Annacdotes, Part 8

1. Surprising things that Anna loves to eat: beets (pickled or otherwise), pickled green beans, any kind of pickle (is there a trend here?), pistachios, and maple nut candies. (Just kidding about that last one, but don't the others seem like such old-people foods?) She also loves lemons, in any form really, but most surprising is her desire for raw, unadulterated lemons. She'll request a slice, suck on it for a bit, scrunch up her face and say, "that's TART!" and then go in for more.

2. Surprising things that usually-not-picky Anna refuses to eat: pineapple, avocados, and potatoes. Potatoes are hit and miss with her, some days she'll eat them and some days she won't, but isn't this a weird food to not like? They seem so mild to me, almost like they don't have a taste.

3. The other night, in attempt to delay going to sleep, Anna told me she wanted to "discuss" something. (She really said "discuss.") Here's how the conversation went.

Anna: Mom, tell me what you know about duck food.
Me: Well... uh... I think ducks sometimes like to eat bread. People sometimes take old bread to the park to feed to them.
Anna: Well, do they like peaches?
Me: Uh... peaches? I don't know. Maybe.
Anna: (decidedly) I think they like peaches.
Me: (Laughing)
Anna: And ham. They really like peaches and ham. Together!
Me: (Laughing)
Anna: (in somewhat of a pout) Well, I like peaches and ham...

4. Anna was sitting on my lap while I finished reading some emails. She was pretty quiet until I heard her say, "I smell something funny." A minute later, she said, "It's something bad." Another minute later, she said, "I think it's you." I said, "Nuh-uh! I just took a shower!" I hate getting lured into junior-high-like conversations with my 3-year-old daughter.

5. She told me the other day that she wanted to change her name to "Appropriate." Consider it done.

6. I showed her a picture of Noah and the ark the other day and started teaching her the story about it. After I pointed to Noah and said, "This man was a prophet a long time ago," she stopped me and said, "Mom, I don't need to be teached. That's Noah. And the ark. And the animals." I can't get over how precocious she seems to be, and yet apparently she DOES still need to be teached about grammar.

Five Favorites

Today, my five favorite things are...

...this cereal. I love it for its simplicity. It's not too sugary and the ingredient list is a manageable size. Delish.

I'm also loving this castle, which was a Christmas present for Anna from Grandma Banks. Anna plays with it often, but I love it today because she played with it for like an hour straight. Thanks, Swan Palace.

This book. I just finished it for like the forty-leventh time, the first time being when I was maybe 13 or so, and I'm not sure if it's sad or not that I probably love it just as much now as I did then. I'm thinking it's not sad. I get more out of it now, but it's still a fun, well-written, poignant story and worthy of the Newbery. I know I've written about Madeleine L'Engle before, but I just love her. I envy the way she balances the flow of the story with meaningful commentary on the human condition, using such a grounded, sensible voice. I love how normal and functional and also mature the Austins have always seemed. (As a sidenote, when I did an image search for this book cover, I found out that the book had been made into a movie a few years ago starring Misha Barton and Dean from Gilmore Girls. What the hey?)

On a different note, I'm also loving this pre-treating laundry soap. It seriously gets out almost any stain imaginable. It worked wonders on poo stains when Anna was a baby, and now it works its weekly magic on grape-juice, blueberry, and marker stains. Like. A. Charm.

And these. I am in love with these chocolate chips. I don't bake with anything else, and the chips are also good for snacking on WHILE you're baking with them, so it's a win-win. I just made some peanut butter bars with these on Sunday and they were basically a little bit of heaven in your mouth.