Anneka Got Tagged!

Anneka was tagged by her friend, Evie, to answer these questions. The above picture was taken and given to us as a gift from the Russian family we stayed with in Kyzyl.


Name/Meaning: Anneka Dorothy ... Anneka is a Swedish name, which we thought went great with the last name Gustafson. It is another form of Hannah and means "gracious". We wanted a name with a feminine ending (a), living in Russia. We also wanted a name that has a Russian alternative. We often call her Anya here. Dorothy means "gift of God" and is after Anneka's great grandma. We call her by her full name all the time, and we can tell that she likes her name.


Age: 13 months

Nicknames: Nipper, Nippy, Nip, The Nippinator, Bozo, Bozey, Doofer, silly pants, bean, sweet baby, Anya, Annechka, Anyota

Favorite Activity (ies): Throwing items out of drawers, playing with flap books

Favorite Food: yogurt, cheese, broccoli, green beans, grapes, bananas, plums, dates, dried apricots, Cheerios

Least favorite food: baby pancakes. I made her a special batch out of baby cereal, mashed bananas, milk, juice, eggs... and she wouldn't even touch them. I froze them and pull them out every few days and she wants nothing to do with them.

Favorite Music: When her mama and papa read her "The Little Drummer Boy" book. She rum-pa-pum-pums along with us. Sometimes she'll pick up the book on her own and sing pum-pum on her own.

Favorite toys: anything that's not a toy (especially the telephone)


Favorite books: The Bellybutton Book, lift-the-flap books, peekaboo books, googly eye books

What makes her happy: making big messes, eating grapes or seeing a whole banana headed her direction, bathing, going on adventures (she lays completely still when we put her snowsuit on because she knows that we're going on an adventure), getting attention from everyone, tearing flaps out of books


What makes her sad: When her mama isn't close by. And it's best if both mama and papa are giving their undivided attention.

Anneka tags: Katie, Winston, Kariya