Oz. He has never seen the movie (or even heard mention of it) so for him it was like uncovering a treasure in his own backyard. Uta has an insatiable hunger for stories. If you laid before him a cupcake and a story and asked him to choose one, he would chose the latter, again and again. But not just any stories, he calls them stories from the mouth, which means not read from a book. Stories from the mouth have limitless possibilities, can always be shaped to include him (his favorite literary character!) and are decidedly never ending. When I try to draw one to a close Uta always says 'next chapter please.' There are times when I feel completely burned out when it comes to thinking up stories, like now, like always, and old childhood tales are the perfect substitute. (Once I just told him everything I could remember about the Jetsons! Desperate times...) His favorite part from my retelling of The Wizard of Oz was the Lollipop Guilds welcome song to Dorothy after she 'landed'. He loved it so much that I went and downloaded the entire soundtrack. He wanted to hear all the munchkin songs first, and then we just let the rest play.
When Judy Garland began to sing Somewhere over the Rainbow Uta blushed. He grew bashful and turned an ear to ear grin towards the floor. What is it? I asked. "Is that Dorothy?" He wondered. Yes, I said. "She sings so beautifully." He was gushing, truly moved. "That is the most beautiful singing I have ever heard. "
This weekend we will watch the real movie. Its time to brave the monkeys...
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