First Love

Dear Mackenzie,

Last night, you said "I love you" for the first time! We were cuddling in my bed when you smiled at me and said in a sweet voice, "I yoooo, Mama!" Then you hugged me and it was just so so sweet! You have also learned to put your hands together in a heart shape and say "art" (heart) the way JieJie and I do when we do our special goodbye in the mornings.

In other news, you learned how to say cook (you often say this when you are playing with my oven mitts in the kitchen) and cook-eeee (cookie--the best was when you ate one of my cookies and said, "Cook-eee good!"). You can also finally say Elsa, though you pronounce it "Da." And when you were standing at your bookshelf trying to pick out a book for us to read together, you said, "How bout . . ."

It's so exciting when you learn new words!

Love,

Mom

Letting It Go

Dear Mackenzie,

You just started saying "otay" (okay) and it is so adorable! "Mackenzie, do you want a snack?" "Otay." "Mackenzie, wait here for me." "Otay."

Also, you love popping out and saying, "Boo!" You often do it when you put on a shirt--you pull the shirt over your head, peek out of the neck hole and say "boo!" with a big smile on your face.

In other news, you have listened to the Frozen songs so many times that you are getting better at singing them. You mumble most of the lyrics but you can recite the last word in each refrain, so your version of "Let It Go" sounds like this:

Ungh ungh GO! 

Ungh ungh GO!

Ungh ungh ungh ungh DOOR!

Ungh ungh STAY!

Ungh ungh ungh ungh WAY!

I love it!

Love,

Mom

Eyeing Me

Dear Mackenzie,

When you're sitting in my lap and looking up at me wistfully with your big, round eyes--is there anything cuter?!?

Love,

Mom

Rockabye Baby

Dear Mackenzie,

When you want me to pick you up and cradle you like a little baby, you look at me and say, "Baby!" And I always oblige!

Love,

Mom

Flying High

Dear Mackenzie,

We were in the kitchen when you suddenly laid down on the stepstool, stuck your arms and legs straight out and made "nggaaaaoooow" noises--you were pretending to be an airplane! So cute!

Love,

Mom

New Words

Dear Mackenzie,

New words in your vocab: hug, tree, leaf, broke, light, dark, car, beep beep, room, door, push, hat, socks, glove, doll, Coo Coo (Blue's Clues). My personal favorite new word of yours, though, is Ngaw Ngaw--this is how you pronounce Connor!

It's crazy that one year ago, you were just learning how to walk and now you can easily climb up and down our big spiral staircase and jump an inch off of the ground. You can put on your gloves, pants and slippers by yourself and yesterday, you even peeled a hard-boiled egg on your own and didn't even leave any shell remnants on it. You are also developing the cutest personality! I always catch you singing and dancing now. You love to be held and also to be spun around until you're dizzy. When I haven't talked to you or paid attention to you in awhile, you grab my cheeks, turn my face to face yours and say, "Me!" You snort when you want to watch Peppa Pig and talk into your toy phone while shaking your head and putting your hand on your hip, as if you are on a very important business call. You love dressing up in hats, gloves and slippers and wearing a backpack around the house. When you were done coloring with your Frozen coloring kit today, you put each of the markers back in their slot. You love string cheese and ask for one practically every time I open the fridge by shouting "Cheese!" When I am cooking or baking, you like to help me mix things and put the spices back on the shelf when I am done. When we are eating dinner, you inevitably crawl into my lap after 10 minutes and ask for bites of my food even though you have the exact same food in your bowl. You are so fun and I love watching you grow!

Love,

Mom

Sock It To Me

Dear Mackenzie,

I always know that there is a toddler in the house when I constantly find little toddler socks scattered around every room. There is just something about toddlers and their sudden need to take off their socks and leave them wherever they are. Just this morning, I found pairs of your socks in the living room, in JieJie's room and in the attic!

