Not-So-SAHM: The Plot: Piglet Publications Story Kit

A new local company, Piglet Publications, recently (and generously) sent over one of their clever story kits for us to review and mom has been waiting anxiously to get into it. But since the weather has been so nice, we haven't been in the mood to sit down and give our full attention to something like this. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the rain this week has given us an opportunity to do that. And one afternoon while Cami napped, mom and I finally got around to writing up my story! Each story kit comes with a Melissa & Doug book of stickers, a blank board book, some suggested story lines, permanent markers, a piece of cardstock to make a "lift and peak flap," glue dots (for the flap or to secure anything else you'd like to add), glitter foam letters, and adhesive gems. You know I went right for the pirate stickers.

Mom and I first reviewed all the pirate stickers and came up with a cast of characters, which we wrote on a separate piece of paper. We talked about some general story lines, all of which I insisted involved "fighting and weapons." And then we dove right in. I really love to come up with stories (and love to ask mom repeatedly for her to tell me one -- as long as I get to dictate what happens. i frequently pipe up with "no, that's not my plan" during mom's stories -- usually when she tries to sneak dora in there for cam), so this was totally right up my alley. This is not a kid-only activity -- at least not for 3 year-olds. But it was nice that mom and I got to spend time doing this together. I came up with several small stories within the general pirate theme. I had a hard time carrying one story throughout the book because there was only one sticker of each pirate -- so, for example, I couldn't quite grasp that Captain Wheelbarrow could be doing something on a page even though there wasn't a sticker of him to put there. But, I wasn't really bothered by that. I have lots of pirate adventures to tell and I love me some good pirate characters.

Mom tried to help prompt some stories, but I had my own ideas entirely. And even though mom wrote the words down, drew the pictures and placed the stickers -- I told her exactly what, where and how to do all of that. As of those of you who know me can well imagine. I was really proud to be "an author" and couldn't wait to wake up Cami and show her. We read it right away. And I tried to show Vegas, but I decided he was "too scared" of my "scary pirate story."

If you're looking for a different, quiet activity to do, check these out! I personally think I wrote the best pirate story ever -- two pirates named Bag and several others that rhyme? Tennis playing pirates? Just try to top that. I loved it so much I chose to have mom read it twice as my two nighttime books before bed. Mom's handwriting is like, well like no other human's we've ever seen. So she translated my story below. On another note, mom is throwing down a challenge to all for a speed game of Win, Lose or Draw -- her lightening fast pirate sketching has instilled a new confidence that she'll kick your a**.

"magic weapons" fighting sans pirates

"Once upon a time, there lived a pirate named Rock -- a pirate with two swords. Rock was fighting a pirate named Bag because he was a galleon pirate, which meant Bag was not a very nice pirate. Bag was coming on Rock's pirate ship."

"So Rock put Bag in jail on the pirate ship. Meanwhile, on a different pirate ship, another pirate named Bag was fighting a pirate named Cag. They were fighting over the treasure to protect it from the nice pirates. They also had a dog named Pesto."

"On the shore, Captain Wheelbarrow and his regular pirate, One Egg, were looking for treasure. They looked behind the big rock arch and found the treasure!"

Check out my lift and peak mountain! Btw, mom's favorite pirate is One Egg.

"On a third pirate ship, Dag (who had a sword, but swung on a rope) and Clag were fighting pirate Peg (who was cutting Dag's rope). All their fighting sank the boat!"