What is your name?

Annalie.

How old are you?

Seven and a half years old.

Where do you live?

Washington, D.C.

Do you have any pets?

Yes. They are two cats. One’s Katy, and one’s Lily.

Who do you like to play with?

My little sister.

What’s your favorite cereal?

Uh…Lucky Charms. I also like Reese’s Puffs.

What’s your favorite vegetable?

I don’t really know. No, wait—it’s corn. That’s my favorite vegetable.

You know corn is actually a grain.

Oh. Heh. Whoops.

Do you have a favorite vegetable?

I especially like broccoli cheese soup. I know what fruit is my favorite, though. It is an APPLE.

I’d say you probably eat at least one apple every day, don’t you?

Uh-huh. Maybe more!

What’s your favorite drink?

My favorite drink is…fruit punch. Because it’s combined with a few fruits and berries. It’s really good. But I also like root beer. I actually have quite a few favorite drinks, like apple juice, Diet Rite, Sierra Mist, ginger ale.

What’s your favorite snack?

I have to say my favorite snack is perhaps maybe apples and peanut butter. No, just apples. I also really like Lunchables! I guess I have quite a few snacks I like.

What’s your favorite toy?

My Little Ponies.

What’s your favorite book?

Right now, my favorite books are the Gladiators book and the Underwear book.

What’s your favorite TV Show?

Pokemon.

What’s your favorite movie?

Have I ever seen Mr. Popper’s Penguins?

No, we read the book.

Oh yeah. My favorite movie is…I like that movie about Pompeii we watched on Netflix. Also, Dolphin Tale.

What’s your favorite game?

Animal Adoption. It’s a game where you can play with two people or more. You see, each person takes a turn being the person who’s going to adopt an animal. And the other person pretends to be a dog or cat or something. And you adopt them! Each person has to get a turn being a pet and the person. Usually I play this game with Bug.

What’s your favorite restaurant?

Wheatfields, because I love their cheese fondue, a doodle-a-doo!

What’s your favorite holiday?

Valentine’s Day, because you can make crafts and you get to make cookies, and it’s just fun.

What’s your favorite animal?

Cheetah and whale shark. I also like certain species of turtles, and dolphins.

If you could change your name, what name would you choose?

Grace. It’s majestic and beautiful.

What do you love about each person in our family?

I love Katy because she is very strong-willed and she can take Elliora grabbing at her. I like Lily because she’s very calm and like a queen.

I love Elliora because she’s so cute and she’s FEARLESS, not afraid of anything.

I love Mama because she can make me blankets and other stuff, and I love to bake with her and her cooking’s really good. I love Dad because he does stuff a lot with me and he plays video games with me and he’s silly and makes me laugh. That’s it.

I love that I am very good at dancing and my sense of humor.

Where would you like to go on vacation this year?

Hawaii.

Guess what. We ARE going to Hawaii this summer, to meet up with Lauren.

Yay!

What are some of your wishes for this year?

I wanna learn how to swim and dive better.

Thanks for the interview, Annalie!

Uh-huh. Bye!

Annalie’s self-portrait, age 7, and a portrait of Elliora, age 8 months

Inspiration for this interview originally came from New Year’s Interview for Kids at Blissfully Domestic (via The Crafty Crow).

I did this interview in 2009, 2010, and 2011 too.

Note: I interviewed Annalie for this post back in February or March, wrote it up and added photos and everything, and then…got stalled. What stalled me? I needed to take one photo of a self-portrait drawing Annalie did that was hanging in my kitchen. That is my life right now: I’m going in a million directions all the time and couldn’t even manage to take a photo—of something I see every day—for months. Sheesh.

What is your name?

Annalie.

How old are you?

Six.

Where do you live?

Washington, D.C. Well, actually we live in [Town], [State].

Do you have any pets?

Yes.

Wanna tell me about them?

Yes. I have two pet cats. Their names are Katy and Lily, and they’re very sweet. They’re both girls, and Katy really likes to spend time with me; Lily, not so much. But Lily really likes it when I scratch her belly!

Who do you like to play with?

