Not a Baby

at Uncle Austin's place in San Francisco

As long as Anjali has been referring to herself, she has called herself "Baby." As her second birthday approached, I began telling her, "You're not a baby anymore; you're a girl!"

Soon after her birthday, something clicked inside her. One day, she told a story about herself, calling herself Baby, as usual, and then stopped mid-story to correct herself, saying, "I not a baby. I a girl." If tears didn't actively come out of my eyes, I was crying on the inside; this was a monumental moment. Since then, Anjali has been conscientiously changing the way she talks about herself; she'll start a story in which she refers to herself as Baby, and then stop, saying, "I not a baby. I a girl."

And then somewhere along the way as she began referring to herself as "Girl," she said, "I not a girl, I Ahn-dih-lee." Another big moment! The way she pronounces the "J" it is right on the line between a "J" and a "D". So now, mixed in with "I" and "me," there are "Girl" and "Anjali," with a few "Baby" lingering.

So now when we're out and about, if someone refers to Anjali as a baby, she pipes up assertively, "I not a baby. I a girl." They stand corrected.

The other night we were at a party where there were many children of various ages running around and playing. Anjali was trying hard to get another kid to engage with her. She tried with a boy who was maybe seven years old. He was not interested, and said he didn't want to play with a "baby." He teased her, saying, "Baby! Baby!" (You must know, our hearts were breaking as Papi and I watched!) Anjali replied each time, very matter-of-factly, "I not a baby. I a girl." Luckily for us, it was time to leave anyway.

If you couldn't tell by looking, Anjali is here to tell you, she's not a baby anymore!