My Liesl

Yesterday Anna decided to be Liesl, from Sound of Music lore.  This is not all that out of the ordinary.  Sometimes she's Gretl, pretending to fall asleep and making me carry her around like at the end of "So Long, Farewell."  Sometime's Jimmy's "Captain."  Sometimes we (Jimmy excluded) run around the hill outside our apartment pretending to be Maria on top of a mountain.  My love of Sound of Music must be genetic, or at the very least contagious! 

She wore one of my shirts and told me it was her "Liesl dress."  As she helped me make zucchini muffins, she made a family out of all the measuring spoons and told me she and Rolf were playing house (with my house-shaped recipe box).  She kept saying things like, "Look, Rolf, everything's ready and just perfect!" and "Come on, spoon, your sister needs you in the house."  It was hard to stay focused on baking when I was fascinated by her story taking shape with my cooking utensils.

Then, while I was making dinner, Liesl read me her Toy Story book.  She thought it was hilarious to switch all the characters' names to confuse me, and I snapped this cute smile in the midst of her joking:

 

The reality of life with Anna right now is that we're wading through some violent tantrums and sleep troubles (probably similar to most parents of toddlers, but, of course, it feels awful when it's happening to you!), and sweet, imaginative afternoons like this really do make all the work worth it.  She's a handful sometimes, but definitely on her way to being a strong, smart young lady!