I like to play with Bug, and Suki and Amber, and I like to play with Gabby and Annie. Sometimes I like to play with Mackenzie. She isn’t as rough as some kids. Also Christa and Cassie and Jack and Morgan and Dylan. And Daddy! I like to play with Daddy, and Elliora.

What’s your favorite cereal?

Hmmm…Lucky Charms!

What’s your favorite vegetable?

I like carrots because they’re good plain and with ranch, and also good cooked. I also like peas; they taste good plain and cooked. This is an odd thing to tell people, but I also like peas sometimes in ranch dressing. It’s good, you should try it!

What’s your favorite drink?

I like…lemonade, and I like root beer, and sometimes chocolate milk. Oh, and I like Kool-Aid! Ah, the sweet taste of Kool-Aid.

What’s your favorite flavor of Kool-Aid?

Fruit punch. For the record, I really like the kind you drop in the little tablet and you see it fizz up and evolve into the whole drink!

What’s your favorite snack?

Strawberry cream cheese roll-up, and crackers and cheese. I like simple kinds of crackers, like Club Crackers or Ritz, and cheddar cheese.

What’s your favorite toy?

I like a lot of toys, that’s hard!

Well, I just remembered I need to put the cookie dough in the fridge. Hang on a sec.

That’s good, I can think about it for a minute then.

Okay, did you think of a favorite toy?

I did think of a type of toy I really like, but it’s not really a specific toy. I like toys you can play with in pools like goggles and flippers. I especially like goggles because you can put them on and see underwater!

What’s your favorite TV Show?

Wild Kratts. And I like Johnny Test, Pokemon, Spongebob, Fairly Oddparents, Chuck, and Dragonball Z-Kai. Did you write all those down?

What’s your favorite movie?

I like Tangled, and I also like Space Chimps.

What’s your favorite game?

Angry Birds. And I also like, um…the game I almost always play with Daddy, the car-racing game. It’s one where you can drive anywhere, like off-road and up the mountains, and you can do leaps. Sometimes you can feel it in the game controller when you jump off things! It’s kind of funny.

What’s your favorite book?

The Boxcar Children. It starts out a bit sad, but then it ends really happy. And one of the girls’ names is Violet, which is my sister Elliora’s middle name!

What’s your favorite restaurant?

Ooh, I like a lot of restaurants. That one in Omaha we go to a lot, what’s it called?

Wheatfields, the one with the fountains?

No, the one we go to with Uncle Ben a lot, where sometimes we can get balloon animals?

Oh, Spaghetti Works?

Yeah, Spaghetti Works! And I like Wheatfields too. They have fondue, and the big paintings, and the fountain! I love that place. Maybe we could go there for my actual birthday dinner, since we’ll be in Omaha?

Sure, we can do that.

(We did!)

Can we get cheese fondue?

Yes we can.

I love that! I cannot get enough of that.

What’s your favorite holiday?

My favorite holiday iiiiiizzz…Easter, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas. Because on Christmas you sometimes get to go sledding, and you get Advent calendars, and you get to open presents right away in the morning, even in your pajamas! And on Valentine’s Day, sometimes you get Valentines and gifts, and you can make cookies. And on Easter you get to go Easter-egg hunting. Sometimes on Easter my mommy gets me and Dad special baskets, and she’ll probably get a little basket for Elliora this year too.

What’s your favorite animal?

Horses. I like horses.

If you could change your name, what name would you choose?

I would choose…[thinking]…Crystal! It’s a pretty name, isn’t it?

What do you love about each person in our family?

I love that Elliora is a cute baby, and I’m glad that Katy and Lily are nice and gentle and they love me. And I’m glad that Daddy is a funny guy and he almost always tickles me, it’s so fun. And I’m glad that Mommy’s cooking is delicious, and she is really good at making me birthday cakes. They taste the best when they’re made by my mom—not just any old mom, MY mom.

Aw, thanks. I’m happy you like my cakes.

And remember that one time you made those mini pumpkin cheesecakes? Those were soooo good.

Thanks!

