Expressive Anna

(Adventure Club School Pictures 2012)

Before I go to bed tonight, I had to share a couple quick stories about our little Anna!
Just today, Anna found a pair of socks on the ground that happened to be hers (she took them off at the beginning of the day & ended up being barefoot all day ).
I told Anna,  "Those are your socks, go put them in your drawer."
She looked at me in complete awe, "Mommy, did you buy them for me?"
"Yes."
"They're for me?" Anna asked, still in disbelief.
"Yes." :-)
"Awwww...thanks Mommy.":-)
And then again, Anna said excitedly, "Mommy buy them for me!"
The funny thing is that she says that about a lot of things now (it could be a banana, cracker, nearly anything). She has really begun to find the value in a gift (any gift) and I think that's super sweet! :-)

Also, tonight I gave Anna a bath and I let her play for a little bit after she was all scrubbed clean.  She took the washcloth and the bath sponge and said to me, "It's a mommy dolphin and a baby." Then she pretended to be a dolphin herself and blew bubbles in the bathtub! I love that she is using her imagination is so many fun ways.

(A photo of Anna camping in the house during Hurricane Sandy)

This photo perfectly expresses so much about Anna! She is full of sunshine &  fun. She loves her purple doll that she named Carrie (it is from Little House on the Prairie and was chosen with her sister's help ). She also enjoys carrying around her sister's crayon pouch as a purse and using the calculator as a phone (in Anna's world, the calculator even takes pictures)!  As a side note, we have three play phones in the house, but wouldn't you now her preference is the calculator for a phone. :-) She also has long conversations on the phone.  The other day Anna was talking on the phone when suddenly "the baby" (really Anna mimicking a baby) started crying, "Wah, Wah, Wah". Anna quickly said to the person "Hold on a minute, I have to help the baby!" :-)

Talking of babies (this is how my mind works), on Sunday, Brad and I volunteered in the church nursery. While there, Anna was "our helper".  There was only one baby for most of the service, so I was able to just enjoy playing with a sweet 6 month old baby girl! Anna was so attentive to the baby and made sure that she didn't do anything that she wasn't supposed to do (she was super intuitive, maybe a little over protective, about the things that might hurt the baby).  At one point, Anna helped me stop the baby from eating a baby book! She was so cute, firm and gentle at the same time with the baby, I barely had to do a thing! :-) Already, she is a natural mommy-to-be!

Also, little Anna is very affectionate and will frequently say, "I love you ALL the much".  Recently she has added numbers to the mix, "I love you all the much, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!"  That's a lot!