That A.A. Milne quote in my headline is from this poem, btw, if you were wondering.
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Let's talk about our girl Anz! You know that phrase -- something like, "To know her is to love her?"
That's our girl.
You can't just meet her and feel indifferent. Maybe that's all kids, and of course, as her mom, DUH, I'm going to find her extra special. But really, I see how other people react to her and fall for her infectious personality, and I just think she's the most delightful little treat of a human being I've ever known.
I'll take her with me some days, just to like, make a return at TJ Maxx or run out for some more stamps, because she's such a little friend, and I enjoy her so much.
OK, and then other days, I forget she's still just a lil nugget, and she'll beg me for Cheez-Its the whole outing ("The white kind are cheesier! Why can't we ever get the white kind?"), and the other day at Party City she was *rolling* down the dirty aisle, on the floor, like some kind of lunatic, and I kinda DO have to remind myself that she's 5 -- or 6 now! -- but for the most part, she's so, so good.
She makes the funniest observations. She's so smart and clever. Sometimes TOO clever; she knows how to push my buttons, too. Girlfriend can drive me up a wall when she wants to, but like, that's part of the job, I guess!
Seriously though, every mom should have an Ana.
What did I do to deserve her?
I'm just so proud. Words cannot explain.
She is an absolute delight. She wakes up happy, goes to bed happy (well, most of the time; the Robs bickering can be a definite thing post-dinnertime), and she skips absolutely everywhere she goes. As in, she doesn't walk, and she doesn't run. She does a lil kindergarten skip. Some days, when James picks her up from school, I'll peer out the window just to watch her bound up the front lawn and then the steps, and skip inside.
She used to come home from school kinda drained, but lately, she's just like, chattering a mile a minute, telling me about what was for lunch, or who she played with at recess, or what Frau Eisenberg said during quiet time that made her laugh.
She talks a LOT, and James is always like, "I wonder where she gets it," or "You were probably the EXACT same way."
Oh, and I was.
Ana was being a litttttttle extra at Thanksgiving, just like, interrupting the table with "Raise ya hand if you like turkey! ... Raise ya hand if your name starts with an A!" And my mom was like, "Oh, this was YOU, btw."
It's all true.
She even talks like me, which I think I've mentioned before, and it's funny, because I hear it, too. I'll be like, "Where did she get that?" ... "Oh yeah, me, I guess."
"What in the HECK, Mommy?" or "Mommy, you're never going to believe what Ruby said at school!" or "OK Mommy, what do you want first, the good news, or the bad news?" And even, "Robby is going to *die* when he sees this sharky shirt!"
She's such a tiny adult.
Ana, btw, only wants to be called ANA these days, and nottttt Analisa (which breaks me, but it's fine). I'm letting her become her own person on some of this stuff. She picks her own outfits, and they're bad-bad some days. I'm just like, "seasonally appropriate, please!" And she knows what that means. But she WILL come down in her bathing suit otherwise.
I'm also no longer forcing ponytails, because she hates them, and it recently dawned on me: I don't wear or like my hair up EVER, so why should I make her do it?
She loves her friends (dearly - we are SO happy to be back at school IRL after almost an entire year of virtual in 2020!), play dates, doing your hair as if she's your stylist at a salon, playing "restaurant," or playing school with Robby (her school name is Callie Wallie, Rob's is Christian Robinson), DANCING but not in a dance-class kind of way (tried that), we just dance everywhere we go now, casually; also drawing, most snack foods under the sun, going out to eat, and she willlllll impress you with her vast knowledge of Milwaukee restaurants: "Can we go to Buckley's, Mommy? No? How about Story Hill?" ... "Um, ma'am, it's a Monday at 4 p.m. Take a breath."
She can be an adventurous eater at times, and absolutely as picky as can be, other days. You just don't know what you're going to get.
She still can't say her Ls. That's like, one of the ONLY baby things she's holding onto, but I'm not here to correct her. Remember when I taught Robby that it's a polar bear, and not a poe-bear?
Dumb of me.
I miss poe-bear.
So, Little Miss Anz marches around the house talking about the "lellow" sun and "Why does daddy have to lell at Robby?" And I just let. It. Slide.
Oh, and she still wants to sleep in our bed. We let her, some nights, but tend to move her in the night.
She just wants to make you laugh. And when she figures out what it is, exactly, that's gonna get you there, she'll just harp on it again and again. Girl really beats a dead horse, lol. But because it's Ana, it's cute and endearing. She just loves people, and figuring everyone out, and connecting with you.
She enjoys adults almost as much as other kids, too. When I told her I was going to Natalie's without her once, she got like, very hurt. "But you said it was girls night, and I'm one of the girls!"
Ugh, that one stung!
