Dear Anna,
You’re in a stage where you’re constantly surprising us and challenging
us, usually in a good way, and I feel amazed and blessed each day to be your
Mommy. Not always every second of every
day, like when you’re correcting me or arguing with me over the tense of a verb
or when I’ve asked you to do something for the fifth time; but in the quiet
moments when I’m putting you to bed, in the moment when you see me walk into
your room at school and you dart to me with open arms, in the moments when you
remember something we talked about a few days before, or when you snuggle up
with me on the couch.
You’re growing so much every day!
I could swear that you grow an inch a day and will be looking down on me
by your fourth birthday. Just the other
day you were walking around the kitchen and picked something off the island,
your Dad point out that you hadn’t even had to get a stool or stand on your tip
toes and we both just stood there and stared in amazement. You’re also growing into a polite young lady
and have mastered the skill of using please and thank you very nicely. One day recently you asked if you could wear
your “princess dress” that day and I had to say “no” as it was a school day;
but reconsidered when you responded “can I please wear my princess dress after
I get up, and get dressed, and get ready, and brush my teeth, pretty please?” There was no way I could turn that down, so
you were a princess until you left for school that day.
You and your sister have a love affair with each other and it’s amazing
to watch your relationship grow each day.
Nothing makes Charlotte smile like seeing you and no one is more fun to
play with in her book. You guys have a
game called 1-2-3 that is played in our bed or your bed almost daily. It’s a pretty simple game; you stand at the
head of the bed and free-fall backwards.
But the part you two have perfected is the infectious giggle that comes
right after you land safely. You turn to
each other and just die laughing and it’s the cutest sight and sound ever. Although she’s still working to get a little
steadier on her feet, you love to try to dance together and do ring-around-the-rosie. She follows your lead and literally looks up
to you in every way possible.
You moved to a new room at school this past month and the transition
went really well. I was a little worried
given the very close relationship you’d developed with Miss Lisa in the Manatee
room, but you did great. Your first
transition day you told us how excited you were to be “an Orca today!!,” and
proudly went to your new room on the second day. Your new room is considered a preschool room,
but they follow a school schedule, so many of your activities fall in line with
their summer camp programs and are little less academically focused. You’re still learning a new letter each week,
are working on handwriting each day, and focusing on other self-help skills,
and are finally at an age where you can tell us more detail about what you did
during your day.
We’ve officially been bitten by the princess bug and you are nothing less than totally obsessed with the Disney movie Frozen. And I mean obsessed. We don’t watch it that often, but I made the mistake of downloading the soundtrack to my phone and we generally listen to it most the time when we’re at home. Getting ready in the morning, during breakfast, car ride home from daycare … you get the picture. They play the soundtrack at school as well and you know most of the words and have dance steps to accompany the re-enactment. This, coupled with your Sophia the First obsession means that our house is all-princesses-all-the-time. What I find the most interesting is that you seem to identify with the secondary characters more than the main characters, Princess Amber in Sophia’s world and Princess Elsa in Frozen. And you have characters that we each play in your mind. My favorite is that your Gigi is Sophia’s butler, Bailywick.
A few of your funnier “tricks” over the last couple of months that’s I’ve
forgotten to jot down include your two-week obsession with disrobing at random
times, including naptime and when we got home from school. There were a few instances where I’d turn my
head for a second or walk in to get you up from nap to find you in your
birthday suit. Quite amusing, but I’m
glad you grew out of that as quickly as you came into it, for now anyway. One of the other things that’s given us a
real chuckle lately is how you’ve developed an independence around washing
yourself in the bathtub, and will inform your Dad that you are cleaning off
your “messy bessies” or “dusty musties.”
Although we have no idea where these sayings came from, it makes us
chuckle nonetheless.
Because my memory is shot most days, I keep notes of what I want to
include in your letters and sit with a permanent grin on my face as I write to
you each month. I want to balance being
in-the-moment with you and your sister with capturing some of these
oh-so-fun-but-sometimes-challenging times.
At the end of the day your Dad and I will sit down and recap the best
(and sometimes most trying) things about our day, and we always end with happy
stories of you and your sister. Thank
you for giving me something happy to begin and end each day with, you’re my
true sunshine in this world.
Love,
Mom
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