Love,

Mom

Awesome Autumn Day

Dear Mackenzie,

Just four months after you were born, the coronavirus arrived in the United States and the entire country had to go into lockdown and shelter in place for a looooong time. Instead of leaving for school every morning, your older siblings were suddenly home all day, every day and the two of us no longer had our quiet weekdays alone together. I loved that you had more time to bond with your brothers and sister (and I didn't mind the help when I had to do housework) but I did miss our one-on-one bonding time. Fast forward to this fall when your siblings returned to in-person school and you and I once again have seven daily hours of Mama-Mackenzie time. I am so grateful that we can have this quiet time together again, especially since you will (already!) be starting nursery school next fall.

Today was especially nice. It was an unusually warm November day (we didn't even need jackets) so I ignored the huge piles of laundry in the hampers and the layer of dust on the furniture and took you out for a walk after breakfast. We went to a few stores and then to a nearby park where I loooooved watching you play in the leaves all afternoon! You were so cute and full of joy as you ran through the leaves, kicking them around and giggling while jumping up and down in them. Your peals of laughter as I chased you around the park were also so heartwarming--and reminded me of a similar warm, sunny November afternoon when I chased a 2-year-old JieJie around the same park and heard the same heartwarming peals of laughter.

One of the cute/sad things about our walk, though, is that you insisted on wearing a mask. You didn't have to wear a mask because you just turned 2 and we were outdoors most of the time but you always see your parents and siblings put masks on before leaving the house, so I guess you didn't want to be left out. You were actually really good about keeping it on but it fell on the ground during our walk. I picked it up and obviously didn't give it back to you to wear and you got upset, crying "Mah! Mah!" Luckily, I was able to distract you with the leaves in the park.

I had such a fun day with you today!

Love,

Mom

Big Steps

Dear Mackenzie,

After I finish bathing you, I pick you up out of the tub, wrap your towel around you, dry you off and carry you to your changing table to put on a clean diaper and pajamas. But now that you are a whole two years old, I guess you are too big to be carried. For the past couple of days, after I dry you off, you insist on "wah wah"--you want to hold your towel around you and walk to your room. And so I let you. I walk behind you and all I can see is the back of your hooded towel and your chubby toddler legs scampering toward your room--you look so friggen cute! But it is, of course, bittersweet because you are that much more of a big girl and that much less my baby.

Love,

Mom

You're Two Years Old!

Dear Mackenzie,

The baby of our family is no longer a baby! Happy 2nd birthday, Kenziebear!

You are growing so quickly and I am trying to drink in everything about you these days because I know how fleeting this chubby, playful, funny, innocent, unfiltered toddler stage is. For instance, I sat next to you on your floor a few nights ago and watched you pretend to mix things for a good 10 minutes. You had set out 10 plastic cups in front of you and you picked up one after the other and pretended to mix something in each one with your plastic green ice cream spoon. You look so focused and content and I was legit entertained just watching you play as only a mother could be!

You are the cutest two-year-old! I love your chubby cheeks, dimpled hands and beefy legs. I love the dimple in your right cheek and your joyful giggles. I love the way your eyes light up when you see me. I love how excited you get when you see anything related to Frozen and how you exclaim, "Anna! Anna! ANNA!" over and over again. I also love how "Anna" seems to be a catchall for any princesses you see. And sometimes when we watch the news, you point to the female news anchors and say "Mama," so "Mama" seems to be a catchall for women . . . unless you think I look like Savannah Guthrie! 

You are wearing size 2T clothes and size 6 diapers. You grew a whole five inches since your last birthday and it feel as if you gained 10 pounds in just the past week--I used to be able to carry you easily up and down the stairs but now you suddenly feel a lot denser and I can't hold you as effortlessly. You are learning how to say so many new words, including knock knock, arf arf (what you say for "dog"), me, mine, cold, hot, mall (small), egg-uh (egg), boyel (bottle), uppah (up), light, Bar-ee (Barbie), fa fa (flower), mote (remote), hold, bite, gate, on, off, back, eat, noonoo (noodle) and Ernie (and you growl when talking about Cookie Monster). And this isn't technically a word but when something is gross, you say "eeee-EW!" You are also stringing multiple word sentences together more often, such as "Dada home," "PoiPoi go" and even "GuhGaw me out gate" (translation: GuhGaw opened the gate and let me out.").