And I’m glad that Aurora is one year old and she’s cute and adorable and can walk now! I’m glad she’s my cousin. I can’t wait till the next time I get to see her!

What do you love most about yourself?

Well, that’s hard.

Why, because you like so many things about yourself?

No, because if I say things I like about myself, it’s sort of like I’m saying, “I’m pretty and you’re not!”

You mean like bragging?

Yeah. I just don’t think it would be very polite, would it?

Well, there’s a difference between bragging and just saying things you’re good at.

I guess so.

So is there anything you think you’re good at or that you like about yourself that you can say without bragging?

I think I’m good at making pancakes. I’m a good cook, when I have help from you. And I’m good at coloring, and I’m also good at playing Angry Birds.

Where would you like to go on vacation this year?

Hawaii.

Well, we’re not gonna make it to Hawaii this year. But I think we are going to visit Erin and Rocco in Oregon, how does that sound?

Good!

What are some of your wishes for this year?

This year I wanna have a Zoobles treehouse. And I wish I could see Niagara Falls! That would be the funnest thing in the entire world. And I want to lose more teeth! Another one is loose, I think.

Thanks for the interview, Annalie!

You’re welcome, Mama.

Annalie’s self-portrait, age 6y8m

Inspiration for this interview originally came from New Year’s Interview for Kids at Blissfully Domestic (via The Crafty Crow).

I did this interview in 2009 and 2010 too, though I published them in a much more timely manner both those times.

This afternoon I was nursing Elliora when Annalie asked me if I would play Candy Land with her, the special big-kid version where you pick two cards per turn and decide which one you’re going to use. (The rules mention that it helps kids hone their decision-making skills; we like it because it makes the game go faster.) I said I’d be happy to do that, if she would put her laundry away for me first.

“Eh, never mind,” Annalie replied. “I don’t want to play Candy Land then.”

“You still need to put your laundry away,” I told her.

Now, this is where it all could have gone south very quickly. Annalie crossed her arms and told me she wasn’t gonna put her laundry away, and I couldn’t make her do it anyway. She used that half-whiny, half-haughty tone of voice that reeeeally gets under my skin and causes me to lose a little bit of my cool.

But today, I was magically inspired. I looked at the yellow plastic laundry basket sitting on the floor half-full of folded clothes and said, “Uh-oh, the Laundry Basket Train is leaving the living room! Toot toooooot! All aboard! Next stop, Annalie’s Room Station!”

Annalie went from petulant to gleeful in half a second. She grabbed her bear Mint and plopped her in the basket, laughing and shouting, “All aboard!” and making train noises as she pushed the basket down the hall. I called out that there was an obstruction on the track as I moved a box out of her way. When she reached her room, Annalie made the appropriate train-slowing-down-and-braking noises, and I helped her put her laundry away.

The train returned to the living room and we played a game or three of Candy Land while I pondered the Laundry Basket Train and told myself that I could probably make my life a lot easier if I would just remember how much more cheerful and enthusiastic Annalie is about ANYTHING if it’s made into a game.

That doesn’t always come naturally to me. I am more of the just-do-it-and-then-it’s-done persuasion. Okay, okay…really I tend to use the procrastinate-the-unpleasant-tasks-till-the-very-last-minute method, but I want to be the just-do-it type. And I often am, much more than I am the hey-let’s-make-a-game-out-of-this type. But I can learn to make things playful if it means less whining from Annalie, less losing my cool, and an easier, funner life in general.

Tonight after we got back from our evening out (Annalie went to her gymnastics school’s parents’ night out while Troy, Elliora and I went to see The Adjustment Bureau), Annalie’s little table and chairs were still sitting in the middle of the living room where she’d been playing restaurant earlier in the day. I asked her to please move them back to the wall. She started to get mad, but I quickly said, “Oh no, the table-and-chair monster is coming to get them, aaaahhh! Quick, let’s get them over here where they can hide!”

Yeah, I know. Totally lame, but I was tired and it was the best I could come up with on short notice. I half-expected Annalie to roll her eyes and stomp off to her room, but she grinned and quickly helped us carry the table and chairs back where they belonged. Like magic.

Make it playful.

