Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rose. Rose was four years old and everyone said she was a delight.
“Just a delight,” said her teachers. Rose was smart and kind and she shared toys very well. She had two fathers, one she called Daddy and one she called Papa.
Papa was the one who took care of her in the afternoons. He picked her up from pre-school, and he took her home and made her lunch. Then they read a story and took a nap.
Well, one day Rose couldn’t sleep.
Papa said, “It might be that you are getting so big you don’t need a nap anymore. So let’s get up.” And they did.
Papa asked Rose if she would like to draw some pictures. She said she would. She had quite a nice time, until the crayon broke.
Now, usually if a crayon broke, Rose took one of the pieces and peeled the paper off and kept using it. But this time when it broke Rose couldn’t remember what to do.
Papa reminded her but then she couldn’t peel the paper and she got so mad she screamed and threw the crayon across the room.
Papa put her in a time-out, and she cried and cried.
Eventually Papa came and held her until she calmed down.
“Would it help to go outside?” he asked. She thought maybe it would. So they went to the park.
But at the park a little boy wanted to go down the slide at the same time Rose did. Rose forgot how to take turns. Instead, she screamed at the little boy and pushed him away. Papa put her in another time-out, and she cried some more.
When Rose finally did get to go on the slide, she landed funny and fell over and bonked her head. She stayed there all in a heap and cried and cried.
Papa came and picked her up and took her home.
The whole rest of the day went just like that: things kept going wrong for Rose and she just kept crying and crying. She didn’t want to keep crying and crying, but she just couldn’t help it.
Finally it was time for bed. Rose couldn’t get the toothpaste to go on the toothbrush properly. She cried.
Then she got her feet tangled up in her pajama bottoms and she fell over and bonked her head again. She cried some more.
Then she couldn’t find her snuggy bear, and Daddy and Papa had to look for it while she lay on her bed and cried herself to sleep.
The next day, Rose took a nap.
The End