Consistent and Constant Hannah

"Side angles seem to best capture her intensity. This angle slices through the middle the continual enthusiasm, words, activity, excitement, intensity, drive, and planning our Hannah brings with the bright sunrise — every day.

Recently she shot up from her long afternoon nap and declared, “I have a plan!”  Currently her plan involves a great deal of swimming and eating and cooking and drawing and playing. 

She will ask, “Can I play? Of course we eagerly encourage her to play. She often seems more eager to do exactly what we are doing, which is lovely, except when it isn’t.  “Can I play with my baby doll?” We enthusiastically direct her to baby dolls. She will ask, “Can I obey?” You would think we wouldn’t have much to do because my two year old already has her life planned out and begs us to obey; but for some reason, it is really exhausting. Maybe it is because we are laughing all the time. 

She likes to eat “moosies” - smoothies. She likes to draw “Nakes” - snakes. She wears a “kirt” - skirt as much as she can (which often involves at least 4 wardrobe changes a day) She can get dressed by “me self” and she likes to sing really loud songs. When the kids do their school work, she gets out paper and pencil and declares it is time for her to, “do her maths and her learnin.” She has an alphabet made up of all the letters and in no particular order. She stands on the side of the pool and counts 1-2-3-4 JUMP before jumping over the edge and swimming like a little tadpole to the stairs. Over and over and over. We soak in the long afternoon naps this has led to and stare at the grocery bill as she consumes more and more food.

Her words are abundant. So. Many. Words. To. Many. Words. I’ve had to ask Hannah to stop talking so I can think about what I’m doing. Her words are so many they make the air thicker than it is supposed to be and we sludge through the afternoon air uncertain about what to do with her.

We’ve become a kickball clan. It’s a fun after super activity. She is our pitcher. That is all there is to say about that. We are lucky if she has on clothes at that point in the day, so her antics make us belly laugh and cringe. 

Hannah loves our dog, Ocala. She wakes up, “Where’s Ocala?” Once we’ve located him, “Can I feed Ocala?” She just loves to provide him with bones and toys and food. She loves to cuddle with him and find him. She will yell over our voices, “Ocala Boggs, I need you! Where are you?” She tells the guy at Trader Joe’s about Ocala. She tells the people at church about Ocala. She tells anyone that has acknowledged her at all, “Ocala at home. Ocala my dog!” 

Her words are pronounced very clearly and perfectly. She will say, “Actually” with what seems like eight syllables. She is exhausting and totally awesome and that is consistent and constant.