Little Toot doing his figure-eight move. (Caloosa Belle/Geffory Ionescu)

The kids showing off their Little Toot welcome signs. (Caloosa Belle/Geffory Ionescu)

Last Friday, November 16 Little Toot came back to the place where he was originally found by Captain Christopher Robin. LaBelle Elementary second and fourth graders happily surprised Captain Christopher Robin and Little Toot with their warm and beautiful welcoming messages to cheer Little Toot on his new adventures of storytelling, and storytelling is what Captain Christopher Robin, together with Little Toot, were meant to do. As the excited kids lined up to say hello to Captain Christopher, they Toot their given Toot-whistles welcoming Little Toot back to LaBelle.

Captain Christopher Robin was more than ecstatic as this is what it is all about for him: “This is a dream come true for me, bringing joy to these kids and bringing everyone together through Little Toot has always been my goal. So to come back to where I originally found Little Toot, lost and forgotten, is very exciting.”

As the kids sat down, mayor David Lyons welcomed everyone and proclaimed November 16 official Little Toot Day in LaBelle: “A sincere dedication to the betterment of the lives of our children, may well be the most honorable service of all. Through the power of storytelling, we can transport our children to other worlds, where they can be anyone they want to be; explore far-away places, fly through the clouds in the sky, save our world from evil tyrants and love one another so deeply, they can transform a beast into a prince. Little Toot, our own proud resident of LaBelle, has eagerly dedicated his heart and soul to sharing these stories with our children. Therefore I proclaim November 16 as Little Toot Day!”

Carlos Gonzalez Presents Captain Christopher Robin with his artwork. (Caloosa Belle/Geffory Ionescu)

Local artist Carlos Inocente Gonzalez presented Christopher with his artwork of Little Toot, made completely out of recycled material, which goes hand-in-hand with Christopher Robin’s theme “forgotten beauty, found”.

Christopher Robin went on to tell to story of Little Toot to all the eagerly listening kids (I have never seen a group of kids that big, that quiet). The Captain answered all the kids burning questions and announced that the new Little Toot children’s books are in the making. He ended the day by doing the famous “figure-eight” out on the Caloosahatchee River with the kids Tooting along.