(STORY TIME) Today we were off visiting a little girl for her 5th Birthday Party and there was a special energy in the air. I talk about the monkeys being great energy readers but today I was the one reading the wonderful excitement in the room as we opened up the show umbrella and started getting set-up for our presentation.
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There were 25 children gathered around our show area eager and ready to see the first star of the show so I went behind the umbrella and turned my back to the audience to get Silly Willy from his show cage. The moment that I felt his hand in mine I knew he and I were going to have some extra fun for the party.
After I had him diapered I quickly went behind the stage area where a curtain was hanging for the churches, plays and special events. The Curious George Music was playing, and the next thing I did was to let Silly Willy's head stick out from behind the curtain. I did this not just once but two times. The excitement in the room was just totally over the top after that so I then walked to the front of the stage area and introduced Silly Willy.
Right after Silly Willy had finished his educational part of the show, I turned around and sat down on one of the show stools where I put him on my lap. As I am now reflecting on what happened, I realized that I am still not sure why I did what I did. It had to be the excitement, or who knows what I was thinking at the time.
As we sat together on the stool, I reached to get Silly Willy's special treat bag and handed him the bag. Of course, he was excited to get his treat for his wonderful performance of swinging with his tail for the excited audience. Suddenly I let go of his tail and allowed him to only be tethered with his belly band that had his show lead hooked onto my bracelet.
****This was the first time ever that he had been allowed to feel this kind of freedom during one of the shows.
He went wild right in front of the audience and me too! He jumped from my lap with his mouth full of treats and jumped right onto the umbrella which is always behind us during our shows.
Suddenly the umbrella doubled down with the weight of him, and he bounced from it back to the stool next to mine. I was in shock, I guess because he did this three times before I was able to get him settled back upon my lap. The audience was wild with excitement by now when I was finally able to bring him back under control.
I got a glimpse of the umbrella in the corner of my eye and saw that his last (out of control jump) had almost flattened the SunShine MonkeyShines's umbrella.
(QUESTION TIME) What did you do next, Mary Lynn?
Well there was so much going on, you know. I was doing a birthday party show, I had the show umbrella bent over, maybe even broken, and I had a very naughty little Silly Willy on my hands. Did you know he was smiling and showing his big teeth too in his excitement. He knew in that moment he was the star of the monkey show, that's for sure!
****So, I did what any monkey caregiver would do...
I instantly got up (of course, holding his tale firmly in my hand) and walked around to fix the umbrella, which had folded one of the plastic spines into another one; and then I walked around to the front of my show area and I looked at the audience and said, “Let's settle down everyone because I have a real problem right now.”
You could have heard a pin drop instantly after I had said those words so I continued to say, “Silly Willy is in real trouble for doing that to my umbrella.” I asked the children quickly, “Do you know what I must do to him now?”
They said together, “Yeah, you must spank him!
****Everyone started laughing at that idea.
I shook my head and said, “Oh no... not that. Oh no! I must do something much more than a spanking. I must give him "The Big Look!”
The children together asked, “What is that?” I looked at the birthday girl and asked her, “Doesn't your mother ever do that to you?” The little girl's mother called to her daughter and changed her face instantly to give her own version of her very special "Big Look.” The birthday girl then looked at me and said, “Oh, yeah, you mean that look and pointed to her mother.”
Everyone's laughter was so much fun to enjoy but I still had a very big problem to handle with my very special monkey. I still had to give my very bad little Silly Willy his very much needed “BIG LOOK.”
He looked me squarely in the eyes and saw that look! You know that look that says it all. He instantly put his thumb in his mouth and became a changed little monkey, right before the eyes of all that were there. Everyone started saying, “Oh look he is so sorry. He even put his thumb in his mouth.”
****I decided in that moment to sit back down and turn loose of his tail one more time, just to see if he had learned his lesson.
He sat there just like a angel and I let him show the children what a good little monkey he had changed into being, by only giving that all important very huge “Big Look.”
(QUESTION TIME) What is the moral of this story, Mary Lynn?
