Today, 5-year-old Kaitlyn Johnson sang to me from her favorite Disney movie she watched in the hospital.

“Mother knows best,” she sang in the sweetest voice. “Listen to your mother.”

Kaitlyn didn’t finish the rest of the song. Yet, having daughters of my own who love the movie “Tangled,” I kept singing the lyrics in my head.

“It's a scary world out there, mother knows best, one way or another, something will go wrong, I swear,” Rapunzel’s mom sings to her in their castle.

 “She watched it three times a day,” Kaitlyn’s mom Rosie Jungst-Johnson told me.

Today, I met Kaitlyn for the first time after covering her story for the past two-and-a half months.

I couldn’t help but associate the lyrics to what she and her mom experienced in February.  That's when Kaitlyn’s mother "knew best" to save her daughter’s life.

Rosie Jungst-Johnson called 9-1-1 in the early morning of February 23, when she realized Kaitlyn and her 18-month-old brother Cody, were trapped inside their burning home.

Jungst-Johnson's estranged husband Bill, according to police, had just beaten his wife in the head and run inside the home to set the fire.

Police had to break down the doors to pull Johnson and his kids out.

Bill Johnson has since died.

Cody suffered smoke inhalation and has fully recovered.

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Kaitlyn received severe burns to 50 percent of her body including her face, hands, and back. For a month, Kaitlyn was in a drug-induced coma.

“I would just daydream of just being able to sit at the hospital and being able to talk to her,” Jungst-Johnson said.  “So many of the doctors and nurses described her as the poster child of innocence.”

Kaitlyn made a remarkable recovery at Children’s Hospital Colorado.  She got out of the hospital a month earlier than expected.  She still has a big recovery ahead.

She had to retrain her vocal chords by imitating animal sounds.  She still does daily dressing changes on her burns, and she wears SPF 100 sunscreen to protect her skin.

Kaitlyn also still remembers the fire.

“She is nothing short of a miracle,” her mom said.  “‘When she first saw herself in the mirror after the injuries, she looked in the mirror and said, ‘OK, that’s alright.’”

Kaitlyn’s goal is to grow her hair as long as Rapunzel again.

She is already enrolled in Kindergarten next year.  She and her brother have no trouble playing with the dozens of toys donated by the firefighters and police who saved her life.

One of those toys was a globe, Kaitlyn set on the floor to show 9News photographer Brian Willie and me.

 “It’s really neat,” her mom said. 

A remote-control in Kaitlyn’s fragile, yet confident, hands spun the globe around.

She laughed and smiled, while her mother watched from the corner, smiling as well.

Yes, it can be a scary world.  But under her mother’s watchful eye, Kaitlyn will have no trouble navigating it.

Watch for more of Kaitlyn's story tonight on 9News at 9 and 10 p.m.

There is some good news to a tragedy we reported two weeks ago.

Today, eighteen-month-old Cody Johnson got out of the hospital.

Two weeks ago, police accused his father, Bill Johnson, of barricading Cody and his sister – 5-year-old Kaitlyn – inside their home in Northglenn.

Police say Johnson then set the home on fire.

Cody’s sister Kaitlyn has much more recovery. She is burned on her face, and her back. 50 percent of her body is affected, doctors have told her mom.

Rosie Jungst-Johnson also received a severe beating from her husband, she said, before he set the fire.

She showed us pictures of her left eye swollen shut and bloody, after the incident. Her right eye was only slightly better.

I interviewed Cody and Kaitlyn’s mother last Saturday and again today. She and her estranged husband Bill, are going through a divorce.

Bill, she says, acted “different” the night he’s accused of such terrible acts.

Yet Northglenn police did not think so. They say he acted normal, when they pulled him and his two kids over, just hours before the fire.

We still have not been able to reach Johnson’s family. At last update, he was still in critical condition with burns.

This story is not easy to tell. Yet, have to and we will continue.

We are committed to chronicling Kaitlyn’s recovery, as she steps down from intensive care, as she goes through therapy, and eventually goes home.

The process won’t be easy. But it is my hope you can reach out to help this family. At 9News, our job is to advocate for people who need help. Two young kids need your help. We advocate, because we have such a powerful medium and an equally powerful audience.

Whatever happened between parents, Cody and Kaitlyn need help.

You can donate to the "Little Heroes Fund" at any Wells Fargo branch or the Rosie Johnson Fund 1st Bank Branch.

TV News should be that simple. 

NBC News Reporter Bob Dotson thinks so.

While preparing for a lecture to my broadcast class at the University of Denver tonight, I found this video from Dotson and Poynter's Al Tompkins.

In this short clip, I learned such a great deal.

I hope my students did, as well.

Here's a lesson for all TV Journalists, on the simple backbone of TV news story telling.

We have learned the Occupy Denver protests cost those of us who live in the City and County of Denver $365,000 of police overtime.  There goes the City Hall Christmas party.

Police arrested more than 50 people last weekend, in the two evenings after I produced the story you will see below.

In the story, I tried to meet a challenge from my News Director, Patti Dennis.

She wanted us to find if the Occupy Denver protestors stayed on message, or if they actually knew what they were fighting against.

We learned they had many different messages.  Some people wrote eloquent notes.  Some had no clue why they were there.

The most memorable point of the story for me came when I took their messages directly to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.  I'm sure his staff thought I was crazy, but the questions prompted candid response.  The protestors had yet to hear many public officials speak about their movement, so it was refreshing to hear what the Governor had to say.

Pardon the overmodulation on the audio, but you'll be able to hear it.

Every June, I return to Missouri for one of my favorite weeks of the year -- Missouri Boys State.

The week-long leadership development experience gives more than 900 high school juniors a great chance to learn about politics and government.

The Boys State citizens give speeches, campaign, and hold elections to eventually form a mock state government.

It sounds crazy.  It is. 

But at the end of the week, the young men develop their public speaking skills and confidence and return to their high schools with a deeper appreciation of public service.

The guys also take courses for college credit through the week, learning about law enforcement, campaigning, law, the legislature, and journalism.

I serve as the Dean of the Journalism School, teaching about libel, slander, and the first amendment to roughly 120 students throughout the week. 

We also produce a nightly radio and TV broadcast and morning newspaper.

I also return because of young men like Abraham Shaw.  He will start his senior year at McKinley Classical Leadership Academy in St. Louis.

Abraham was chosen as an anchor for Tuesday's TV broadcast.  He seemed a bit quiet behind the scenes, but when he appeared on camera, he had a natural energy I don't see in many television journalists.  I told him.  And I encouraged him to think about a career in our field.

He sent me this note after the session:

"Thank you so much Mr. Flener.  I just want to say it was a pleasure learning from you. You have made me consider a career in journalism."

Abraham, it was a pleasure to teach you.  I hope you continue on that path.