Wild Annie Wants a Blog Post (so here it is)...

 Wild Annie

Her name is Annie Josephine Jo (she came up with the Jo part, so it's very important). She's a four-year-old ballerina, who likes playing with wooden swords and twirling. She loves horses (especially when they're white), baby dolls (particularly Big Red and Get-Back-Home-Loretta-Your-Mama's-Waitin'-for-Ya), and playing pretend (but you must always acknowledge that you're playing pretend...she's very grounded that way). She loves to color with Mommy, make paper airplanes with Daddy, and pretend everything she eats is chocolate (she's just pretending). She does not want to be a mommy, and she is not a little girl. She is already "growed," and this is as big as she intends to be. She sometimes calls herself Wild Annie (which is fitting), and sometimes rides a horse named Wild Annie (it depends on her mood). Everyone in our neighborhood has heard Annie's "neigh." And I mean everyone. All of her dolls (with the exception of the aforementioned babies) are named Annie Josephine Jo. She likes playing The Lone Ranger with Benjamin (the neighing comes in handy here), reading Rapunzel or Rumpelstiltskin (as well as most other fairytales), and participating in rousing games of Red Light/Yellow Light/Green Light orchestrated by Daddy. Oh, and she is growing her hair down to her toes (like "Run-punzel"). She is Annie Josephine Jo—and she's amazing.

Annie strong.

You came in like a lion,

Tangled and true.

Afraid of nothing but the wind.

Little wild child singing

Songs of us and "I'll rise."

You'd better believe it.

Here are some of Annie's favorite books:

Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky

Ms. Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

The Complete Tales by Beatrix Potter

The Maggie B. by Irene Haas

Summertime by Dubose Heyward
The Wizard of Oz by Charles Santore and L. Frank Baum