Ani stories

I am loving four more. Four was not easy with Eliza (was it moving? a new home, city, state? having a year-old sibling? having me for a mama?!), and has been challenging with Ani in different ways...but I am still loving four. She is whole, unselfconscious, grounded in her-ness. I found myself looking at her today, and wishing she would stay just like this, wondering if she would ever again be really this whole-y her.

I was talking recently with a friend about Ani's vocabulary. She is "normal" to us, as we breed, ah, shall we say, chatty children? But she has been talking at this rate and level of articulate for a long time now. At two she silenced a couple of moms who were sharing her picnic table at the park and having a discussion about food choices in their families with her statement, "I prefer my cheese local."

Here she is holding what appears to be an orange pencil, covered at one end in scotch tape.

Ha ha! Don't be fooled! This utensil is in reality her "special deoderant", to be applied on an as-needed basis to the underarm regions, known as her "zoo-zai's" - and it doubles as a magic wand. I need me one of those.

Shortly after the local cheese incident, the girls were in the bathroom, first thing in the morning, keeping each other company while Dan and I were trying to rouse ourselves from bed. I could hear them, and when Eliza reminded Ani that she needed to wash her hands, Ani replied, "That is inceptible to me." I heard Eliza say "Um, Ani, what does "inceptible" mean?" She calmly answered, "Inceptible means I do NOT WANT TO WASH MY HANDS!"

I was thinking about these stories because this morning, before my eyes were open, I could hear Ani greeting the day on the other side of Dan (who is getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night right now). It took me a minute to figure out what she was whispering to him, but then I worked out it was this:

"Papa....Papa....Papa, could you show me your technique for making the popping sound by putting your finger in your mouth? Papa? Could you show me your technique? Your technique for doing that?"

Unbelievably, the next sound I heard was the sound of Dan's index finger neatly popping out of the side of his mouth. I am quite certain his eyes were still glued shut. What a good Papa.