Sunflower Seasons

My youngest daughter Alicia and I are doing a writing challenge each week Mine was to write a short story about a Sunflower in spring- well sunflowers are not blooming here in spring so...
I write stories for children so it has a bit of that genre' in it.

SUNFLOWER SEASONS

Oh my! Wha... what was that?
A Creaking? A cracking? Am I about to sprout?
It has been so long since I fell from my mother sunflower's beautiful face into the cool autumn soil in the garden.
Soon I was covered up with dry leaves. It got very dark and the days grew long and cold. White snow blanketed the ground and I fell asleep to wait for spring.
Could this be it now?
Moisture seeped into the soft, sweet soil that surrounded me.
I slipped deeper into the ground and continued to wait.
Time passed and a warmth began to penetrate the earth.
Now I feel ready to burst with joy. I push as hard as I can and SNAP! My seed shell cracks open and part of me breaks out into the damp, toasty dirt. I am growing!
In a few more days my sprouting self reaches up into the fresh, spring air.
I blink my leaves and try to see the sun. To breathe in the carbon dioxide and exhale the oxygen. "I am here!" I shout to the world.
Now I will grow, stretch and when I bloom, my golden yellow face will follow the sun as it rises in the east and when it goes down in the west I will turn to say good night.
Then someday, I too will dry out. My seed children will fall to the earth or become food for the lovely birds that sing sweet songs to me each day in thankful glee.
I am alive!