A restful weekend and musings

With Orlando being home before he starts his new job, we had one more weekend together as a family. Yesterday, the fun took the form of not leaving the house and having an amazing fall dinner of curried butternut squash soup and asparagus salad (thank you, Orlando).

Orlando and I spent a few moments marvelling at how our little girl has grown. Her leg, from knee to toe, is now almost exactly the same length as she was when we brought her home from the hospital. She seemed so big to me then, my baby. Now, I see glimpses of the woman she'll be.

Physical growth isn't the only change we've noticed. She seems to be stepping away from the shyness that was such a fixture of her personality from the day she was born. Annie always took a while to warm up to strangers, and avoided any kind of public attention. She's becoming less risk averse, too.

Today, I took her to watch our friends Ann and Abby take their first lesson in trapeze school. It was great fun to watch, though my fear of heights was making my heart race from the very beginning. The most amazing thing for me was seeing Anastasia inch her way towards the rigging and then begging to be allowed to take a lesson. (They don't accept students under age 5, so I had a relatively easy out there! How likely do you think it is that she'll remember it next year?)

We've also entered the phase of development where she has to share the intricate details of everything she observes. Lately, the phrase I think we hear most often is "and do you know what else ...?" Tonight, I was watching 60 Minutes, featuring a story on Jane Goodall. Anastasia came over, watched for a minute, and said, "mommy, those chimpanzees are really smart. And do you know what else, they talk to each other!" Jane Goodall said so.

Orlando and I know that we are extraordinarily blessed with a child who is at once smart and not overtly devious or mischievous. When she does act out, her reaction to Orlando or me counting to three is instantaneous. But, Myney reminds me that Orlando went through the "terrible twos" at about age 16, and I know that I pushed boundaries of my own in high school--guess we have that to look forward to. Think counting to three will still work then?