Own

One of Anya's very first spoken words was, "own."  As in, I will do it on my own.  She has always had an independent spirit, and we are constantly learning how to work with that.  On her first day of preschool as a 3-year-old, her teacher commented, "My, aren't we independent?"  I can clearly recall waiting twenty minutes for her to put on her own socks at 18 months because there was no way she was going to let me do it for her.

Despite my maternal desires to keep her under my wing, she is going out on her own more and more.  She is now in school five days a week, and enjoying every bit of it.  The transition of starting school at the Anchor Center has been smooth, and she is excited when she goes there.  Today, as we piled into the car, she asked, "is it Tuesday?  Then I have tap today!"  Indeed, a tap teacher comes to the school every Tuesday, and Anya even has her OWN tap shoes reserved just for her at school.  She is making new friends there, going on field trips, enjoying all the teachers she interacts with and then emulates when she comes home, and she is being exposed to a new world.  A world where seeing with only one eye is completely normal.  A school where a majority of her classmates wear glasses.  A place where her independent self is nourished and adored.