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2. This last summer, my dad said he would pay Anna 25 cents a bucket to gather rocks out of his garden. She did three buckets one day and wasn't super excited to do more the next day. Trying to entice her to keep working, I talked to her about how she could earn some good money doing this. She surprised me by saying, "I think I'd just rather help my family." I told her that doing this would be helping her grandpa AND we could go to the store in a few days to buy a toy or something. She said, "I don't know if I want to spend my money on a toy. I think I might just want to buy something we need." What the what? After that, when I saw that she was naturally much more altruistic than I thought possible, I realized I was obviously going about this the wrong way.
3. Anna came in from outside and asked me to smell her hands. A bit wary, I smelled them and inhaled something rank. With a twinkle in her eye, she said, "Does it smell like saliva?" I grimaced and said, "Yeah, or something else gross." A bit proud of herself, she said, "Well, it's saliva mixed with cat hair." I wanted to vomit. That was not a fun game.
4. In the car one afternoon, Anna said, "What if our car could go 10,000 miles per hour?" I said that would definitely be super fast, even faster than an airplane and probably as fast as a rocket. Anna was quiet for a moment while she reflected on this, and then she said, "But we're glad we have speed limits so we're able to see the beautiful view, huh?"
5. Anna and I were lying on my bed having a chat when there was a pause in the conversation. So I steamrolled over, sort of at an angle, and said, "Look out! Here comes the Mom-inator!" in an evil-villain voice. My back was to her when I finally got there, so I had to reach my arms around behind me, somewhat clumsily, and try to get her that way so I didn't totally smother her. After my attempt, Anna said, "More like the awkward-inator." Man. Bested by my 6 year old.
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| When I pulled out the Christmas decorations, Anna had to instantly put on the stockings. |
7. Anna has been into this series of books about all different kinds of fairies: jewel fairies, color fairies, flower fairies, etc. After she had read several of them, I asked her what kind of fairy she would be. She thought for a minute and then said excitedly, "The ancient fairy! And when I'd dab my wand, ancient scrolls would come out!"
8. One morning, Anna kept saying versions of "dagnabbit," trying to get it right. Mostly, it came out "dab-nabbit." She used it several times as she was writing a note, with each little mistake she made. On our way to the car, she stopped to look at a leaf on the ground that was covered in ice crystals. "Dab-nabbit!"she said loudly. "I mean, dab-amazing! Look at this gorgeous thing!"
9. I got a package one day that included a giant sheet of very stiff and very durable bubble wrap. Anna appropriated it the minute she saw it, and it kept her busy for most of the evening. She wore it as a cape, she danced on it, she ran and jumped on it from a distance. On her way to watch a little Netflix, she laid down the sheet of bubble wrap and started to get on it. Surprised, I asked, "Are you going to lie on it?" Like I said, it was very stiff and pretty loud. "Yeah," she said and laughed patronizingly. "Why wouldn't I?"
10. "All you need is a suit covered in money and some scissors in order to go to the store."
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| hugging the candy tree at a toy store—she was drawn to it like a moth to a flame |
