Maïa: story-teller

Our dear Maïa, as all children are wont to do, immitates the adults in her life. She does this quite effective and convincingly, I might add. One of her teachers is Pakistani, and Maïa has adopted some of her speech mannerisms: "She likes that, mmm?" It's pretty funny. Another behaviour she has adopted is her teacher's story-telling.

Maïa has been interested in "reading" stories to others almost since she could speak in full sentences. When she started preschool and saw her teacher reading books to a group of children, Maïa began sitting us in front of her and holding the book up to read it to us (a very different posture from that of sitting in one's lap). This week, she has added a very important component to the reading: the Prelude. We assume that the teachers recite it before beginning to read a story to the children. And seeing a three-year old do it is pretty entertaining. It is Derek's favourite thing to listen to. He has asked Maïa to read to him at least three times per evening in the past few days. Here's what the Prelude sounds like (there are actions to go along with it):

Hands up.
Hands down.
Hands up.
Hands down.
Touch your head.
Shoulders.
Knees.
Toes.
Eyes, ears, mouth, nose.
And then you zip-zip-zip-zip-zip and turn the key.
Throw it in the back.
And then you put on your looking glasses.
And open your listening ears.
And you be quiet. Shh.
Are you ready?