Before I could answer, Annalie replied, “No thanks, I’m good.”

Annalie thought the cat might like to chase some bubbles, so at some point she picked up the bubble wand and blew a stream of bubbles in the cat’s direction. It startled the cat, who jumped and then wandered off to the other side of the yard.

Annalie said, “Huh. I thought all cats liked to chase bubbles!”

I replied that clearly that was not the case, since this cat didn’t want to.

Annalie said, “I think maybe she lives with a family that has a child who was OBSESSED with bubbles. And that child has blown bubbles in her cute little face so many times that it was like torture.”

We tried not to laugh, but couldn’t help it. As we cracked up, Annalie—dignity intact—said, “What? It could happen!”

My mom shook her head and said, “Annalie, you have so many stories in that head of yours!”

By the time I went down, Annalie was already chattering away on the phone. I waved at Annalie through the glass door of the booth, she smiled and gave me a thumbs-up sign, and I went back upstairs.

Several hours later, our land line rang. When I glanced at the number on the caller ID I noticed that the prefix was 402, which is Omaha’s area code. I thought that was funny, but didn’t otherwise recognize the caller, who was calling from our 703 area code.

I answered the phone, and the woman on the other end gave me her name, then said someone from our number had called her and she was wondering why, since she didn’t recognize our number. I had the fleeting though that it was odd for her to have called me back, in that case. Out loud, I replied that I didn’t think anyone had called her. I asked her to repeat her name, and confirmed that I didn’t know her.

Slightly confused, I asked what the person on the message had said. She explained there had been no message, just a number on her caller ID.

Then the 402 prefix of her number on my caller ID flashed into my mind, and I realized what must have happened. I apologized and said that when my daughter was calling her grandma earlier that day, she must have dialed the wrong number.

After I hung up, I asked Annalie if she’d dialed a wrong number earlier before she called Gramaw. She said, “Well, I was dialing the right number, but the first time I dialed it, it started ringing before I was done dialing the number!”

I checked our caller ID again. My mom’s number is 402-XYZ-ABCD. This woman’s number was 703-402-XYZA. Because Vonage doesn’t require you to dial a 1- before a long-distance call, it must have read a pause in Annalie’s dialing to mean it was a local call.

I told Annalie, from now on when she calls Gramaw, dial a 1- before the area code.

.

I was sitting on the couch nursing Elliora one morning recently when Annalie called to me from the kitchen, “Mom, can I bring you a Pop-Tart?”

“That’s really nice of you to ask, Annalie,” I replied. “Yes, please.”

“Do you want cherry or cinnamon?”

“Cinnamon.”

“Do you want it toasted? I know you like them better toasted, and Daddy showed me how to use the toaster.”

“I like them cold, too, you don’t have to toast mine if you don’t want to.” Annalie reassured me she didn’t mind, and she was toasting hers anyway, so it’d be no trouble. “Okay, if you’re sure, then I’d like mine toasted. You know to put the dial on 2, right?”

“Yes, I know! Daddy showed me how.” I could hear her in the kitchen, getting the box from the cupboard, plugging the toaster in, pressing the lever down, talking to herself as she puttered around. “Where are you guys?…Oh, there you are, haha! Hmm, why won’t this work…oh, I hafta plug it in, duh…”

I heard the toaster pop up a minute later. Shortly after that, Annalie walked into the living room smiling broadly, with my toasted cinnamon Pop-Tart arranged on a napkin (so I could hold the hot Pop-Tart without burning my fingers) on a yellow plate (because yellow is my favorite color).

Eight thank-you notes.

Less than two hours.

For comparison, it took three weeks for Annalie to write her birthday thank-you notes last May. What was the difference this time? Incentive.

I came up with a plan to offer Annalie a reward for getting her thank-you notes done: a trip to Build-A-Bear. And the quicker she got them done, the bigger her reward would be. Of course, she would have to write the thank-you notes no matter what, but the reward might motivate her to write them with a minimum of complaining and stalling.

