Annie's Friends

Because I know I'll want to remember this someday, a partial list of Annie's various "friends," some real and some imaginary:

Real, actual people who she sees on a daily/weekly basis and talks about frequently: Ben, Lucy and Tommy, Ava Rose, Caden, Kate and Ian, and other assorted neighbors

Friends at school: Ben (again), Gwen, Aidan, Alex, William, McKenna, Ella

Friends at dance class: Ava (who she gets in the most trouble with), Lily, Grace, Betsy (whose glasses she is captivated by), Audrey (who is spunky and won't let Annie cut in line)

Dolls: Gracie, Dinah, Trini, Brother (a pink, stuffed cloth doll), Amy, Cinderella

Stuffed animals she's named: cats named Steven and Sophie, a lion named Simba, a hippo named Sprinkles, a horse named Nugget, bears named Nene and Curtsy, a dog named Pup and another named Prairie Dog . . . good grief.

Also, the asian boy on the Life Cereal box is known to the Doublestein family as Peter, and we must never, ever purchase other boxes of Life Cereal with the caucasian boy on them.

What's fun, here, is that when I'm packing (say, for example, to go up north for a few days), I'm never really sure which of the two dozen dolls/animals Annie is going to want most desperately. Tonight, I tried to get her to pick two or three special ones to put in her backpack for tomorrow's trip, and she did so willingly, but there's no telling who she's going to NEEEEEEED upon arrival in Petoskey. Here's hoping that Dinah, Simba, and Cinderella are the right choices for this Thanksgiving extravaganza.

Happy Turkey Day, everyone!