You are so expressive and animated. When the rest of us are laughing a lot about something, you cover your mouth and laugh really hard along with us. If, say, a box falls over, you put your hands on your cheeks and shout, "Oh NO!" And you have so many other cute mannerisms. You faux-sing songs from the Frozen soundtrack, "Elmo's Song" and the alphabet song. You gasp when you hear "Levitating," "Beautiful Mistakes" and "Kings and Queens" and immediately wave your fingers in the air and start dancing. You ask me to play "Levitating" on my iPad by saying "Oh oh oh oh." You point to things with your middle finger. When I hand you your milk bottle, you tap it to your wrist (which you call your elbow) just like you've seen me do so many times to check the milk temperature (and sometimes, you even refuse to drink the milk unless you've made sure I've tested some on my wrist). You growl when you see dinosaurs, wrap your arm around my neck as you fall asleep next to me and get scared when I use the blender and cling to my leg whenever I turn it on. You like it when I read to you but more often, you take a book, hand me another book and prefer that we look at our own books while sitting together.

You also like to help me with the laundry, whether it is folding it or putting it in the dryer. When you see me taking clothes out of the washer, you stand behind me and hold your arms out for me to give them to you. And I forgot to blog about this when it happened, but a few months ago, I had put a stack of clothes you had outgrown on top of your dresser. It fell onto the floor and when you saw it, you started folding each piece of clothing by first taking an individual item, laying it carefully on the floor, smoothing out any wrinkles . . . and then crumpling it into a ball and putting it in a pile. Hahaha! I love how you were so attentive with each piece of clothing just to ball it up in the end anyway.

You constantly impress me with your independence and the way you insist on doing things by yourself by saying, "Do! Do! Do!" You constantly make me feel grateful that you came into my life. And you constantly make me happy by being you! Happy birthday, little girl! I love you so much!

Love,

Mom

Scream Session

Dear Mackenzie,

New words of the week: bottle, eat, cheese, ow (out), boo boo (book), loud, ta-da!

New behavior of the week: When your siblings all arrive home after school and you see them from the front window, you hang from the windowsill and SCREAM! Like SO LOUDLY! For SEVERAL SECONDS AT A TIME! And then when they come inside the house, you run to the foyer and SCREAM SOME MORE!!! Hahaha! You may be just a little bit excited to see them!

Love,

Mom

I Love Thee Purely

Dear Mackenzie,

How do I love thee? Let me count the (just a few of many) ways: 

1) I love how independent you are. When we were at the playground, I was initially swinging on a swing with you on my lap. After a few minutes of that, you wiggled out of my lap, stood next to the swing and tried to push me off of it because you wanted to sit on the swing and swing by yourself! When I try to help you wash your hands, you push my hands away and say "Do it! Do it" (as in, "I can do it! I can do it!"). You always try to pull your shirts and pants on by yourself and can pull slippers on and off your feet all on your own.

2) I love how helpful you are. Whenever you see me cleaning up your books, markers or whatever, you immediately start helping me clean them up, too, without me even having to ask you.

3) I love the dimple in your right cheek. 

4) I love the way you say "Oh no!" and put your hand over your mouth when something bad happens.

5) I love the way you point at things and wag your cute little finger up and down when you do.

6) I love that you also call Daddy "Al-uh" because you hear me call him Alex all the time.

7) I love the way you cling to my arm like a baby koala as you fall asleep next to me in bed.

8) I love the way you come up and hug my legs when I am washing things in the kitchen sink.

9) I love that you love having tea parties with your dolls.

10) I love that I peeked in on you in the living room today and you were quietly sitting on the couch hugging your baby doll to your chest.

11) I love that I always hear you singing "Apples and Bananas" and that your version goes like this: "oh oh oh app-uh and na-na."

12) I love the way you smile when I sing "Skidamarink" and that after watching me just a couple times, you know how to do all of the hand motions, including tapping your nose on the final 'boop boop bee doop."

