Anjali Sage: Tiny Tidbits from a Two-and-a-Half-PLUS Girl!

Stories and photos from Oregon to come, but for now...:

Oh, my goodness! Anjali Sage Pope is over two and a half years old! Next thing I know, she'll be THREE!

Let me write some things down here for entertainment and remembrance.

Anjali's vocabulary has expanded exponentially lately. Long ago I quit trying to keep track of what words she was learning. Sentence structures, verb and noun agreement, they are coming so fast. She still has plenty of adorable Anjali-ism in her pronunciation, and funny words that fill in for other words, but they are leaving. Such as a few weeks ago, she correctly pronounced, "basket," as opposed to her previous, "backsit," and then, realizing her mastery of the word, she said victoriously, "I sayed it! Basket!" "Melk" is now the word for the previous, "munk," because, "Stella say dat: 'melk.'" One word she consciously chooses to keep as her own word is, "yurick," for "yogurt." She says, "I call it 'yurick.'" She also insists that the word is "too-gen," instead of "today." I have heard her accidentally say "today," and then correct herself to say, "too-gen," (kind of a combination of "today," and "again"). Speaking of time words, "yesserday" is Anjali's equivalent of the past tense. An hour ago, or a month ago, it's "yesserday." And, sadly for Mommy, I noticed she graduated from pronouncing it "bummy" and is now saying "bunny." When she said it correctly, she looked up at me, as if to see if I had noticed. That was one of my favorite Anjali-isms ever. :( Over the last week, she has been playing with "L's," over-pronouncing the sound. And lately her favorite silly/made-up word is "toody." (Rhymes with Rudy.) If she is trying to make a joke or be funny, she'll call something "toody." Like yesterday, I said, "You a funny girl!" And she said, "I not funny; I toody!"

I have been trying to help her phrase her questions in ways that sound less demanding, and more pleasing to the ear. If she calls out a command, like, "I want some vanilla milk!" I might say, "You could say, 'May I have some vanilla milk?'" in a pleasant, rounding-up tone. She usually tries to repeat what I say, and then I respond with an enthusiastic, "Yes, I'd be happy to get you some vanilla milk!" She hasn't quite gotten the wording down on her own, but over the past few days, she has gotten the sing-song smiley-ness of the question-asking, so that it's quite hilariously charming. She cocks her head to one side, and smiles expectantly. I can't help but laugh at the effectiveness of her effort. :)

She is inquisitive. She asks a lot of questions, some out of habit ~ such as the recent, "What CHER doin'?" as well as sincere curiosity. "What choo sayed?" she asks when she didn't quite hear or understand something. She asks for clarification a lot, such as today, when she asked, "Is this my right foot, or my left foot?" And she very genuinely wants to know the names of things she encounters.

She can count above ten in both English and Spanish, but I'm not sure if she could point out a number more than two, if you asked her "how many" of something. She might just say, "four-five-six!"

She names colors pretty accurately according to adult understanding, although she calls purple "pink." There are so many shades and mixtures of colors; I have heard that at least one language doesn't even specify between blue and green. So I think calling purple "pink" is understandable. ;)

Anjali enjoys a lot of physical activity. Daily outdoor time climbing and running is essential for her. She enjoys attempting to imitate all the acrobatics that her friend Stella does.

I was asked recently what her favorite toy was. She doesn't keep any one thing by her side, like a doll or stuffed animal. But I would say she has favorite activities. Her favorite, of course, is going to the playground. She likes books, and she likes dancing and hula hooping. She also enjoys drawing and painting, and helping Mommy and Papi.

Her absolute favorite is to be with other people, kids especially, as I have said before. She glows with anticipation of seeing friends, and is so energized at being with friends that she misses naps and stays up late. She is almost too excited! But I expect that, as she realizes she will get to see them again, she won't feel quite the need to go all-out every time. Maybe.. ;)

Anjali seems to be having a growth spurt lately! Clothes that have been in the line-up seemingly forever are all the sudden too short! With this, and all her activity, her appetite is growing. She asks for seconds and thirds. Favorites lately include: "yurick" with fruit, warm "vanilla milk" ~ raw milk, warmed, with a dash of vanilla, buttery brown rice or quinoa, soup, chicken meat, egg yolks for breakfast, crunchy seaweed snacks, ice cream, fruit in general, and anything sweet! haha! Since we don't drink juice at home, it is a big treat for her when we visit friends. For instance, I think the first thing she said when she entered the kitchen with Aunt Tiff was, "I want some juice!" :)

She continues to roll with all this traveling, I think especially because it means she'll get to see more people. I continue to greatly appreciate the sunshine and openness she brings to most any situation.

Keep it coming, two-and-a-half! :D