Mia's Edition: Dear Anna: Reflecting: Anna's 8th Birthday

[Posted January 17, 2013]

I can't believe Anna turned 8 this year. She remains the absolute apple of my eye and my greatest honor and achievement to date. She was an easy infant and toddler and is now turning out to be a delightful young lady - I could not be more blessed with such a lovely human being.

It is interesting to reflect on the evolution of her personality and interests through the years. Behaved and easy-going are the two adjectives that come to mind in the early years and both have generally stuck to date. She's now a bit naughty and clever but still so respectful and entertaining to be around. She pushes her boundaries by quoting me specifically on things I say to get herself out of trouble on a technicality. She may even point to her completing homework for an entire week in two hours a reason to not do any work for the rest of the week!

While I'm delighted that Anna continues to thrive academically and intellectually, I'm most proud of the fact that every report card that I've received since she was in Kindergarten highlights how Anna is always one of the hardest working and helpful students in their class. In Kinder and 1st grade, Anna served as Vice President and President of her class respectively.

In terms of extracurricular interests, ballet remains her number one passion. She started dance classes at age 4 back in Michigan and has continued here in San Francisco at the SF Ballet School. She works hard at school and tolerates my constant pushing (I like to think, encouragement) and daily lessons on the importance of an education and hard work. Some days, I may let her watch too much Disney on Netflix but recognize that it may actually help the balance of my intensity. She recently indicated some interest in returning to soccer either this spring or the summer but in this day and age, I'm hyper conscious of over-booking her!

In her earlier years, I did not have the flexibility of time as I do now, being farther along in my career. I am grateful for my family's help in Michigan and the day care/ preschool providers in Ann Arbor specifically who helped me - namely, Parveen, Sybil and Mr. Matt, Ms. Angelique and Ms. Katie at the UofM preschool. And I am grateful now that I am able to be present at nearly all of her activities and can even play chauffer to her twice a week.

For me, Anna's birthday is truly a celebration.

The day of birthday, I picked her up as 'a walker' with a bouquet of flowers. Since she was a little girl, she's had an appreciation for flowers and is a little botanist of sorts. Likely an influence of my Mother who had Anna with her in the garden nearly every weekend when she was a toddler...

During Anna's birthday dinner, she receives her present from mom - my old iPhone 4S. A bit much for an 8 year old but what can I say? She's an only child!