13) I love/don't love that you can climb up and down the big spiral staircase by yourself. You are so strong! But oh my god, stop doing it when no one is with you, I don't want you to fall!

14) I love all the new words you learned recently: bed, spoon, knife, phone, attic, more, home, back back (backpack), wall, eyebrow, up, hide.

15) I love how you gesture for me to follow you and say, "Come on!"

16) I love that when you see me doing exercises--like doing planks on the floor or tricep dips on the coffee table--you copy me and do them with me.

17) I love how you beam when you see me and shout happily, "Mama!"

Love,

Mom

Sympathetic Soul

Dear Mackenzie,

Now that your siblings are all back in school, there is no one home to play with you during the day while I do housework. Sometimes, I have to leave you in your room but you are not really good at knowing how to entertain yourself, so you just sit at the gate and wait for my return, like a little puppy. Sometimes, it takes awhile for me to get back to you and this happens:

I love how toddlers can fall asleep anywhere! Hopefully, you will learn to be more independent over the next few months. But one emotion you already excel at is empathy. Empathy is one of the qualities I value the most and it makes me so proud when you are aware of others' feelings. The other day, JieJie was talking to me when she suddenly started crying about how difficult her homework was. You were playing but when you heard JieJie crying, your eyes widened and you immediately crawled over and hugged her. This morning, I was watching a show about 9/11 and my eyes started to well up. I wasn't audibly crying but you immediately recognized that I was sad, climbed up onto the couch and into my lap and hugged me. Thank you, sweetheart!

And in vocab news, you have learned how to say Anna (you love reading Frozen books!), night-night and yi-yi (Chinese for bad). You said the latter when you held up a page that had been ripped out of a book. I don't know if you had ripped it or Second GuhGaw had but at least you knew it was something you shouldn't do!

Love,

Mom

Uh-Oh!

Dear Mackenzie,

When Second GuhGaw was your age, he almost always slept next to me at nighttime and had to be touching me. You are the same! I have to lay down with you for you to fall asleep and while I can transfer you to your crib without you waking up, you do inevitably wake up after a couple hours and only sleep through the night if you're next to me in my bed. Then, whenever you stir awake, you immediately need to feel my skin in order to be comforted enough to fall back asleep. That is why I am often awakened in the middle of the night by your palm on my cheek or your hand stroking my arm. Last night, I was jerked awake when you started tugging on the blanket--I had wrapped it around my shoulders so you kept pulling at it until you uncovered my arm and could feel it. Oye.

In other news, you learned how to say "Po Po" (PoiPoi, Chinese for grandmother), "oo" (shoe) and "uh-oh!" And you use that latter one a lot!

Love,

Mom

Phone It In

Dear Mackenzie,

Second GuhGaw has a Ninja Turtle building set that includes a small ladder and you loooooove carrying that ladder around and pretending it is your phone. You hold it up to your ear to "chat" with someone and also put it over your eye and pretend to take photos with it. You even say "Cheeeeese!" and make a shutter sound: kshhh kshhh kshhh. So cute!

Also, you have said so many new words in the past couple days: beebee (baby), na (nap), bah (bath), bull (table), sna (snack). You are so smart!

Love,

Mom

Mask Up

Dear Mackenzie,

Sign of the times: You learned how to say "mask" this week. (You actually pronounce it "mah" when you point to the masks on our faces.) I don't remember when your siblings first said the word mask, but it definitely wasn't during those first few months when they were beginning to speak real words. Of course, we never wore masks when they were younger while you have only known a world where we put on masks every time we leave the house. *sigh*

On a cuter note, you also said another new word yesterday: poo poo! You were playing the the living room when you suddenly stood up, tapped your butt and said "poo poo!" And you actually had, in fact, poo poo'd!

Love,
Mom

The Cat's Meow

Dear Mackenzie,

You are at such a fun age because there are so many new behaviors to witness every day! Here are just a few of them:

- When I am explaining things to you, you nod solemnly, as if you really do understand everything I'm saying.

- When you get excited about something, you pump your fists in the air and cheer, "YAAAAAY!"

