Circle of Life

Annie loves to sing.

As much as she loves singing, she loves to make up her own songs and lyrics (often based loosely on more familiar music) even more.

Today at Church the Young Women were singing in Sacrament Meeting. Annie was mesmerized, and was soon singing along (in a, "la la la laaaaaaa" kinda way a three year old sings along when they've never actually heard the song before.) But, when they finished, she wasn't quite done yet. She started singing, (fairly quietly, which was good) beginning with a song she learned in Nursery, but then taking it all in a slightly different direction.

"Jesus once was a little child . . . . but then He grew up and got bigger. Then He learned to drive."

But what got the most reaction (in a milk-shooting-out-of-your-nose-had-you-been-drinking-any kind of way) was when she surprised us by reprising the song at a family party in the evening.

"Jesus was little, then He got bigger . . . Then He was dead."

None of us really remember what she said after that, 'cause we were still stuck back on the last verse. You probably had to be there, but her own three year old take on her song left all of us in the room laughing.

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We'd been celebrating my Mom's birthday, with most of my family and all three of my grandparents on my side. After the family party Annie was cuddling with Aunt Star on the couch. Suddenly she looked around and said sadly, "It is such a mess in here." She was right, there were coloring books, crayons, toys, a magna doodle, blocks and more, all over the frontroom floor.
"Why is it such a mess?" Star asked.
Annie nodded her head sadly and said, "'Cause all the Grandparents were over."
Yeah, those old people. Always trashin' the joint.
Star laughed and I asked Annie who usually made the messes at our house. Star made a comment about the answers being right there or something, I can't remember how she phrased it, but a minute later Annie 'fessed up and said, "Annie and Ellie are the answers." But, it sounded like 'dancers', and Star asked who was the back up dancer. Annie thought this was hilarious, and started talking about being backup dancers, "Annie dances and Ellie dances, and Annie backs up in to Mom and Ellie backs up into Dad!"

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Last random Annie story from the night:
For the first time today, I noticed Annie mangling of the word sandwiches.
"Swamiches."
It's adorable, and kind of hilarious to listen to her say it. My Mom and Star had been asking her all about her lunch, basically to draw out the word 'swamiches' as often as possible from her. But when Star repeated it, mimicing the mispronuciation, Annie looked at her disapprovingly, and said sternly, "No, don't say it wrong. It's SWAM-MITCH-ES."

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I always feel like I don't have enough about Ellie on here, since she isn't verbal. But man, that kid has some big personality in such a little body. She is adorable, and a ham, and so communicative and expressive. You almost always know exactly what Ellie wants or needs. And if it takes you more than a second to figure it out, she will angrily keep making her non-verbal-communication-driven point until you're smart enough to catch up already. Today she was a little dancer. At Church, every time she would catch anyone looking at her (or find someone who's attention she wanted to capture), she'd flash this big, beautiful smile, then start to turn around in circles, spinning like a tiny, wobbly ballerina. Stopping every turn or two to make sure her audience was watching and enthralled. During Sunday School though, her attention-grabbing antics were getting noisier, as she was getting closer and closer to nap time, so Greg ran her over to my parents house for a nap (since they're just a few blocks away, they have a crib in their house, and Church for them doesn't start until an hour after ours ends . . . I cannot believe we haven't thought of this solution before!) Anyway, Ellie was dropped off at my parents house, where she cried and cried and cried until Grandpa had had enough and went and 'rescued' her from her crib. Apparently, all this time she'd been calling loudly for Mom or Annie. (Not Dad, probably because he's the one who'd just abandoned her . . . she didn't ask for him again until after her nap when all was forgiven). The cool thing was that she was asking for Annie by saying her name very, very clearly over and over again. I'm kinda bummed I missed it, since I've only ever heard her call her sister "Nana" or "Anna", but now I'm hoping for a fully recognizable rendition of her sisters' name on a regular basis any day now.
Ellie is a lot more of a 'no fear' kinda kid than her big sister was at this age. Her Uncle David has confirmed this of late, as he chases Ellie all around the house, while crawling after her and growling. She runs away, squealing and giggling the whole time. She laughs and laughs when she's finally 'captured', or is equally amused if she makes it to Mommy first, and climbs up on my lap and kinda gloats a little about her temporary safety. Annie was much older before this kind of game was any kind of fun to her, and even now, she has a low threshold for it, and hates be captured.
She just lives with 'gusto'. She hears Greg's truck pull up after work, and she books it for the back door, arms thrown out wide open, rushing into his arms with squeals and delight. She will defiantely stick up for herself if her big sister is throwing her weight around too much, complete with angry growls or yells. She loves being read to, but absolutely insists on turning the pages all by herself. She drags me to the front door several times a day, insisting on being immediately taken outside to play in the grass (or walk up and down the sidewalks, her favorite activity). She happily answers a ton of questions (like who wants to eat? or who wants a bath?) with a sing songy, "Ellie does!" OK, so nobody but me recognizes the phrase, but it's the same consistent thing each time I ask her a question. She happily answers "Yeah" or "Yep" anytime she agrees with you, and will shake her head violently back and forth if she adamently doesn't want to do something. And try and scold her, and she dissolves into a puddle of tears and needs a lot of hugs and comfort to recover.
She loves animals. Will stop dead in her tracks at the slightest sound of a dog or bird, and respond in kind to the animal noise. She often notices a far off dog barking that I hadn't even noticed. She does the world's most adorable elephant noise, completely with raising her arm like it's a trunk. Her favorite stuffed animal is a green dinosaur, who she's named "Rar." When I come in to get in the morning, she's standing there patiently waiting for me, then as soon as she sees me she dives back down onto the mattress and gathers up all her blankets and her Rar, then shoves him in my direction while aiming a loud "Roooooar" at me, then she dissolves into laughter at her own antics. Often falling back down on her mattress as a result of her giggles.
She endlessly amuses me, and she is constantly cuddling and kissing me (or forcefully demanding I kiss her dolls for her), and I am looking so forward to our one-on-one time together when Annie's at preschool and dance classes, starting this week (yay!)

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Last note: I was officially made a member of our ward's Relief Society Presidency today, as Second Counselor. I'm really pretty excited, as I love to be really involved in all the actitivies and stuff and it's seriously one of the best ways to get to know all the women in the ward. But, I'm also a little nervous, as it'll be more time-and-responsibility-intensive than my last calling as Compassionate Service Leader.
Wish me luck!