Costumes and Streaking
Annada hit a milestone today – she streaked down the street for the first time.
Lately Annada has wanted to either wear a costume or be naked. I found some great dress-up clothes on craigslist and Annada now spends most of her time in clothes from Africa, in tutus or dressed as a princess or fairy. It’s like John Eldridge wrote, “When you are kid, costumes are not clothes. They are an identity.”
Annada and I have talked about how sometimes we have to wear clothes. Because Annada is smart enough to look for loop holes, I have told her we have to wear clothes when we leave the house unless it is a special event. So, once we step through the door to come home, Annada often begins stripping. Tonight, she made it back outside and was laughing and running in circles before I caught her and wrangled a shirt on.
I can hear my mom saying, “payback!” from here.
Dancing with the Lion
Marc and I took Annada to Animal Kingdom yesterday. My favorite part is the Festival of the Lion King. My guess it is was staged by whoever staged the Lion King Musical – so yeah, it is amazing. I’ve seen it many times and I am still enthralled every time.
When we walked in, Annada was scared. She was afraid the lion would bite her. We explained she was safe and she relaxed. Until the music started. Then Annada tensed up and stared. Her heart was beating so hard I could feel it through my arm around her. She hardly moved. Her mouth was partly open.
Marc pointed at her and mouthed through the noise, “she looks like you!”
When I am watching dance or theater I focus so hard sometimes I realize I stopped breathing. After a performance of Annie Get Your Gun I once walked up to thank the actors when a couple of them gasped. “It’s you!” they exclaimed. “You sat in the front row and had the most terrible expression. We were betting to see if anyone could make you smile.”
Instead of hating it, I had loved the performance so much I was tense trying to take it all in. In fact, there were nail marks in my arm. And there was no mistaking it, Annada now does the same thing.
Toward the end, it seemed like her little body couldn’t take it anymore. Without taking her eyes off the stage she stood up and began copying some of the dancers. A cast member ran over and pulled her back toward her seat, but she didn’t stop dancing. Marc and I put our legs up and created a little boxed in space for her, which satisfied the cast member. (I think he was legitimately concerned she was going to take off for the dance line.)
Later Annada told me her favorite part of the day was dancing with the lion.
Meme is Dead
Several days ago Annada was laying on the futon wrapped up in a blanket when she called me to come over.
“Let me hold you Mommy,” she said. “Lay down on me.”
“I’ll squish you, Annada!” I replied laughing.
Annada sat up and pulled my head down on her tummy. She wrapped her arms around my head and gave me a big hug. We laid there for a moment enjoying the hug.
“Meme is dead” Annada said.
I was caught totally off guard. “What?” I asked.
“Meme is dead,” Annada said again.
“No, Annada, I think Meme is alive,” I said back. I had a sudden shot of fear. I didn’t know for sure my mom was alive, but I had no reason to think she was dead.
“No, Meme is dead,” Annada said matter-of-factly. “You don’t have a mommy. I will be your mommy.”
“Annada, I really think Meme is alive,” I said again. “Would you like to call her and talk to her?”
“Yes,” Annada replied. “Meme is your mommy. She is dead. So you need a new mommy. I will take care of you.”
I got up and called my mom. She didn’t answer so I left a message.
Annada seemed to have moved on when I got off the phone. She asked to go to the big playground about a mile away, so we drove there.
Just as we got there, my mom called back. It was great to hear her voice. I told her why I called and she offered to talk with Annada.
“Are you dead?” Annada asked right away.
“Nope, I am alive,” my Mom replied. “Really, totally alive.”
“Okay,” Annada said. “I am at the playground.”