- When JieJie was your age, her hair was always in her face and she didn't care. Conversely, you hate having wisps of hair in your face and constantly brush them away if your hair isn't tied up.

- You can say JieJie's name and often call out for her: "Li-a! Li-a!" You also say "Guh" when you're addressing or talking about your big brothers. When I was folding laundry the other night and you saw Second GuhGaw's socks, you grabbed it, said "Guh" and pointed at your foot.

- When I ask you something you don't know the answer to (like, "Why did you make that mess?"), you shrug your shoulders two or three times. It's so cute!

- You can identify many body parts, including your eyes, nose, chin, ears, fingers, hands, toes, feet, knees, elbows, back and belly button. Yesterday, you actually said "no" and pointed at your nose!

- You can imitate the sounds that several animals make: moo for cow, neigh for horse, baaa for sheep, snorts for pig and loud roars for lions, tigers and dinosaurs.

- You seem to be fascinated by birds. You often shout at them "doo doo doo doo!" and try to chase them.

- You have grown to love Bubble Guppies and say "buh buh buh buh buh" when you see the characters on TV or in books. You can even recognizably hum the theme song! You also still love Baby Shark and can hum the tune of that as well. When we were driving back from Ithaca last week, the only thing that finally got you to stop crying was listening to Baby Shark. I played it more than 10 times in a row and you happily bobbed your head and made the chomping arm motion each time.

- You are an independent woman. You often insist on doing things on your own, including feeding yourself, washing your hands and brushing your teeth. When you see me holding your toothbrush, you reach for it, make the "chhh chhh chhh" noise and imitate brushing your teeth back and forth. When I give you the toothbrush, you run to your mirror to brush and even use your bib to dab away any spit. You're also pretty good at pulling on your pants by yourself.

- You love dressing up, whether it's putting on hats, draping a scarf around your neck, putting on sunglasses and slippers or donning necklaces and bracelets. One day, you took one of your dresses out of the drawer, ran over to your mirror and held it up against your torso while you smiled and admired your reflection! 

- You now squint your eyes and grin a cheesy grin when posing for photos. And when I show you photos of yourself, our family or babies, you always tilt your head and sweetly say, "Ohhhhhhh!"

- You love yogurt-covered pretzels and chocolate chips. You also discovered where I keep the bags of chocolate chips and whenever the pantry cabinet is open, you run over to where the chocolate chips are, open your mouth widely, point to it and say, "Aaaahhhhh!" If I don't give you a chocolate chip, you open your mouth wider and say louder, "AAAAHHHH!" Like, Mama clearly didn't hear me so I will scream more loudly!

- In addition to the word nose, you have said so many new words recently: You held your cup out to me and asked for "nai nai"; you wanted a piggyback ride and said "back"; you saw Elmo and said his name; you finished your milk and exclaimed "done!"; you asked for a "nana" (banana) when you saw a bunch of them on the counter. Today you said for the first time bao bao (bread), bir (bird) and apple.

- When we celebrated GuhGaw's birthday at the beginning of the month, I told GuhGaw to sit down at the dining table in front of his cake. You immediately knew what was coming, ran to where I keep my camera bag and pointed at it.

- Whenever I leave the room, you get distressed and call out, "No no no no!"

- When I ask you, "Should you rip books?", you wag your finger and say, "No no!" (But you still rip pages out of books anyway!)

- When you see photos of me around the house, you excitedly point at them and exclaim, "Mama! Mama!"

- You love to sit and flip through books, dance to "Levitating" and "Beautiful Mistakes" and crawl around on the floor and meow like a cat.

- This morning, you put your arm around my neck and planted a big, firm kiss on my cheek. Love!

Love,

Mom

Squirrel!

Dear Mackenzie,

You and I went out this morning and when we got back home, Daddy asked how our outing had been. I said, "We went to the park and Mackenzie chased squirrels and looked at dogs." Daddy asked, "Did you take our daughter or a dog to the park?" Haha!

