Annacdotes 16

These pictures are brought to you by our trip to the Thanksgiving Point gardens. (And this one was totally self-posed. Just fyi. My job is simply to capture the magic she innately provides.)

1. In a recent prayer, Anna asked for help in reminding me to let her take a karate class. That was the first I heard of it, and she hasn't mentioned it since. Must have been one of those extremely intense, prayer-necessitating, passing phases.


2. Anna came upstairs to inform me that the movie she was watching was done. (It was The Care Bears, by the way, which she absolutely loves.) As I was turning everything off, she said thoughtfully, "But one thing, Mom . . .  how do I look inside my heart?" Don't you just love the Care Bears? (And Anna?)

3. Anna was grabbing someone else's book on the kitchen table when she was supposed to be eating her breakfast. Here is the ensuing conversation.

Me: Hey, maybe put that down while you're eating so you don't get your breakfast hands on it.

Anna: (cowering) Please don't make that my new nickname!

Me: (laughing) What, 'Breakfast Hands'?

Anna: Yeah. I wouldn't like it at all. [Then in a mocking voice] 'Hey Breakfast Hands, it's time for dinner!'

Her hypothetical scenario came so quickly that it caught me by surprise. And the whole breakfast-dinner thing just got me. Such genius comedic timing.

4. Potty talk alert: (It's still funny to me, though, because it's so Anna.) Anyway, of her own volition, Anna has started calling #1 "peep," as in "I have to go peep." Because #2 is poop, right? Makes perfect sense. She uses it as a verb too. She recently brought up the time the monarch butterfly we hatched last summer "peeped" on her hand when it flew out of the jar. I kind of love it. Am I that far gone?

5. A frequent topic of my discussions with Anna is what words mean. She's very curious when she hears a new word and always wants to know what it means. I find myself having conversations like this about words several times a day. I also think it's an art to define things in a simple yet accurate way that a child can understand. (I'm totally pro, by now, at explaining things to her like she's a 5 year old.) Just recently, for instance, I had to define the words "benefit," "combination," "culture," and "virgin." (That last word means a young woman who has never been married, by the way. In case you were wondering.)

6. In a recent prayer, Anna said these two gems:

"We're grateful for all the blessings we've given you."

and

"Please destroy all the wickedness on this land."

That last one sounded so sincere and sweet coming from her.

7. After I took Anna to see the movie Rio (which gets a big 'meh' from me but probably 4 stars from Anna), we were discussing the show as we got in the car. Anna said, "You know, they should really have a place where you can eat breakfast and lunch, or something, called Cafe Rio."

I just don't know what to do with this girl. She's sometimes almost too much delight all at once.

I was going for "windblown and disheveled" here and I think I totally pulled it off.