The Girl Behind the Annacdotes

This painting was done by Anna's Uncle Sean and was one of many gifts I received this month for the 30 Days of Ash. I am in love with it.

This is where the painting came from, by the way.

Lately, I've been thinking about Anna and how she is so much more than these few Annacdotes I post once in a while. And sure, while they're definitely delightful, she is a treat on so many other levels and in so many other ways, and I don't want to forget them. I am baffled and delighted by her nearly 24 hours a day. (Yep, even while I sleep.) I guess it's a little hard to detail in a blog post, but I'm still going to try.

1. Her language. I would say that one of her gifts is in the verbal category. She has always spoken fairly clearly and been able to use big words. She loves to learn what words mean and then make sure she's using them correctly. The other day, she told me that she wanted to write a book too but that she might need my help because I have more experience. I loved that. What does she know about "experience"?

With that said, I hold on to the words she doesn't say correctly because I love them and they keep her young. One such word was "blurdy." She would say this when a picture wasn't clear or when the video would freeze on skype or something. (I think it was related to "blurred," like "blurred-y," which makes sense.) But then just the other day, she said "blurry" for the first time and I silently cheered and frowned a little. Besides that, she's always using words that make me wonder where she hears them and how she possibly knows how to use them.

2. Anna is very thoughtful. She found a little gift box and, for a while there, would draw me a special picture each day that said, "I love you mom" (which she is very pleased to know how to spell all by herself). Then she would fold it up, put it in the box, and then she would wrap it and put ribbon on it and present it to me. I also find little post-it notes with similar messages or pictures of flowers or rainbows or whatever around my room, and lately she's been writing "To: Ash," as though we're BFFs. She also likes to open up to a random page in any notebook of mine and write a secret message for me to find later.

Here's one such note:

The blue and green mass in the middle is the earth.

This one was unique because she wrote the lyrics to a song she made up. (What the heck, kid? Stop surprising me at every turn.) The note says "I love you Mom," obviously, and then the lyrics are:

O this is a wonderful day, today, today

Today, o yes, o yes

Today, o yes, o yes

3. Anna is a very adventurous eater. I've written before about her love for pickled things, be they cucumbers or green beans or beets, but she's also very willing to try new things—especially her own creations. Just the other morning, for instance, she combined all the elements we were eating for breakfast into a breakfast sandwich, of sorts. She took a piece of rosemary toast, spread black raspberry jam and grape jelly on and mixed them, and then topped them with parmesan scrambled eggs. She took a bite and then nodded and said, "Good!" She still doesn't like what she doesn't like (avacados, asparagus, pineapple, and black jelly beans) and sometimes prays to be able to like them, but other than that, she's pretty open, which I love and think is a great quality to have.

4. She is also wise beyond her years about many things. One area we've heard a lot about lately is love. I've mentioned her two crushes before, and this last one seems to be sticking. (And apparently, most of the other girls in her class have a crush on this boy as well.) When talking about the difference between love and crushes one day, Anna said, "Love is like fifty crushes." So true. She also told me about a dream she had about her current crush. She couldn't remember many of the details, but she remembered that at the end, she confronted this boy and said, "Do you just want to live a free life?" I thought this was pretty insightful about how smothered the poor boy might feel.

5. Anna is very dramatic. When she is excited about something, she will rapidly clap her hands and grin with delight or put her hands over her heart and close her eyes in sincere reverence for whatever it might be. Sometimes she will even swoon and pretend to faint if the sight is truly magical. For instance, we were out shopping a few weeks ago and we walked into a children's clothing store. There was a display with every sparkly, rainbow-colored accessory you could imagine. She gasped at the sight, walked over to the display, and then literally fell to the floor. Another time, Anna had a nightmare and my sister got there a minute before I did. I told Anna about this the next morning, since she never remembers anything about her nighttime adventures, and she said, with much emotion, "Both of you came in? You could have hugged each other with sadness in your eyes."

6. When she's not being super melodramatic, she also has a little bit of attitude. Last year, she got on this kick of snapping when she'd talk about something really cool. Then more recently, she picked up saying "Lame!" with an attitude whenever she didn't like something. (Can't say I love that . . . ) But then she took it over the top when she added a snap that goes directly into a thumbs down as she says it. It was a brilliant move. She'll also do a snap-thumbs-up for things she loves, which is pretty inventive too.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg . . .