Annacdotes 15

1. Anna has an uncle on a mission and she announced one day that she wanted to make and send him a paper-bag puppet. Complete with googly eyes. Delighted at the thought of what she might come up with, I got out some supplies and let her go to work. Here is her finished product, a Devan puppet:

A simple, yet descriptive design. She informed me that the two circles above his legs were his bum cheeks. I think this will come in handy during discussions.

2. One day a couple weeks ago, I told Anna what the word "thrice" means. She has used it maybe every day since then—and correctly, too. She also sometimes tosses "frice" (that means "four times" for you who don't speak Anna-ese) out there just for fun.

3. Anna has lately been saying "times" instead of "sometimes" or "at times" and I seriously love it. It's such a cute abbreviation. And since she rarely sounds like she has the vocabulary of a child anymore (she no longer says "meh-juss" for "message," for instance), I love anything that keeps her from growing up too fast.

Example: "Mom, you're silly times. And times, I'm silly." (That's a direct quote.)

4. I sat in on Anna's dance class a couple weeks ago and her teacher told them they were going to be a train. She went around and asked each girl what was in her train car. The first one said, "Candy." The next one said, "More candy!" And then when she asked Anna, she said, "Healthy food."

Yeah, that's right. I have the perfect child. I honestly don't even know why she said that, as she loves sweets as much as the next girl, but I still loved it. And it totally won her teacher over. Job well done, Annabelle.

Anna with her Aunt Steph. Fixing hair is one of Anna's favorite things to do right now. I think the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink headpiece look is her specialty.

5. Anna came in the kitchen one morning having dressed herself in a rather eye-catching outfit: a hot pink shirt, a purple shrug, boldly striped leggings and lots of sparkly jewelry and black and orange halloween socks. My dad told her how cute she looked, singing praises about her outfit, and then he continued complimenting her cute personality and her intelligence. At the end of his speech, he said, "Is there anything you don't have?" She looked at him for a minute and then said, "Well, I don't have a giant."

6. We were talking about the story "Little Red Riding Hood" the other night, and I said, "Hey, we could call you that—Little Red—because of your hair."Anna emphatically rejected this, saying that her name would always be Anna Summertime Banks. I said, "But even as a nickname?" "NO!" she replied. She meant business. Then I asked her, "So you like your name, then?" She emphatically agreed. I asked, "Would you rather have a different name?" She said, "No. Never ever . . . .  Well, except for Rainbow Ruby."

7. Anna's preferred exclamation these days: "Ikes!" I hear it probably 10 times a day. Refer to this link if you don't know where this coming from.

Anna really, REALLY wanted her picture taken with this orange. I was skeptical and had to be talked into it, but I should have trusted her creative vision because it's a super cute picture.

Anna and her cousin Emme