Anna Elizabeth

She is often a subject of posts here, but today I needed to make a record of her the way she is now, in every day life.

When Anna wakes up in the morning, it is no secret.  It never has been.  She was never one of those babies who would lie in their cribs cooing to themselves.  She would wail.  Later on, yell "Mama! Mama! MAMA!" until I got her.  Later still, she would arrive in my bed, elbowing and shoving and talking a mile a minute, usually about how hungry she was.  Now, she is supposed to stay in bed until 7.  So most mornings we hear,"Um, I know it's not 7 yet but I am just SO bored lying here - can I PLEASE get up?" Or she just arrives downstairs insisting she really just cannot stay up in that bed for another MINUTE!

She wants to watch Arthur and Martha Speaks, or she wants a bowl of cereal that almost overflows with milk. She fills the dog's bowl and more food ends up out of the bowl than in it, and I move the refrigerator more than anyone in America to prevent a stockpile of disgusting moldy dog food from forming.  She usually spills his water too.  She sometimes protests loudly and angrily about how unfair it is that she has to do her morning chore, and others times she does it cheerfully, gives me a hug, and tells me how much she loves me.

She will sometimes come downstairs dressed to the nines and fully accessorized, or in mismatching long sleeved tee and sweats.  Do NOT try to put her hair up. I love her hair back from her face.  It looks so cute and round that way.  Sometimes she makes her bed without being asked.  And then might shove her dirty pajamas in the back of her closet.  

She will always try to stay on the computer longer than her allotted time.  Her favorite websites are American Girl, Webkinz, and PBS Kids - Fetch, and her favorite games are Nancy Drew, the White Wolf of Icicle Creek and Pet's Vet.  She holds the wakeboarding record on Wii Sports Resort, but you might be wary of boxing her or sword fighting her either. Her favorite thing to do is pretend we are all characters from Narnia and have an archery contest.  She is always Lucy, and she deems Molly, Susan.  I usually have to be the White Witch. King Peter if she's feeling generous.

She sometimes holes up in her room and reads and reads. She stages weddings between her Hot Wheels.   She loves picture albums. She gets out board games like Life and Monopoly and concocts her own games and plays alone.  She is always up for a game of  Simply Suspects and is pretty darn good at it.  Family games are one of her favorite things.  Her belly laugh is contagious. She loves to laugh. She loves family. She often verbalizes how much she misses loved ones.

She will present me with homemade pictures and I have to smile even though I know the basement always looks like a tornado hit because of the creation in my hands.  In the summer she will spin and sing and embarrass her sister to death by not caring who witnesses her theatrics in the front yard.  The bargain she strikes for stopping is that Molly has to play Little House in the Big Woods in the play house, and "Mom, can we please take a picnic lunch up there?"

She visits Miss Barb in the nursing home sometimes, and gets to go out to lunch afterward.  Panera is her favorite, and she wants chicken soup, half a turkey artichoke sandwich, and apple, and water with a lemon slice that will become her "retainer" when she is through.  When she has friends over, she is a gracious hostess, always doing what they want to do and having what they want for lunch. When it's her and I only, she asks for mayonnaise, cheese and pickle sandwiches.

To her sister, she is a tyrant. But she is also her sister's biggest fan, and pays rapt attention to every detail of Molly's life. She knows Molly's stories and preferences as well as Molly does.  And she would pulverize anyone who would dare try to mess with Molly.

She loves Biscuit a little too much.  He gets huggin' that sometimes turns into chokin'.  She tolerates no disobedience from him; heaven help him if she's at the other end of his leash.  He listens better to Anna than he does Molly.  Her tears always get worried licks from him, however, and he ends most days making peace by lying at the foot of her bed. 

At dinner she wants everyone to play question games. "If we were movie characters, who would we be?" for example. She bawls if she can't have a bowl of ice cream after dinner and will usually choke down anything in front of her to get some.  She will protest mightily about taking a bath, but wants to stay in it until her skin wrinkles and the water is freezing.  She always begs for "one more chapter!" of the book we're reading.  She loves when Dad agrees to give her a back rub.

She hates school. Today, she started worrying about it at 10 am.  I couldn't get her to go to the library to take her mind off of it.  We sat down and had a long, teary talk and I almost had to physically put her on the bus.  She insisted that she cried all day yesterday, and would cry all day today.  She thinks her teacher doesn't like her.  She is exhausted when she comes home, from trying so hard. This is why I needed to make a record of Anna, age 6, so that it doesn't become this last paragraph in my memories.  So I can remember that there was so much more than this struggle.