Love,

Mom

Bugging Out

Dear Mackenzie,

Today's cute behaviors:

1) You were playing with smalls jars of red chili flakes and zaatar we had on the dining table and when Daddy took them away from you, you put your hands on your hips, stuck your bottom lip out and glared at him. I know you were pouting but it was UH-DORABLE!

2) I was carrying you and saw a spider crawl across the hallway floor. I put you down to get it but you beat me to it--you ran into my room, climbed onto the side of my bed to reach the box of tissues on my nightstand, pulled out a tissue and ran back into the hallway and squished the spider with the tissue. I was impressed, especially since your older siblings freak out and scream when they see the tiniest of bugs. You're so brave!

Love,

Mom

Play Ball

Dear Mackenzie,

For awhile, your vocabulary has consisted of: mama, hi, bye, yuck, ow and the recently added dada. Tonight, you added the word ball! Daddy recently bought you a rainbow-colored ball and when you saw it in the back foyer tonight, you pointed at it and said, "Ball ball!" So exciting! Our entire family surrounded you and cheered!

Love,

Mom

First Dada

Dear Mackenzie,

You said "dada" this morning! I was brushing my teeth when you walked in. I asked you where Daddy was and you looked out the door and called out, "Da? Dada? Dada?" Awww!

Love,

Mom

Eskimo Kiss

Dear Mackenzie,

I was still in bed when Daddy brought you into our room this morning and when he put you down on the bed, you crawled over to me and rubbed your nose against mine. So cute!

Love,

Mom

A Kiss For Your Sis

Dear Mackenzie,

Whenever I feed you and I get the tiniest bit of food on the corner of your mouth, you urgently say, "Unh unh unh unh unh!!" until I wipe it away. You're so neat!

In other news, you did the cutest thing a few nights ago! You ran into JieJie's room but she was already asleep in her bed. When you saw that, you climbed up onto her bed, sat next to her, lowered your face to hers and kissed her firmly on the cheek. Then you made a sleeping noise: "Guuuuhhh chhhhh guuuuhhh chhhhhh." So sweet!

Love,

Mom

Response Time

Dear Mackenzie,

Your response when you see other babies or photos of yourself: You tilt your head, smile and say, "Ohhhhhhh."

Your response when you see a bug: "Yuck!" (sometimes it's "Eeee-yuck!" when you're really grossed out!)

Your response when you get hurt: "Owwwwww."

Your response when you pretend you got hurt: "Owwwwww."

Your response when I hold up my camera to take your picture: You say "Cheese!" and pose!

Love,

Mom

Kissy Kissy

Dear Mackenzie,

Last night, you and I were laying in bed when Daddy came over and gave me a big long kiss on the lips. After he walked away, you climbed on top of me and pressed your lips firmly onto mine for a full 10 seconds. Hahaha!

Love,

Mom

Snoring Sounds

Dear Mackenzie,

Whenever you see someone sleeping, you imitate snoring and go, "Guuuhhh chhhhhh guuuuhhh chhhhh." So cute!

Love,

Mom

What Stranger Danger?

Dear Mackenzie,

At Second GuhGaw's birthday party last month, you immediately bonded with my friend Wendy even though you hadn't seen her since you were a little baby. We were all in the yard and you held out your arms toward her to ask her to pick you up. She did pick you up--and then you wouldn't let her put you down for the rest of the party! When it was time for her to leave, you actually followed her out to her car and tried to climb in! When I picked you up, you started crying sooooo loudly and kept trying to wriggle out of my arms. Um, hello? Did you forget who your mom is?!?

A few weeks later, we saw Wendy again when we all went strawberry picking. My friend Shui came, too, and this time, you gravitated toward her. She was talking to you and then you motioned for her to pick you up. She held you for awhile but then her son ran off and she had to put you down to chase after him. When she put you down, you ran right after her! Thankfully, later when she was holding you again and it was time for us to part ways, you let me take you from her without any tears or fuss.

