A few weeks before our little L was born, K's teacher gave me the perfect story to tell the girls in preparation. It is called 'The Magic Stick' and it is actually from the book 'Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviour'.
The first time I told the story both of my girls seemed to hang on to every word. It's about a little girl who finds a stick in her garden. It sings to her, 'Wrap me up in colors bright; keep me safe both day and night - And when there's magic in the air, I'll lead you to a treasure fair!'. She decides it is a magic stick and brings it inside with her. She wraps it up in her mother's wool roving and keeps it in a special place on her nightstand. It would wake her up in the morning singing, 'Today there's magic in the air, I'll lead you to a treasure fair!' and she would follow wherever it led her. The first morning it lead her to bird feathers in the garden and she decorated it with them. The next morning it lead her to shells on the beach and she again adorned it with them and then lastly it lead her to her parents' room where she found her new tiny baby sleeping between them. She thought 'this is indeed a treasure fair' and held up her magic stick for the little baby to see. The magic stick continued to bring her to many treasures fair but finding a new baby in her parents' bed was her most favorite treasure fair of all.
We told this story over and over again for many, many nights.
Then one day at school on our way to the car K stopped and picked up a stick and said it was her magic stick. C (always wanting so badly to be just like big sister) immediately picked up a stick as well and said it was her magic stick.
We brought them home and pulled out some of my wool roving stash, some seashells we collected last year at the coast, and 2 very special peacock feathers that I gathered years ago while living at an ashram.
Just like the story, the first wrapped their sticks in the wool roving. As they did this I drilled small holes into their seashells (let me tell you, they are tougher to drill through than they look!) and then they threaded their shells onto wool yarn and wrapped them around their sticks as well. Finally, they added their feathers and then they were finished.
They both carried their magic sticks around the house singing, 'Today there's magic in the air, I'll lead you to a treasure fair!'.
Needless to say they were a big hit. K even brought her stick to school the next day to show her teachers. I think the act of making their own magic sticks really helped to bring the story to life for them and engaged their senses.
When L was born both girls had their special magic sticks with them to show him, just like the little girl in the story. K said her favorite 'treasure fair' was finding L. Talk about making a Mama's heart swoon!!
Their magic sticks now live on their nightstand in a special vessel I felted just for that purpose (rav notes here). I hope they see them and remember their baby brother crossing the rainbow bridge onto earth for a long time.
