5 years old:
“Halloween is a time that’s filled with trouble. The world is full of problems.”
“I’m glad there are bees in my life”
“Look! The flowers are blooming! It’s almost the Fourth of Easter!”
“Wow, that looks harder than it looks!”
“Ahh, the smell of pizza… it sure graces my heart!”
Annika was in the back seat of the car singing earnestly a song about camels in her ‘pretty voice’:
“Oh, camel of the dawn! Camel of the sunset… I will sing you a camel song, for you have saved my life!”
Later, she sang a song called, ‘Bear of Destiny in the Moonlight’
And later again, a sequel to the camel song: ‘Camels on the Road 2: Ocean Style’
Annika came up to me, stroked my cheek lovingly and said, “Mommy, I love grasshoppers. They make ALL the difference!”
2 years old:
“Why do butterflies fly?”
“Dancing is hard work”
“Is today tomorrow?”
“I just NEED to play instruments!”
“I wish I could be an elephant”
At 2, AK was in her crib singing: “Outer space is in the sky… outer space is in the sky...You love me, I love you… outer space is fun… won’t you say you love me? Won’t you say you love me? Wo-wo-wo-wo-won’t you say you love me too? Up in the sky, in outer space. Won’t you go to outer space? Riding yourself is not easy, riding yourself isn’t easy up there in outer space”
Singing in her crib: “Up in the sky, it’s night time. When you love me, but you don’t, when you fly in the sky, when you say it’s all gone… I’m sorry...it’s really not so bad. What do you want to be when you grow up? Like Bear Bear. Won’t you say you love me too? Won’t you say you love me too?
Singing in her crib. First she announced, “This song is called ‘Outer Space’
“Outer space… I can’t remember what the words is. There’s twinkle twinkle little star. Twinkle twinkle little star away in a manger, won’t you say you love me too? Hey, that’s not how that goes! Twinkle twinkle little lion. That’s not how that goes! Away with the diamonds in the sky- that’s not how that goes!
“I have wished that I could climb onto a cloud every day”
“Why does stuff be hot?”
Stream of consciousness: “Ok, I’m going to make spaghetti and teeth. And monsters and bunny rabbits and a kangaroo and some ghostizz, and some mouthiz, and cheese and some babies… here, I made this special treat for you, and here you go. You can taste all of the things in here, all of the things that I made.”
Once Annika tried to jump into the TV to get into the Max and Ruby show. When it didn’t work, she mused, “Maybe when I’m bigger.”
3 years old:
“Ugh, I wish my baby dolls would poop REAL poop!”
“Why does babies has fluffy skin?”
“Wow! I almost did my best!”
“I like being bored sometimes. Bored means by yourself.”
“Mommy, I love you. You let me do everything a robot will do.”
“Mommy, I’m the best kid in the world!”
“I can do anything that you are hoping of!”
“Mommy, you are tougher than love!”
“This is a song I always sing with my friends. It’s a thousand years old.”
To Adam and I: “You should take me to the park. That would be awesome- it would be so...authentic!”
Me: “Where are all the dinosaurs?”
Annika: “They died and went down into the sand.”
Annika: “They died and went down into the sand.”
Me: “Why did they die?”
Annika: “A big comedy fell from space and blockded out the sun!”
Annika refers to the U.S. as the ‘North Estates’
We were talking about what aliens are and whether they exist or not. Annika thought for a while and said, “I think WE are the aliens!”
“How do I know this isn’t a dream? I think all this is just a dream”
“...because God said, ‘If you break things, people will yell at you’.”
“I want to be an astronomer when I grow up. What’s an astronomer?”
“How many sand is there? A million twelvedy?”
Annika is upstairs singing, “Yoo, yoo, stip to my yoo… yoo, yoo, stip to my yoo…. stip to my yoo my dahyeeng”
“Here,” Annika says, handing me something imaginary, “is something hotfulness and joyfulness and everlastingness”
Annika went through a long phase of singing an ongoing song about a ‘Humble Bee’
Annika is singing a song called ‘Penguins of Glory’