Yesterday, we went to a rope-climbing/zipline course with Wendy's extended family and while I was off helping GuhGaw get into his climbing gear, you bonded with Wendy's college-aged niece, Ashley. Daddy said you were initially shy and clutched his leg but then Ashely reached her hand out toward you and you immediately went to her and held it. You then spent the rest of the afternoon happily playing with Ashley, going on swings with her, chasing her around a treehouse and asking her to hold you. Um, so clearly we need to have a discussion about stranger danger!

Love,

Mom

Water Baby

Dear Mackenzie,

Our family spent five days in Montauk last week and there were so many firsts for us: our first post-Covid vacation, our first vacation with four kids and your first vacation ever! It was so great to finally have a change of scenery after spending a majority of the past 16 months inside our house and you all had so much fun playing on the beach every day. The beach we went to, Ditch Plains, is actually pretty famous for surfing because of its big, rough waves and Second GuhGaw was so afraid of the tall fumes of water that he refused to go near the ocean; he spent every day at the beach up near our chairs and umbrellas, happily digging tunnels in the sand and playing with his trucks. You, on the other hand, LOVED the ocean and kept charging toward it like Baby Moana. Every time I put you near the shoreline and a huge wave crashed around your legs, your eyes and mouth widened in astonishment. But when the surprise wore off, you giggled with delight and tried to run further into the ocean! You were fearless!

You exhibited this same bravado when we went to the resort's pool. You were initially scared when I first helped you step in but after a short while, you were happily splashing around, urging me to carry you further in and then even trying to wriggle out of my arms and swim off on your own--even though it was literally your first time in a swimming pool! Oh man, I am simultaneously impressed and worried about your braveness!

Love,

Mom

Baby Ninja Warrior

Dear Mackenzie,

Some recent behaviors:

- You went from calling me "Mamamamama" to just "Ma." Now when you want me attention, you just chirp out a perfunctory, "Ma!"

- When you are unhappy about something, you cross your arms and stick out your bottom lip. I can tell that sometimes when you do this, though, you aren't really grumpy about anything but you just want attention.

- Speaking of attention, you have started falling down on purpose so that I will come over to you, help you up and give you a hug.

- You hate brushing your teeth and put up a good fight to avoid it. You clamp your lips together and press them against my arm so that I can't get the toothbrush in your mouth! You will brush yourself if I let you hold the toothbrush but you always swallow the dollop of toothpaste right away so that doesn't work.

- You love baths and eagerly run to the bathroom when I say it's bath time. It's so cute when you scrub your belly, legs and feet by yourself! When I drain the tub, you know bath time is over and dutifully start taking all of your toys out of the tub and putting them back on the ledge. 

- When you hit or scratch one of your siblings and I tell you to say sorry, you go over to the hurt sibling and hug him/her. Then you smile at me as if to say, "I did it! Are you proud of me?"

- You don't like the "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" song anymore. You do still like "You Are My Sunshine" and (uuuuuugggggghhhhh, I'm so sick of it) "Baby Shark."

- Speaking of spiders, if you see one on the wall, you frown and say, "Yuck!" Then you always try to blow it away, which is so cute! I guess now that you know what real spiders look like, you no longer like listening to a song about them!

- You continue to amaze me with your baby ninja warrior skills! Yesterday, you grabbed the refrigerator and freezer door handles and walked your feet up the front of the fridge. The other day, I asked GuhGaw to watch you in your room while I made smoothies. When I came up after I'd finished, GuhGaw had actually fallen asleep on your mat and you had somehow managed to climb up on top of your bookshelf! You were just sitting there, chilling. Thank goodness I came up before you lost your balance and fell! *sigh* Are multiple trips to the emergency room in your future, you little daredevil?

Btw, GuhGaw is the best babysitter ever, right? 

Love,

Mom

Stylish Picks

Dear Mackenzie,

This morning, I picked out what I thought was a cute outfit for you: a summery white shirt with big teal flowers and matching teal shorts. This outfit did not meet your approval, though, because when I held it up to you, you waved your hand at it in disdain and picked out a white and pink-flowered sundress instead. You happily let me put the dress on you and then you grabbed your favorite butterfly scarf (you insist on wearing it ALL the time) and stylishly draped it across your shoulders. Hello, fashion star!

