The Hundred Babies

Once there was a little girl named Sofie, and she had one hundred babies.

She had a little kitty cat baby and a furry mouse baby and a dog baby. She even had an elephant baby and a bear baby and a gorilla baby.

They were all so cute and cuddly. She loved them all so much. They all slept on her bed with her every night, and she could tell when even one of them fell off the bed.

One morning, as she hugged every one of them, the counted only 99 babies.

“Oh, no,” she thought.

She hugged them all again, and again counted only 99. She knew it was wolf who was missing.

Where was he? Sofie decided to leave the 99 babies in the care of Baby Alligator and Baby Stork, and she took Baby Snake and Baby Gorilla with her to look for them.

Baby Lamb and Baby Raccoon cried when Sofie left.

“I’ll be right back, sweeties,” she said to them.

Sofie, Baby Snake and Baby Gorilla looked everywhere. They looked on top of every rock, and under every tree. They looked in all of Baby Wolf’s favorite places, but they could not find him.

They all sat down for a rest, and just as Sofie opened her backpack to take out some snacks. She always had snacks in her backpack. But before she could open the backpack, she heard a little noise.

She knew right away that it was Baby Wolf. It was a cute little yelp, but it was a frightened little yelp.

Baby Gorilla and Baby Snake heard it too.

“Baby Wolf!” Sofie called out.

They all heard another yelp. They were close.

They followed the yelping to a small hole, and when they peered inside, there was Baby Wolf.

“Baby Wolf,” said Sofie, “Are you OK?”

Baby Wolf just yelped.

“You’re hungry aren’t you?” she asked. “I brought some Snackies.”

She opened her backpack, and was surprised at what she found…nothing.

“Hey,” she exclaimed, “I thought I had Snackies in here.”

She peered into the hole again.

“Sorry, Baby Wolf,” she said. “I don’t have any Snackies for you. You’ll just have to wait until we get you out.”

Sofie asked Baby Snake to stretch himself as long as he could and slide down into the hole. Baby Gorilla made sure Baby Snake didn’t fall all the way in.

“Now, Baby Snake,” said Sofie, “Grab on to Baby Wolf as tight as you can.”

Baby Snake grabbed on to Baby Wolf’s nose, and Baby Gorilla and Sofie pulled on Baby Snakes tail as hard as they could, but not too hard to break Baby Snake.

Baby Wolf wasn’t budging.

They pulled and pulled, but nothing.

“OK,” said Sofie. “Baby Snake, you can let go. We have to think of something else.”

So Baby Snake let go and was pulled out of the hole.

Sofie gave Baby Gorilla a hug for being so strong, and Baby Snake a kiss for being so long. But when she kissed Baby Snake, she noticed that her breath smelled like Snackies.

“Baby Snake,” asked Sofie. “Why does your breath smell like Snackies? We brushed your teeth last night, didn’t we?”

All Baby Snake could do is point down to Baby Wolf.

Sofie looked down into the hole and that’s when she noticed the crumbs all over Wolf’s nose and chin.

Baby Wolf, did you eat the Snackies from my backpack?

Baby Wolf whined an embarrassed whine.

“Oh,” said Sofie sadly. “That’s why you’re stuck.”

She sat down next to the hole to think.

“Well,” said Sofie, “I guess we’ll just have to wait until you get smaller, and then you won’t be stuck anymore.”

Then she stood up.

“Baby Snake and Baby Gorilla?” She said. “You guys stay here and I’ll be right back.”

She kissed them before she left, and reached down into the hole and rubbed Baby Wolf’s nose.

Sofie was back in a flash with all the babies following her, and a backpack full of Snackies for everyone. They all played and ate and took naps next to the hole where Baby Wolf was, including him in all the games they played…as well as they could.

Later that evening, when some of the babies had fallen asleep, and it was fairly quiet, a very loud and muffled honking sound came from the hole where Baby Wolf had been all day, and then suddenly, Baby Wolf popped out of the hole. His toot has dislodged him from the hole.

Everyone laughed and hugged and kissed Baby Wolf.

Baby Wolf licked Sofie all over her face. She knew he was sorry for eating the Snackies without asking.

I don’t think he did it again.

The End

Monkey Loses Mouse...Again

Once there was a little monkey who had a mouse for a best friend. She loved the mouse, played with it every day. Fed it, watered it, cleaned it's cage, everything.

Well, one day, the mouse died. It was a sad day. Monkey cried and cried.

Actually, she didn't cry at first because she didn't know what "died" meant.

Well, Papi Monkey told her that the mouse wasn't going to breath or eat or move around anymore. She still didn't cry. Not until Papi Monkey told Little Monkey they had to put it in a plastic bag and throw the mouse away.

Oh, then she cried and cried.

Well, Papi Monkey suggested that Little Monkey write the mouse a goodbye note. She did. It was very sweet. It said "I love you mouse" and "Goodbye".

They folded it up and took a shovel and the plastic bag with the dead mouse in it to the backyard.

Papi Monkey picked a spot next to a Live Oak and started digging. There were roots all over the place, but he was able to make a hole about a foot deep.

Maybe it was less than that.

Anyway, Papi Monkey opened the bag with the dead mouse in it and whew, was it stinky.

Papi Monkey told his little girl that when something dies, it starts to rot. Just like when she accidentally dropped an apple core into the couch and they found it all moldy and soft and stinky a couple of weeks later.

Just like when they forget to put the garbage out on trash day and have to wait a whole nother week, and it stinks like crazy. It’s because the garbage has things in it that are rotting.

They talked about how flies like to eat rotten stuff and they lay their eggs in the rotten stuff and the baby flies are born and they are called maggots. Eww!

Little Monkey dropped the folded up note into the hole and Papi Monkey dropped the dead mouse into the hole. Actually, they looked at the mouse first, then dropped it in.

Papi Monkey put dirt over the hole and they went inside. Later that night, Little Monkey asked how deep Papi Monkey could dig, and Papi Monkey said he couldn’t dig too deep. Maybe a few feet.

Little Girl monkey asked what would happen if he kept digging…if he could. And Papi Monkey took out their “Earth Ball” and tried to figure out where they would end up if they kept digging.

The answer was “Somewhere in the ocean”.

Little Monkey then asked about what kind of animals lived in the ocean, and they talked and talked about fish and sea horses and plankton and whales and coral well into the night.

Papi Monkey was suddenly woken up by a scream coming from outside. He found himself on Little Monkey’s bed, but Little Monkey was not there.

He ran out of the house and found Little Monkey standing next to the Live Oak tree, pointing to the ground.

When Papi Monkey reached his daughter, he saw that the place where they had buried her little mouse was disturbed. In fact, the mouse was gone. Little Monkey found her note a few feet away, in the direction of the deep forest.

Papi Monkey explained that he should have dug a deeper hole and that some other animal had come and taken her mouse away.

“Why would anyone do that?” she asked.

“Well,” said Papi Monkey carefully. “To eat it.”

Little Monkey’s face got all scrunched up and looked like she was going to throw up.

Papi Monkey took her hand and they climbed the tree house and listened to the wind for a while.

They didn’t talk about eating a rotten dead mouse.

The End