Anjali Sage: Anjali ~ three and three-quarters PLUS!

Oh, my! How the time flies, eh?!
As much as I have enjoyed breaking my techno-habit, and using the time I usually spend online to do other things, I have missed sharing on this blog. As Anjali's FOURTH birthday approaches, I would like to share here. She is such a big girl. :)

Where to begin?! It seems like Anjali has just shot up in height recently. She is so long. She has also gained a LOT of coordination lately. Just yesterday she was showing me a "jih-nastic" move (no doubt inspired by the snippets of Olympic competitions she got to see!) that involved her starting at the top of her step stool, jumping over a length of jeans she laid out on the floor, and doing some kind of turn and kick with her leg; so complex! Another time yesterday she was showing me how she could hop on one leg ~ several times in a row. Then another time (yes, she is an active girl) she showed me this yoga-gymnastic-dance progression where she was dancing with her legs while changing her arm positions and doing dramatic facial expressions all at once. Not just toddler pretending, but actually complex moves requiring coordination and forethought. I was sincerely impressed. It seems every day she is able to do more with her body.

And, wow, does she like to run! The other day I wanted to go for a jog by myself, and she very enthusiastically volunteered to join me. Not wanting to squelch any excitement for running and activity, I agreed, and thought to myself that if I needed to, I could go for another round by myself after she pooped out. Well, it turned out she put me to the task, doing several honest-to-goodness sprints, and then jogged with me for all of a half-mile or so! She smiled up at me in exuberance. Sometimes we held hands, sometimes not. What a joy to go for a jog with my daughter! Having that experience was more rewarding than any five-mile jog ever was.

Her appetite has exploded recently, too. She still doesn't *usually* eat a lot at a meal, but sometimes eats several portions of meat. She especially likes hot dogs (of course grassfed, high-quality kind). And she'll happily eat liver any day, which of course makes Mommy very happy. Lately she has liked the custards I make for breakfast, and I can always talk her into eating a bite of sauerkraut at a meal. Her favorite, still, is fruit, however. She would eat fruit all day, if allowed. The fruit she likes best is ripe mango, just like our beloved Lumbini compatriot, Darek, whom she always talks about lovingly as she slurps mango juice. :) And, like Mommy, she can always eat a bite of chocolate. ;) When we shop for groceries I get her a chocolate coconut Larabar, which we call, "big girl chocolate" ~ it's made simply out of dates, walnuts, coconut, and cocoa powder, but manages to taste like a brownie! I keep one on the shelf for her to nibble on over the course of a few days, and she never forgets. ;)

Hilariously, and to Mommy's chagrin (though I knew it would happen, of course), Anjali has discovered junk food. Camping quite a bit as we have done, she noticed that other people were eating brightly-colored, plastic-packaged foods with cartoon characters and fun shapes. She decided to take them up when they offered, and, sure enough! She LIKED it! The first time it happened was when we were camping at the beach at Los Frailes, not far from La Ribera. We had made friends with the sweet Mexican family who were camped next to us. The mom told me at first when offered, Anjali declined. But before long, Anjali developed a HUGE appetite ~ eating packaged chocolate chip cookies, chips, juice boxes, and Mexican-style cookie-biscuits, as if she hadn't eaten for days! Hahahaha!! The next time we camped, in America, she came back to our campsite after playing with some girls at their site, and reported having tried S'mores for the first time, "it was like a cracker, with oozy chocolate, and then MARSHMALLOWS in the middle!" The next day I happened to walk up on her as she was playing at a different campsite, saying, "we are getting ready to leave; may I take some of those goldfish crackers with me in a container?" We talk a lot about which foods are "yummy for our tummies," and which foods taste good, but that our body doesn't know what to do with them. Yummy-for-our-tummy foods make us strong and smart, and foods that aren't yummy for our tummies sometimes make us feel yucky, or sleepy, or make us feel and act "crazy." One time Anjali's enthusiastic rebuttal was, "but I LIKE feeling crazy!" ha! I try not to sweat it too much, though. A large majority of what Anjali eats is at home, and only a rare occasion at junkfood fests. (Though we are also working on simply saying, "no thank you," when offered foods at other campsites...)

