Henry had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's today, so I had Anna all to myself. Our evening together reminded me that sometimes I need to just slow down and "be" with my kids, one on one. Especially Anna. She doesn't get that time very often. But it really is a gift to both of us.
Tonight, Anna and I went for a walk and collected rocks and ate popsicles and held hands. And we talked about grasshoppers and the park and her friend Emily and the moon. She is amazing. She is smart and sassy and so full of life.
And she is getting so big. She has these long, powerful, mid-summer tanned legs, dotted with waterpaint splatters and part of a leftover frog tattoo and little kid shin bruises because sometimes when she runs, her top half gets ahead of her bottom half . . . . And she still has crazy curly wisps of hair.
In a blink, she goes from jumping on the bed and nearly diving off the side, to snuggling up close to me with her nuks, asking to read a book. But regardless of mood, she always has a little glint in her eye that keeps everyone guessing about what she might say or do next.
Right before bed, Anna wanted to read a book all by herself. So she read "Yummy Yucky" (by Leslie Patricelli) but she read it the "silly" way. She read that "Spaghetti is yucky and worms are yummy. Burgers are yucky and boogers are yummy." Page by page, she swapped the words. And page by page, she laughed . . . a big, three-year-old belly laugh. A laugh that says "I-am-the-funniest-kid-ever." A laugh that I'll remember, because it made for a perfect moment. Together. One on one. Page by page.
For Anna, every day - - every minute is a wild adventure of new and bright and beautiful. Life is passing by quickly and she doesn't want to miss any of it.
Neither do I.
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