Sister's Turn

Because taking turns is what we are trying to work on at our house, I'll be fair too and now post sister's turn in the spotlight. Anna had her Fall Program at Circle of Friends this past week at school. We are so blessed by her being there... she loves her class, friends, & precious teachers. We are so happy with her time there and thank the Lord for providing such a fun, safe place for her to spend two days each week.

Last years program was a trip... her first year in a MDO program was a bit of a flop - she just stood frozen the entire time. My bright idea last year was to offer a little "bribe" if she participated & sang. I had no idea how effective that would be! She was the biggest ham ever, cracking me & everyone else up. If I was a more savy blogger I would definately post that clip, but I'm not that clever. This year again I told her that I would have a surprise for her if she would smile & sing, and we finally discovered the happy medium. She smiled sweetly the whole time & did all the songs & motions. She earned her mini bag of M&M's & a trip to Jamba Juice with me the next day!

The thing with Anna is that you never know what to expect. She always surprises me & keeps me guessing by how she may act in different situations or what may come out of her little mind & mouth. I am horrible at writing down funny things she's said over the years (part of the reason I wanted to start blogging), but here a few that I can think of from recent days...

*we work on not tattling on others often. After school recently she tried to tell me what a classmate had done that day and I interrupted with, "Anna, please just worry about yourself and we'll let so-and-so worry about theirself". A little later I asked again what she had done at school that day and she replied with a big sigh, "Mommy, why don't you just worry about yourself and I'll worry about myself." Guess I set myself up for that one.

*Anna is still a little nervous about the new play area at church (although thanks to Ms. Becky's bright idea of taking a flashlight down the big dark tunnel slide, she's doing better). She wanted to go up it with a friend recently and complained, "there are no friends to go in there and play with me. Kylee is already in class, Savannah isn't here tonight, and Dora is all the way in Mexico. What am I going to do?!"

*Anna dearly loves her sister and we haven't had many incidents of overt jealously. I guess it is simmering though. The other day Anna got a balloon at a birthday party and since we were in the car with Mae I told her she was going to have to share for a bit. After a long turn Anna wanted her balloon back but Mae wasn't ready to give it up. I said, "it's just really hard when there is only one balloon." She said back under her breath, "well then, I guess you should have just had one kid." STINKER.

*She is an awesome pray-er (I know, not a real word) already. You never know what she might ask or thank God for at any time of the day. Some recently... "please help Grammy to eat more carrots so she won't have to wear glasses anymore" (obviously we harp a little about eating her vegetables & why), & "please help cousin Dylan not be scared of the dust buster" (no idea where that one was from).

She is a precious, bright girl. I'm so thankful for every day that God has given us with her. I wish I had been better about writing down her funny sayings, but here is a start!