Anjali Sage: Four and Three-Quarters

Oh! I have a little lump in my throat thinking that Anjali is four and three-quarters. All the usual cliches apply. I will try my hardest not to regret not keeping up with the blog better, and just take a snapshot for us all to cherish about Anjali Now.

Communication is a strong suit for her, but there still exist a few cute idiosyncrasies in her speech that make me smile every time. My favorite that I'm thinking of right now is "ther-chuthers." When two people look at *each other* or hold hands with *each other*, she pronounces this as "ther-chuthers." "Ther" pronounced like the second syllable of "other." And this fits in perfectly with one of my favorite stories yet that she has told. Jessi, our beloved housemate, was telling a story about a wedding that took place in the jellyfish room of an aquarium. Anjali delighted in this idea, and immediately launched into a wide-eyed scheme of her own wedding in the same location ~ telling about the long, elaborate dress she'd wear, that she'd "find a boy I like a lot," and then they would start on either side of the room and walk toward "ther-chuthers," and kiss. (the end) It was such a sweet, simple story, and so much more about what she was wearing and the location than a Very Important life event. :)

She does a lot of drawing. Her preferred medium is markers, but she also uses watercolors, and occasionally crayons. She draws series of the same subject matter for days, and then moves on. And always comes back to big girls with long flowing hair and big smiles. :) Some of her themes have been kitty cats, bunny rabbits, and mermaids. Around the time we were waiting for baby Jude Short to be born (in March! :) ) is when her drawing skills and interest really exploded, seemingly very suddenly. At this time her interest in writing also blossomed. These days she can write her name, with some reminders of the letters that come next, and enjoys copying letters of words for things like Fathers' Day notes and birthdays.

A few days she achieved a monumental accomplishment: reciting her first book by heart. The book is If You Give a Moose a Muffin, one that she brought home from a "free book" bin. We've been reading it every day before nap time. The other day after nap, she asked if we could read it again, and I said I didn't feel like reading it again, but that *she* could. She said she couldn't read, and I said, "I bet you could tell me every word on every page!" And she did. Practically verbatim, twice. So now it's our before-naptime routine that I read the book once, and then she recites it page-by-page for the second reading.

About the time we moved to Lexington, Papi started reading the "Little House" series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder at bedtime. We all loved these story times so much, he now makes sure that I can hear while he reads, even if I'm doing dishes or cleaning up at the end of the day. We zoomed through the "Little House" series so quickly, we were relieved to learn that the series continued into the "Rocky Ridge" series, which centers around Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose. We are almost done with that series now. Though she is not pretending as much as she did a few months ago ~ as in, every moment of every day, she still pretends a lot, and Rose is a favorite character. She also loves to pretend to be "Mary [Laura's older sister], before she was blind." :)

We have construction projects going at our house in many places. There has been a frame of scaffolding in front of the house for at least a month now, and she has taken to climbing on it, and gained a lot of skills ~ climbing, hanging, navigating and acrobatic-dismount kinds of things. Her best friend here in town, Solomon, who is a very active 6+year old, also inadvertently challenges her physically in a very positive way. She tries things with him that she wouldn't think of on her own. And then they play house together, so it is a very balanced friendship. ;)
The activity that she loves most and excels at is still dance. She attends bellydance classes with me sometimes, has watched ballet performances and others, and seems to absorb the movements and embody them very easily. Even more, her dramatic facial expressions add a lot. She has told me more than once, very emphatically, that she wants to do a performance "before I'm five." Yesterday she asked if Papi could build her a stage in one of the apartments in our building so she could perform (which, incidentally, she pronounces, "beform," like "before" with an M at the end. :) ).

She also still loves dressing up. She has piles of clothing that loving people have picked up for her at yard sales and such because they reminded them of her flare for fashion. What a blessing. People around town marvel at the flamboyant outfits she picks out for herself again and again.

With the tight-knit community we (blessedly) live in here in Lexington, Anjali most always has someone other than only Mommy or Papi to talk to and hang out with. People genuinely enjoy her company and even invite her to spend time with them. It's hard for people to recognize that she's "only four" because of her language and interaction.

She also has a kitten friend that she and Jessi adopted from the alley behind our house. The kitten's name is Lolly, but often she is simply called Baby Kitty. Anjali visits her in Jessi's apartment several times a day and prides herself in entertaining her and in being a very responsible "big sister" to her.

Lately her favorite foods are sweet foods. She opens up the fridge door and says, "what can I eat that is sweet-petite?" (because she loves the rhyme.) I have managed to make popsicles that are tasty to her yet also nourishing, and she eats a lot of those in this hot weather. Any kind of fruit is her friend. She also loves grits, after having moved to Lexington, and orders them any chance she gets. She likes meat, and I think her favorite meat right now is chicken. We have been eating gluten-free long enough ~ almost a year ~ that she expects this when we go to restaurants. There is a coffee and doughnut shop right across the street from us where she and I go for art dates. We order tea for her, and I usually get an espresso. More than once, someone has asked if she got a doughnut too, and she says, "Oh no! We don't eat gluten." Ha!

Well, once again I have a lump in my throat thinking about the passage of time for our sweet daughter, and the end of this blog post. It's time for me to move on with my day here, and I want to go ahead and publish this, so I'll leave it at this. Thanks for your audience, and, as always, your love and support. We love you all!!

A typical drawing these days. Lots of hair, always a smile. :)

Art date with watercolors.

I love this photo because you can really see the pleasure she is taking in feeling *capable* of riding without using her hands, something she just mastered.