Get your copy of “Living With Monkeys” at: www.livingwithmonkeys.com and learn how to use your tools – they really work great!
********************************8*******************
There were 25 children gathered around our show area eager and ready to see the first star of the show so I went behind the umbrella and turned my back to the audience to get Silly Willy from his show cage. The moment that I felt his hand in mine I knew he and I were going to have some extra fun for the party.
After I had him diapered I quickly went behind the stage area where a curtain was hanging for the churches, plays and special events. The Curious George Music was playing, and the next thing I did was to let Silly Willy's head stick out from behind the curtain. I did this not just once but two times. The excitement in the room was just totally over the top after that so I then walked to the front of the stage area and introduced Silly Willy.
Right after Silly Willy had finished his educational part of the show, I turned around and sat down on one of the show stools where I put him on my lap. As I am now reflecting on what happened, I realized that I am still not sure why I did what I did. It had to be the excitement, or who knows what I was thinking at the time.
As we sat together on the stool, I reached to get Silly Willy's special treat bag and handed him the bag. Of course, he was excited to get his treat for his wonderful performance of swinging with his tail for the excited audience. Suddenly I let go of his tail and allowed him to only be tethered with his belly band that had his show lead hooked onto my bracelet.
****This was the first time ever that he had been allowed to feel this kind of freedom during one of the shows.
He went wild right in front of the audience and me too! He jumped from my lap with his mouth full of treats and jumped right onto the umbrella which is always behind us during our shows.
Suddenly the umbrella doubled down with the weight of him, and he bounced from it back to the stool next to mine. I was in shock, I guess because he did this three times before I was able to get him settled back upon my lap. The audience was wild with excitement by now when I was finally able to bring him back under control.
I got a glimpse of the umbrella in the corner of my eye and saw that his last (out of control jump) had almost flattened the SunShine MonkeyShines's umbrella.
(QUESTION TIME) What did you do next, Mary Lynn?
Well there was so much going on, you know. I was doing a birthday party show, I had the show umbrella bent over, maybe even broken, and I had a very naughty little Silly Willy on my hands. Did you know he was smiling and showing his big teeth too in his excitement. He knew in that moment he was the star of the monkey show, that's for sure!
****So, I did what any monkey caregiver would do...
I instantly got up (of course, holding his tale firmly in my hand) and walked around to fix the umbrella, which had folded one of the plastic spines into another one; and then I walked around to the front of my show area and I looked at the audience and said, “Let's settle down everyone because I have a real problem right now.”
You could have heard a pin drop instantly after I had said those words so I continued to say, “Silly Willy is in real trouble for doing that to my umbrella.” I asked the children quickly, “Do you know what I must do to him now?”
They said together, “Yeah, you must spank him!
****Everyone started laughing at that idea.
I shook my head and said, “Oh no... not that. Oh no! I must do something much more than a spanking. I must give him "The Big Look!”
The children together asked, “What is that?” I looked at the birthday girl and asked her, “Doesn't your mother ever do that to you?” The little girl's mother called to her daughter and changed her face instantly to give her own version of her very special "Big Look.” The birthday girl then looked at me and said, “Oh, yeah, you mean that look and pointed to her mother.”
Everyone's laughter was so much fun to enjoy but I still had a very big problem to handle with my very special monkey. I still had to give my very bad little Silly Willy his very much needed “BIG LOOK.”
He looked me squarely in the eyes and saw that look! You know that look that says it all. He instantly put his thumb in his mouth and became a changed little monkey, right before the eyes of all that were there. Everyone started saying, “Oh look he is so sorry. He even put his thumb in his mouth.”
****I decided in that moment to sit back down and turn loose of his tail one more time, just to see if he had learned his lesson.
He sat there just like a angel and I let him show the children what a good little monkey he had changed into being, by only giving that all important very huge “Big Look.”
(QUESTION TIME) What is the moral of this story, Mary Lynn?
Get your copy of “Living With Monkeys” at: www.livingwithmonkeys.com and learn how to use your tools – they really work great!