This is why I wanted to be a mom

"Remember the turtles we saw at the zoo?"

"Beeg!"

"Yes, one of them was big."

"'mall!"

"The other one was small."

"Water!"

"And one was in the water."

* * * * * * * * * *

"They take a . . . "

"Bath!"

"In one big tub, with soap all over, scrub scrub scrub. They hang their towels on the wall and find pajamas . . . "

"Beeg!"

"and . . ?"

"'mall! Daddy, beeg!"

"Yes, Daddy wears big pajamas."

"Baby, 'mall."

"Yes, babies wear small pajamas."

* * * * * * * * *

"Cat! Black cat!"

"Okay, we can read that one. 'The black cat was sad. She did not have a home.'"

"Bird!"

" . . . lived in a tree."

"Owl!"

"No, who lived in the . . ?"

"Bat! Bat!"

"The bats lived in the belfry."

"Owl!"

" . . . lived in the tree trunk."

"The fox and the . . ."

"Rabbit!"

" . . . lived in holes in the ground."

"Dog! Door!"

"The dogs lived behind the doors, in houses."

"Cat!"

" . . . tried living with the . . ."

"Bird!"

" . . . but it hurt her feet. She tried hanging upside down . . ."

"Bat!"

" . . . with the bats, but she didn't like it."

"No."

"She tried the hole in the tree, but it was too . . ."

"'mall."

"She tried the hole in the ground, but it was too . . ."

"Dirt."

"Wow. That's a good one!"

"She tried the houses, but they already had . . ."

"Dog!"

"Except for the last one. The yard there was full of . . ."

"Rat! Rat!"

"Just what the black cat loved to chase. So she arched her back and spat! And the rats went scat."

"Cat. Black cat."

" . . . had found a home. And a job too!"

* * * * * * * * * *

Stories adapted from Sandra Boynton's "The Going to Bed Book" and Richard Powell's "The Black Cat"