I ran this plan by Troy, and he thought it was a good idea. So I drew up a couple of sticker charts and explained the plan to Annalie. If she got all her thank-you notes written by Friday, she’d get a Build-A-Bear. If she could get them done more quickly than that, she could earn an outfit, maybe some shoes, an accessory or two.

“What if I get all my thank-you notes done today? Do I get to go to Build-A-Bear today?” I said we could probably arrange that, but she didn’t have to get them done that fast. She could still get the biggest reward if she got them done by Monday.

Annalie nodded. “Yeah, but will you take me today if I get them done?” I said if she could manage to get all her thank-you notes done in one day, we could certainly go to Build-A-Bear tonight.

I thought there was no way on earth she’d get them all done today, considering how long it’s taken her to get them done in the past, and the drama we had just yesterday over her writing one measly sentence during school.

Annalie was so worried about getting to Build-A-Bear tonight she nearly made herself sick, even though she was working her little heart out and had plenty of time to finish. My mom and I kept telling her we were so amazed at what a great job she was doing, and reassuring her that we could go right after dinner.

Two hours. Eight thank you notes. Fourteen dollars of her own money to buy her new bear some extras. One extremely proud and happy girl.

When Brenda and Bug arrived on Tuesday night, it was already dark outside. Before we all went to bed, Brenda looked out the kitchen window at our dark backyard and mentioned how excited she was to see the autumn trees in the morning. Morning came, and she was not disappointed.

A couple of weeks ago I was worried that the fall color was peaking, that most of the leaves would be brown or gone before Brenda and Bug got here. Since they’re native Californians, they don’t usually get to see the kind of fall color we are blessed with in this part of the country, and I really wanted them to see it.

As it turned out, I was worrying needlessly. There are still plenty of bright red and yellow and orange trees around. When Brenda came upstairs yesterday morning and looked out over our deck, she was quite impressed at the view from our backyard. She even went outside on the deck in bare feet to admire it for a minute before she got too cold in the 45-degree weather and came inside. You can take the girl out of California…

But later that morning, after we ate some breakfast and drank some coffee, we walked to a park near our house to let Annalie and Bug climb and play for a while while we sat and admired the fall color.

On the way home we stopped to gather leaves from a neighbor’s yard, lots of red maple leaves and a few bright yellow ones, so we could press and preserve them by ironing them between wax paper. Brenda has big plans to make some greeting cards to send home to her friends and family.

Then we stopped to play in a giant leaf pile. Isn’t that what giant leaf piles are for?

Annalie and Bug have been having such a blast together. Brenda and I have been marveling at and being very thankful for how well they still play, despite them both being only children (for now) and both having such strong wills and personalities, and despite them only seeing each other a couple of times in the past eight months. I think because they have known each other so long and spent so much time together, they’ve learned how to work out their differences through compromise. Plus they are a lot alike. They both love to use their imaginations and will come up with elaborate make-believe games. Today alone I’ve overheard them hiding from ninjas, running away from home so the bad guys don’t catch them, granting a wish to the princess, and walking their puppies. Yesterday Annalie said to Bug, “I’m so glad you’re here. It’s nice to have my best friend around as a playmate.”

Then at the end of the day, we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner, at Annalie’s request, and made half a cake for Annalie’s half-birthday. She blew out her candle and then announced that her wish had already come true.

“It did?” I said. “That must have been a great wish. What was it, will you tell us?”

“Sure, since it already came true,” she replied. “I wished that I would have the best half-birthday ever!”

Because today is Saturday, I was able to sleep in a bit, but by 9 o’clock I was awake. I needed to get up anyway. We have some cleaning and laundry to do so we’re ready for our long-anticipated guests when they arrive Tuesday.

Annalie and I also needed to do some school, since we didn’t quite finish yesterday, just reading and a spelling test. Unfortunately, even though she’s doing really well at reading, those are probably the two subjects Annalie likes the least right now. It’s funny to me, and hard to comprehend, since reading and spelling were always my two easiest and favorite subjects.

