By Chieni McCullough
It is the last day of 2008 and boy, what a year it has been! Some highlights have been our travels--Thailand, around Taiwan, Seattle, Australia, then around Taiwan some more. Gabe traveled to Japan and England a few times as well. We've discovered lots of new places to explore, made lots of new friends, and found lots of new restaurants to try out. Toddler Anja is now talking non-stop, from the moment she wakes up to the second she falls asleep at night. She tells complex stories about her day and her friends. Sometimes the stories are purely from her imagination but they are usually quite funny. She makes up songs with made up tunes and made up lyrics, which can range from her favorite things like butterflies, to more obscure song topics like yucky dirty shoes. Her love of dance and movement is quite clear as can be seen by the number of videos posted of her ability to dance anywhere, to almost anything. I can still remember vividly the image of Anja as a little baby, grooving to the jingle of the NPR program, "All Things Considered."
Life has been good for Anja here as she continues to thrive from the exorbitant amount of attention she receives from those around us, whether they are relatives or strangers. It's usually an interesting experience going out with Anja because random strangers will come and ask to have their picture taken with her or restaurant owners will give us extra food or a special discount simply because Anja is cute and very friendly and outgoing. Anja had two new cousins this year, and that has been very exciting for her. One of her favorite pretend play games is calling someone on the phone and her cousins, Baby Ryan and Baby Jay, are often recipients of her phone calls. After hanging up, she'll tell us complex stories of how her cousins are doing and all the things they said to her on the other end of the imaginary phone line.
Alas, life with a rambunctious toddler, though never boring, comes with its set of challenges. Anja is getting old enough to reason with us, to tell us why she *needs* to stay up past her bedtime, to ask why just for the sake of asking why, and to want independence (I do it myself!) yet not be completely able to do it all herself. I am constantly amazed by these challenges, as they tell us so much of how a toddler makes sense of her world. I am grateful to be offered the chance to view our world with wonder the way she does. It is amazing how differently but wonderful the world seems when seen from a 95cm height.
Happy New Year!