I mentioned once that Courtney, my friend (who is Ana's friend Annie's mom), would probably love to see Ana's Halloween costume, and I swear, Ana asked every week, or every time we saw Courtney, "Can I show Courtney my dress now? She's gonna love it! She's gonna freak!"
lol WHO is this tiny human?
German school is going so well! I love it for her. She's thriving. She's starting to learn SO much, like full phrases, and she doesn't love when I put her on the spot, like in front of my mom on FaceTime. But she will sprinkle in more and more German into everyday conversation, and I think partly because she knows how much I love it. I'm just so proud of her. (I think I've said that a few times, but like), not only is she thriving in kindergarten, but like, it's entirely in another language.
I'd type more examples if I knew how to spell in German, lol.
Ana's starting to learn how to read, and can identify and write most letters and numbers, and I just learned more about what that'll mean at school, the other day. That's an explanation for another time! But I'm genuinely looking forward to school stuff as she progresses.
She adores Girl Scouts.
We did a six-week soccer session, but the verdict was still out by the end. Some days she was into it, other days, not so much. She says she's gonna be "a runner girl, like mommy," (and also a "writer-princess," (like mommy?) but who knows. 🙂You be whoever and whatever you wanna be, angel face.
She's even showing interest in chess, which is big at our school, so that would be cool! I'm trying to encourage it, despite the fact that I never learned, and don't know ANYTHING about chess. Queen's Gambit got me intrigued though.
What else can I share?
Ana is incredibly intuitive. She picks up on everything. She wants to chat with strangers in line at the grocery store. "Hey, you've seen Blue-y, right?" she asked the woman behind us at Metro Market. I was cracking up. I don't know where she gets this. My friend Rachael and I were wondering if being cooped up inside for the better part of a full year made the kids more social.
It's like, sure, I'm outgoing now, but I was a shyyyyy child. And this certainly didn't come from James, which you know already if you've met James, lol.
Ana got dose one of the COVID vax last week, and didn't make a peep. She got her flu shot in the same arm, and didn't flinch, either. She was dancing in the waiting area beforehand, making everyone around her smile. It's never a thing like, "Ana, can you dance?" That's just her. If we're ever just waiting in line, around the house, out to eat or even out in the yard, she's filling the space with her big arms and graceful twirls. If you've seen our family pics, you know a lot of this was captured, and I just lovvvvve that so much. It was like, Ana in her natural state.
She's even starting to learn pop culture stuff, which is a little surreal. She came home from school one day and said Violet told her all about Jojo, so we watched Dancing With the Stars a few times and cheered on our girl J (Team Iman though, amIriiiiiight?)
The other day, she started singing "Wildest Dreams" by Taylor Swift -- a little botched at times, but I totally recognized it. I turned it on my Spotify and she was like, "Yes, Mommy I LOVE THIS ONE!" but she also asks such good questions about the lyrics. "Say you'll remember me? Say you'll see me again? Where is this person GOING -- tell her to come back then!"
She's the same way with books. "That's a funny word! What does that line mean? ... I looked at the picture and that's how I knew! Look at his eyebrows."
She just notices. Attention to detail is through the roof.
Btw, after "Wildest Dreams" last week, she requested that T-Swift "Welcome to New York" song, and then I taught her part of the "Single Ladies" dance, just in the car, some hand/arm stuff, and she had me in stitches.
It's so hard to record everything on Snapchat or take every picture, but I really do try my best. I just don't want to forget these moments.
Related/unrelated ...
I've always found it weird when parents will write on social media, like, some form of, "Thank you, sweet child, for picking me to be your mother."
Um, that's not exactly how it works, Linda, you can build these tiny creatures into whatever you'd like, no one *selected* you, but anyway, rant aside, I really have made myself a tiny best friend. And I could squeeze her till the end of time.
I'm sitting here smiling as I type this, because she's just a pumpkin and it's been the best six years of my life.
Ana is theeeee most lovable lil girl on the planet. She's never been a big snuggler like Rob, but lately, she's been letting me kiss her delicious, squishable, big ol' cheeks, and I'm just wishing I could bottle this. I honestly don't know WHERE these past six years have gone.
I don't even remember some of the early months, they're fuzzy as hell, and I'll see these baby pictures, and it just feels like a lifetime ago already.
I swear, some days, just the hours of 4-8 p.m. take four years, but then you wake up on your daughter's sixth birthday, and it makes you choke up because it's just SO fleeting. Time is a thief or whatever, ya know?
Remember in The Office, when Andy is like, "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them"? (Actually, I laugh at my mom for referencing "the good old days" way too often in a similar context).
But like, this? This is it. We're in 'em.
Happy 6th birthday, to my big, sweet girl.
