Annie, two-and-a-half

I have loved two-year-olds ever since I taught the preschool class at church in Kalamazoo. They are just so darned funny! And Annie is no exception. I keep saying, "I know you're not supposed to say this about your own kid, but she is the cutest thing I've ever seen!" She has three states: meltdown, weepy, and happy. Luckily, she's usually happy. And for Annie, happy means bouncing, dancing, prancing, singing, and chatting excitedly. Here are some highlights.

• Annie is firm regarding her favorites - namely, purple, her blankie, milk, chocolate donuts, and Ariel.
• She tells us that when she grows up, she wants to be Nellie.
  
• She is daddy's girl. It might be a phase, but she follows him everywhere, asks where he is every few minutes, wants to help with whatever he's doing, and is happiest the minute he gets home from work. It's great. (Really! That might sound sarcastic, but it's fun to see. Nellie has always been pretty attached to me, though she's been enjoying spending more time with Kevin since D.J. was born.)
• At the same time, she's my girl! She loves sweets, puts nail polish on just so she can pick it off, and is a light sleeper. She loves her big sister and little brother (we're both #2 between a sister and brother). She loves babies and dolls and books.
  
• Annie loves anything with a skirt. She puts people in two categories--those who are wearing skirts, and those who aren't. Her outfit of choice for the last few months has been a dress over a skirt over pants.
• She is desperate to go to preschool...her favorite days are when Nellie is the Razzle Dazzle (special person) at school so she gets to go into the classroom and sit in the circle, sing songs, and play in the sand table. We're seriously considering sending her to the 3-year-old preschool next year. She calls her nursery at church preschool and will march right into the room by herself, no problem!
  
• She's crazy about games on Grandma Linda's and Papa John's phones and iPads.
• She loves baths. She can stay in the bath for hours (trust me, she has.) She's also doing well at swimming lessons - her favorite part is jumping off the side of the pool.
• She's learning to say her "ls" in this way where she sticks out her tongue whenever she says a word with an l in it.

As I write this, I am realizing I can't really capture in writing what makes Annie so great at 2 1/2. It's in her voice, the funny way she repeats what she hears from us and Nellie, the way she gets excited about every little thing, how tough she is when she gets hurt, and a million other little things. Now that she's a middle child, it's especially important to us that we make sure she knows how loved she is. And she is.