Dreaming Little Dreams

For whatever reason, I have been thinking a lot lately about what Annie is going to be like as she grows up.  What her personality will be like.  What will interest her and make her smile.  Maybe it's because little snippets of her personality are starting to shine through these days.  Maybe it's because I read too many mommy blogs and read about other people's older children and wonder what my own child will turn out to be.  Or maybe it's a little from column A and a little from column B.  Whatever the reason, I've been kind of fanticizing about how adorable baby Annie will cross over into adorable toddler Annie...and it really is kind of fun.

Now, before you accuse me of setting expectations for my child way too early, please understand that this daydreaming I am doing is completely low key and free of self-imposed wants.  At the end of the day, no matter what, I just want my daughter to be a happy kid, whatever that means for her.  I hope to do all I can to encourage her individual interests, wants, and desires - even if they are different from mine.  If she wants to take dance lessons, hooray!  (this is something I always secretly wanted to do as a child, but never told my parents about it, so how were they to know?)  But if she has no interest in plies and pointe shoes, well that's okay too.  If she wants to pursue something musical - piano, guitar, voice, or (be still my heart) violin, I would love that.  But if she never wants to subject me and her father to a recital in a church sanctuary or fellowship hall, that's okay too.  Seriously, whatever she wants to do is fine by me...even if she becomes obsessed with princesses (much to David's chagrin), I'll support her.  And really, what is the deal with little girls these days and princesses?  I feel like this is a fixation we aren't going to be able to escape and I really don't know how Disney does it.  Well, that was a bit of a tangent, now wasn't it?

Right now, Cheerios are pretty interesting.

Anyway, I have found myself imagining what Annie will be like in 6 months, 2 years, 5 years.  And I fully expect she will be a big personality.  I picture her walking kind of prissy, swishing her little backside from side to side in ruffle-bottomed bloomers (even though she doesn't actually have any of those) and I imagine her being a little bossy with her dolls and stuffed animals and sort of opinionated about lots of things.  The word spunky comes to mind.  But I also picture her being sweet and compassionate.  Friendly and thinking lots of things are funny.  Somehow, these are all characteristics I think I see in her already.  And I guess I just wanted to type them out to see if I turn out to be right...and if I turn out to have it all wrong, that's fine too.  I know that whatever she turns out to be, however she turns out to act and react, she will be her own little perfect being and we will love the person she becomes.  Because we sure do love the baby she is.

These days I some times find myself missing that tiny baby who used to sleep in my arms.  But just as soon as I do, I see so many great developments in our little girl and I get lost once again in the joy of watching her grow.  Of seeing what she is becoming.  And my goodness, is she great.