My Anna Be Stylin'

The first time we went to Minnesota, Anna changed three or four times a day: each time wearing something that was her favorite.

During my Annie's visit to Minnesota, Anna decided she wanted a bit of color to spice up the frozen landscape.

Without a doubt, it is fun to see the way little ones already have a personality at very young age, and Anna was no exception.

The day would begin with her getting something on out of her closet. Ann and would be sleeping, and suddenly I had this feeling--you know, the uncanny sense that someone is watching you.

I would open my eyes, and there standing in the doorway of our room where we slept, was Anna looking at us in her first outfit of the day.

We would say hello, and then we would hear her go upstairs quietly. If Lydia was awake upstairs, and sometimes Anna's morning visit was very early, so occasionally only tiny footsteps broke the stillness of early morning, I would her Lydia say, "Are grandma and grandpa awake?"

Lydia has this thing about calling me Pop Pop. It's like referring to someone as Pookey Bear or Sugar Muffin or something.

Lydia just can't do it, but I usually convince Tommy and Anna to call me that after only a few hours of visiting the little ones.

I would hear Anna tell her mom that Pop Pop was awake, but grandma was still sleeping.

I've never been sure that Anna's shyness was not wanting to wake us, because maybe my Annie and my snore duet in the morning scared her a bit. But then again, there are lots of frogs that time of year in Minnesota.

Some scientists believe that humans learned snoring early as a way of protection. I heard some rocket scientist maintain on the Science Channel that early man adapted that way to scare away predators.

I thought to myself something interesting: Ja right, a 650 pound American Lion or Smiledon or even a Cave Bear is going to be afraid of something making a noise like that.

But I think we may have scared Anna, and I know it annoyed Lydia when she was younger. When we woke her for school, she occasionally held a pillow over her ears. Lydia told me once that our snoring was really, really, really loud.

But one thing for sure, it's these little things that each of our grandchildren do that make life so much fun. I hope that they view our quirks the same way, snoring and all.