Work Text:
Kate was curious. She was always asking questions. One day after school she came downstairs after changing out of her school clothes and spotted Maura working on her computer. She wondered what her mommy was working on. She asked her, "Mommy, are you doing school work or something for work?"
"I'm working on a writing assignment for my class.” Kate looked a little puzzled as she wanted more information, so Maura continued, “I have to read a one-page article and then pick out the who, what, when, why, and where elements," Maura replied.
"Oh, can I do an assignment like that too?" Kate asked always eager to learn new things and always wanting to spend time with her mommy.
"Of course, you can Kate. Let me find a story for you to read," Maura stated as she searched for a suitable article.
Maura found a story about a little girl named Sarah who loved to play in the park. She printed out the article and handed it to Kate, "Here you go, Kate. This is a story about a little girl named Sarah who loves to play in the park."
Kate began reading the story and Maura asked her questions to help her pick out the who, what, when, why, and where elements.
"Kate, who is the story about?"
Kate quickly replied, "The story is about a little girl named Sarah."
"That's right! And what does Sarah like to do?" asked Maura with a huge smile on her face. She loved Kate’s enthusiasm.
"Sarah likes to play in the park," Kate said as she snuggled up to her mommy.
"Perfect! When does Sarah play in the park?" Maura then asked.
"The story doesn't say," said Kate a little disappointed as she couldn’t answer that question.
"That’s fine, sometimes we don’t always find all of the answers in a story. Let's assume she plays in the park every day after school. Why does Sarah like to play in the park?" asked Maura, trying to continue to engage with Kate.
"Because she loves to play on the swings and see the birds," Kate said with renewed enthusiasm.
"Great job, and why does Sarah play in the park?" asked Maura.
"Because it is fun," Kate stated matter-of-factly.
"That's right! Now let's put all of this information into a paragraph. Ready?" asked Maura.
"Yes!" said Kate.
"Okay, here's your paragraph: Sarah is a little girl who loves to play in the park every day after school. She loves to play on the swings and see the birds. The park is where she goes to have fun," said Maura.
"Yay, I did it!" exclaimed Kate, proud of her work. “Thank you for teaching me this mommy. I love you.”
"You sure did, Kate. You're a natural at this assignment and I love you so much" Maura said, smiling as she pulled Kate in for a hug.
Jane walked into the living room and witnessed the hug between Maura and Kate. She wanted to get in on the hugging so she sat down beside Maura and wrapped her arms around Maura and Kate. Kate then told Jane, “Mama, mommy taught me about pulling items out of a story and she asked me questions and I was able to shorten the one-page story to just a paragraph.” Jane hugged the two again. She was so grateful that she had Maura and the children in her life.
Jane smiled whenever she saw Maura working with their children. Maura had been worried that she might not be a great mother to their children. Jane always had faith that Maura would be an excellent mother and made sure to confirm that with Maura every chance she got. They loved their family that they created and tried every day to show each other and their children how much they loved each other.
Kate was eager to learn more about language arts and writing. She became Maura's little language arts helper, reading stories and picking out the who, what, when, why, and where elements every day after school. Maura made sure to have age-appropriate stories on the ready for Kate. She loved teaching Kate new things and loved when her other children participated as well, even her biggest child, Jane.