I Forgot to Post Yesterday! Also, Thankfulness - Day 3

Spaced it yesterday, I did. I was surrounded by various gifts in various stages of creation until about 11pm last night. That was the point at which I could not think any more. The beads and the yarn and the ribbon were all starting to blend together. So I did what I always do when I can't think--I organized everything, and then I went to bed.

So, the next thing that I'm grateful for is my oldest child, Annika. I love that she's at that age (almost 5!) where she can be helpful and cheerful and cooperative. Most of the time. If you ask her to do something she hates to do, like use the bathroom, then she has a complete meltdown. I should start checking for a curl in the middle of her forehead. But she's usually pretty willing to help me out.

She loves reading and will spend nearly an hour in her room, reading to herself or her stuffed animals if she happens to be playing Big Sister. Often she graciously allows Afton to snuggle up next to her while reading and enjoy the pictures. Annika only reads out loud at this point, so Afton finds her and snuggles up next to her a lot. Annika will also often give her little sister hugs and kisses--she's truly affectionate. Sometimes she'll give Mat and I kisses for no reason at all. It's a nice surprise, especially when we've been having a bad day. She senses these things sometimes. And it's fun to watch her play with Afton and include her in her imaginings. They are great playmates for each other.

In utero, Annika was a lively baby and got the hiccups and/or kicked me all the time. There was one incident when I was about 8 months pregnant when she started dancing just as soon as I laid down to sleep. Mat put his face right up to my belly and said loudly something to the effect of "It's time for sleeping!" She socked him right in the nose. I would attribute this to a natural fiestiness, but now that I've seen her leave a room when the talking gets too loud or cover her ears and shudder after flushing a particularly noisy toilet, I know it's more due to the fact that she hates loud noises. She probably lashed out in surprise.

I think Annika is imaginitive, loving, intelligent, and introverted, and I'm thankful for every one of those qualities and the many others she possess, because together they make up my unique little girl.