Turtle Tots: A to Z

L is for Laughter

The wise father looked at the calendar with a smile on his face. It was April first. April Fools day.

Splinter had never really been the kind of person to pull pranks, as he was a kind and quiet man.

But....he also had four 5-year-old sons whom he wanted to share the concept with. He just knew they'd love it.

After his little ones woke up from their daily nap, he decided to pull a little prank to interest them.

He started by giving them their snacks which they usually had after nap time, but they were different.

Instead of giving his boys their usual snack of cookies and milk, he gave them his snack, which was spinach.

He placed the four little cookies on his own plate and put spinach on his son's plates...they were going to be so confused!

"Hi Daddy!" Little Leo greeted, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I'm weady for snack time!"

Splinter grinned, picking up his oldest son. "I am glad, because I have something...special for you boys."

Leo immediately got excited and kept trying to guess the secret surprise snack while Splinter rounded up the other three tots.

"What is it daddy?" Raph asked.

"Is it ice cream? Or cupcakes? Or pizza?" Mikey babbled.

"Pleaseee tell me, daddy!" Donnie begged.

"Is it something yummy?" Leo asked.

Splinter laughed. "You will find out right now, it is on your plates, my sons."

They immediately ran in to find...creamed spinach on their plates.  They stared at it with wide eyes.

"Ew, spinach?!" Little Raph gagged.

"I thought it was gonna be yummy!" Leo whined.

"I hate spinach!" Donnie sniffed.

"Daddy, why do you have our cookies?" Little Mikey wailed, pointing to his father's plate.

All the tots looked to see Splinter eating their cookies! "Mm, delicious...I love chocolate chip cookies."

The tots looked at their daddy and their lips immediately started quivering. Splinter knew exactly what was coming.

The little ones immediately started crying. Splinter immediately picked them up and cuddled them, giving them each a cookie.

"Do not cry little ones, it was just a little prank..." He said with a smile. They stopped crying and looked at him in confusion.

"What's a pwank?" Donnie asked, nibbling on his cookie. "Whatever it was, it was mean daddy!"

Splinter patted Donnie's head. "Yes....I suppose that joke was a little....over the top but it was supposed to be funny!"

He then sat down and explained. "A prank is simply a little joke to fool someone...it is meant to be funny."

Mikey pouted. "That wasn't vewy funny, daddy." He said, stuffing the rest of the cookie into his mouth.

Splinter cuddled him a little. "I am sorry, my sons...I was not trying to upset you, I just thought you would laugh a little."

They grinned a tiny bit and hugged him back. "It's ok daddy, at least we got our cookies for reals!" Donnie said.

"Daddy, why did you....pwank us anyways?" Little Raph asked. Splinter laughed. "Today is April first, my sons...April Fool's day."

He sat them down on the couch before continuing. They looked at him with wide and curious eyes.