But it didn’t surprise me when I called for Annalie to come to the table, telling her we needed to get reading and spelling done, and she came stomping into the dining room in a snit. I remained calm and asked her to take off her Little Mermaid singing necklace and put down the cell phone that she was carrying, since we don’t allow toys at the table when we’re doing school. She yanked the necklace off her neck and threw it on the floor at the same time that she slammed the cell phone down hard on the counter.

I calmly told her that she needed to go sit on the top step for a time-out, because she knows better than to throw things. And…well, let’s just say the situation deteriorated from there. Over the next hour, there was some crying, some yelling, and some stomping around—and I’m not going to tell you who did what, but I will tell you that I did not remain calm. We managed to get part of the reading done, but then Annalie went to get herself a drink of water from the fridge dispenser and accidentally-on-purpose let the cup fill and overflow, soaking two photographs and a picture one of Annalie’s friends colored for her.

That was when I sort of lost it. I asked Annalie what on earth was wrong with her, and told her to just go, to get out of my sight. She ran out of the kitchen crying, knowing she had done something wrong but also hurt that her normally patient mother had told her to get lost. Frustrated with Annalie and myself, I tossed the ruined pictures, grabbed a bunch of paper towels and started sopping up the water.

Troy came into the kitchen to see what was going on. I explained what had happened and told him that I was not having a good day, that I just needed to go back to bed, that I didn’t think I was in any shape to meet a friend for pottery-painting that afternoon. Troy suggested I email and ask if we could reschedule, so I did. (Thanks again for being so understanding, Shayne!)

Troy went to talk to Annalie in her room while I went to our bedroom and, after putting away the folded laundry all over my side of the bed, curled up with my ridiculously huge pregnancy pillow pulled the covers up over my head, bracing myself for what I knew I needed to do: cry. Even though I know sometimes it’s necessary to make myself feel better, I really hate crying. And I knew I had a cry coming, so I just wanted to get it over with.

A few minutes later, I was wiping my face and debating whether I wanted to roll over and get a tissue or just sniff hard, when Annalie came quietly into the room and climbed up on the bed. She got under the covers and put her head next to mine on the pillow and said, “I’m sorry I spilled water all over the fridge, Mama. And I’m sorry you’re having a rough morning. Daddy explained it to me.”

I put my arm around her, gave her a kiss, and told her I loved her. I apologized for losing my temper; she said she forgave me. We laid there talking idly for a couple of minutes when I had an idea.

“Hey Annalie, can you tell me how to spell egg?”

“Sure! E-g-g.”

“Right. Do you think you could tell me how to spell, oh, the word pets?”

Quietly to herself, Annalie sounded it out, “Puh-eh-tuh-sss…” then spelled it for me. I told her she was right. She was silent for a second, then giggled and asked, “Is this my spelling test?”

My response was to ask her if she knew how to spell less. She giggled again and spelled it perfectly. We went through all the rest of her spelling words that way, and she got every single one right, even the trickiest one, give.

When we were finished, I asked if she would go get her reading book so she could read her story a second time. She groaned a bit, so I sighed theatrically and said, “You know what would really make me feel so much better right now? If only someone could read me a story about ducks and chicks.” Annalie laughed at that. I told her to go tell Daddy she’d gotten 100% on her spelling test, and then come back to me with her reading book.

Laughing, she leapt off the bed and went running down the hall, calling out excitedly, “Daddy, Daddy! I got one hundred percent right on my spelling test! Not on my dry-erase board, but with my mouth! I even got the hardest word right, wanna hear? G-i-v-e! That spells give!”

She came back to the bedroom with her book and read through her story again, this time without me pointing at the words as she read, with good expression, and with almost no faltering or errors. I thanked her and praised her improvement on the second reading. She smiled and batted her lashes in that I-know-I’m-smart-but-you-can-tell-me-again way she has. I told her we were done with school, that she could go play.

She kissed me on the cheek and said, “Thanks, Mom!”

A few minutes later I got up. I got a phone call from another friend and made plans to meet her and her kids later for dinner and frozen custard while Troy watches the Nebraska game in peace. Annalie got dressed all in black and stuck a scarf in the back of her pants and went outside to be a cat while Troy raked up some leaves. I poured myself a cup of coffee and took a deep breath.