as3 migration -- variables within MCs (beginner)

programming flash
1

i’m in the process of shifting from a loose AS1/AS2 style to a completely OOP AS3 style…

so the initial objective i’m doing in AS1/AS2 would be:
circle01 = attachMovie(“circle”,“circle01”);
circle01. anyVariable = “anything i want”;

and now doing something similar in AS3…
ive got the whole sprite/movieclip creation down:

var circle01:Sprite=new Sprite();
addChild(circle01);
??? circle01.anyVariable = “anything i want”; ???

so my real question is:
but how would i make a variable and stick it within circle01?

thanks very much.