Anjali's interests and tastes have not changed much; only grown and developed. She still loves costuming, layering on as many items as possible, and making sure they "dance" well ~ spinning in a dress or skirt to watch it flow. It seems like each different scene or situation of her imaginative play requires a costume change of some sort. ;) Her interest in pretend has blossomed dramatically; the other day she pretended to be a fairy ~ complete with different voice and body movements ~ literally for *hours*. Only a couple times she forgot and started to speak in her normal voice, and then remembered and quickly changed back.

She has had the same cast of alter-egos/imaginary friends for years now: her main imaginary character is Leslie, who lives in Berkeley, and is a world-traveler extraordinaire. Leslie has several siblings, usually at least Sara, and Lara, and then a changing cast of brothers whose names are never the same.

Anjali is rather obsessed with being a "big-big girl". Big-big girls have much more freedom than big girls ~ such as not needing to hold hands with an adult when crossing the street, but mainly have more *skill*. She oftentimes will say, "because I'm a big-big girl," or, "because I'm five," "I can walk on the balance beam [sidewalk curb] and not fall off." Or, "I'm six, so I can JUMP this far without falling," or, "I can walk through this dark room without being scared, because I'm five."

Still she loves to dance, and picks up dance moves she sees ~ West African, bellydance, funky RnB, etc. ~ easily. She includes dramatic facial expressions. And always needs to costume appropriately.

Her favorite art medium is watercolor, over crayon, pencil, or marker, for sure. But really she is not that interested in expressing herself on paper that much. However, she devours the experience having a book read to her, and will sit for as long as someone will read to her.

Anjali picked up quite a bit of espanol while in Mexico, and had just developed an excellent rolled R right before we left this summer. She and I enjoy listening to a podcast called "Coffee Break Espanol," where we get to pronounce our Spanish even here in the US. She has also had the opportunity to speak a little espanol to kids on playgrounds, saying, "Como se llama? [what's your name?]," and, "Me llamo Anjali! [my name is Anjali!]" While playing by herself is when she uses her Spanish accent the most, sometimes pretending to be a Mexican shopkeeper, and speaking Spanglish with a strong accent. Several times she has commandeered my phone and recorded herself singing made-up songs with her Spanish accent and rolled Rs. :) If the internet connection is strong enough here, and I can find them in our sea of photos, I'll include some.

As I said, not much has changed, but only gotten stronger and more developed, most definitely: Anjali's love for being around other people, and playing with other kids. She is quite an addict when it comes to playing with other kids; she wants to do it every day! ;) She especially cherishes the playtime she has with Stella here in Corvallis. She might finally have calmed down enough to get a full amount of sleep; when we first got here she was practically manic, thinking of playing with Stella as soon as she opened her eyes, and having trouble napping for wanting to play with Stella. The two of them play so smoothly together, it really is easier to take care of them both ~ they just entertain themselves the whole time!

Anjali is a passionate person. She is confident, and shares about herself with most everyone she meets. But she has a sense for when an adult is acting genuinely or falsely, and is not interested in interacting with phonies. At those times she'll hunker close to me and quietly say that she feels "shy". I like to foster this intuitive understanding of people's motivations. She also feels confident stepping away a children's game if she feels it's too rough, or mean. The other day she was playing with some kids, and she came running back to me, crying, saying, "they were playing a grumpy game. I liked the duck-duck goose game, but I didn't like the grumpy game! I told them I didn't want to play the grumpy game!" I'm so glad that she feels strong enough inside to stand up for herself!

Ahhh! I do love the girl! I could go on and on! Papi and I are so proud of Anjali and love the blessing of being with her as she grows day to day. I have gotten quite teary-eyed with the realization that she's turning FOUR soon!