It's so weird...

Ana never used to be a joiner. I even posted about it. When other children her age were sitting in a circle for storytime, Ana was still running around. (Of course, unlike many people, I couldn't be bothered to chase her down and enforce storytime, but that's a different story.)

And then, one day, I realized - Ana can sit for storytime! She likes to! She likes to sit for the song, and everything! I was stunned, moreso when I realized she'd been doing this for a while.

She still didn't participate, though - she sat through the story or song or whatever, but that was it. Or she stood up during it, which was worse.

And just today, I realized - she participates! She sings along! She claps her hands! She shouts out the answer to questions! It's amazing.

While I was marveling at the change, I realized she does something else - she watches other people to find out what she should do. She doesn't know how to put together her paper bag spider? That's all right, no need to ask for help - she can just watch the kid next to her! She doesn't know the hand motions to this new song? It's okay, she can figure it out All By Her Self, just by watching everyone else!

This is a big change. And it came on fast.