Ode to Anna

I know that, every time I actually write anything on this blog anymore, it's about Jack. What new, cute things he's doing; the latest stats from his pediatrician visits; etc. To the unknowing, it might look as though Anna wasn't blog-worthy. Au contraire. It's just that she's doing SO MANY things and is so smart and funny that it would be a full-time job to write about her all of the time. Until I have a chance to really sit down and tell you some of her latest and greatest stories, I thought I'd do a little bullet-point run-down of what's going on in her little life.

• She's graduating to the next class up at her school in the Fall. I think that she's ready for a change and for some more challenging material.

• Her favorite book is The Best Nest. She can also "read" it herself, which is so cool.

• Her favorite show on TV is still Yo Gabba Gabba, followed closely behind by Dora the Explorer (yuck).

• She's finally beginning to embrace dressing up--both for play and for special occasions. She's also finally to a point where she likes to have her hair fixed and is on a real "dress kick" right now. She usually chooses to wear a dress every day. She also is really into pretend play. It's always fun to play with her toy kitchen and see what interesting dishes she cooks (my favorite is her strawberry broccoli soup).

I finally convinced her to let me put this apron on her today, while we were playing with her kitchen. She normally will only use it to "dry" her hands after she compulsively "washes" them at her kitchen sink (ah, the child of a compulsive hand-washer).

"No strawberry broccoli soup for you!"

She's also gotten better lately about dancing in front of others and likes to put on dresses and dance like a ballerina. That's what she was doing here:

Good thing "someone" (cough) grabbed a tutu off of the clearance rack at Marshall's the other day, to put away in the Christmas box (yes, I'm about 50% done with my Christmas shopping. I am so awesome--and very smug about it too)

Although we have our moments--she's really testing boundaries and trying to assert her independence on a daily (um, hourly) basis--she's so much fun to hang out with. She's my favorite smart, creative, persnickety, picky-eater, Lego-master, independent, ballet-dancing, exotic-soup cooking girl in the world.