Love,

Mom

Pretty Please

Dear Mackenzie,

Hey baby girl! Here are some things about you:

- You call me "Mamamamama." Not "Mama" but "Mamamamama." Okay.

- You love seeing other babies! You smile the cutest smile when you see one in a book or on TV. I wish we could go to the playground so that you could play with the other babies there.

- Whenever we do a group hug with Daddy or one of your siblings, you hug both of us and then push the other person away so that only you and I are still hugging.

- When you try a food and like it, you smile and nod your head approvingly. Sometimes, you rub your tummy and say, "Ooooo!"

- The other day, you spilled your milk, grabbed a tissue, wiped up the milk and then ran to the kitchen to throw away the tissue. So responsible!

- When I take a booger out of your nose and show it to you, you say, "Whoa!"

- You almost gave me a heart attack the other day when I came into the living room and saw you standing precariously on the edge of the couch, slowly trying to grab a helium balloon string that was juuuuust out of your reach. I mean, if you had leaned over just a smidge, you would have tumbled off the couch and faceplanted on the floor. Thank goodness I came in and got you before you did!

- When you have done something you shouldn't have and you know I'm about to scold you, you put your hands on your hips, like you've seen me do when I scold your siblings.

- When I tell you to say please, you tip your head to the side, press your palms together and say in a sweet voice, "Ooooh." It's so cute!

Love,

Mom

Eighteen Months!

Dear Mackenzie,

You are 18 months old today! And you are such a sweet, funny and smart toddler! I love your adorable kisses and the way you hug my neck and pull my head closer to yours when I am carrying you. I love the way you greet me when I come home: You run into the foyer with a big smile on your face, raise your arms above your head and twirl around. I love that when you hear upbeat music, you start swaying to it and wagging your finger in the air. I love that when you accidentally knock something over or drop something, your eyes and mouth widen and you say, "Oh." I love the way you giggle when I chase you around the house or tickle your armpits.

You are so observant and copy a lot of the things you see me do. When I put on lotion, you hold out your hand so that I will give you some lotion, too, and then rub it on your hands and neck like I do. When I put on lip balm, you purse your lips until I put some on you, too, and then you smack your lips together the way you see me do it. Sometimes, I give you the lip balm and you expertly put it on yourself. When I drink from my water bottle, you open your mouth wide and say "Aaaaaaaaah" until I give you a sip of water as well. Once you drink it, you let out a satisfied, "Ahhhhhh."

You know so much already. When I take a pair of your socks out of your drawer, you immediately hold up your foot so that I can put a sock on it. If you hear the front door open, you run to the foyer to see who is coming into the house. When you saw Daddy put on his jacket, you waved bye to him since you knew that meant he was leaving the house. When Second GuhGaw was crying, you knew he was sad and patted his head to comfort him. You know that when you look sad or cry, I will hold you and snuggle with you, so you often pretend to be sad by hanging your head down and fake-crying to get my attention--sneaky girl!

You can feed yourself with a fork and spoon really well; sometimes, you even insist on feeding yourself and won't let me feed you. You really like to read and know that once I change you into pajamas at night, it's time to read bedtime stories. You walk excitedly over to your bookshelf, select a book, walk over to me and plop into my lap. You have several dozen books but you always pick the same favorites: Bedtime for Batman, Your Baby's First Word Will Be Dada, Where is Baby's Mama?, Curious George at the Zoo, Elmo's ABCs and your four Frozen books (you've never seen the movie but you love seeing the characters from Frozen). You're also fond of books with flaps and textures to feel.

 

Other things about you at 18 months: 

-You're a picky eater. You try everything we feed you but a lot of it gets spit back out, especially meat. You do like broccoli, peas, oranges, bananas, strawberries, yogurt, string cheese, rice and pasta. The one thing that you always eat and eat a lot of is oatmeal.

-Your hair is so long and goes well past your eyes. I tie it up in a little ponytail on the top of your head but you *always* pull the hair tie out. Hair clips and barrettes also don't stay in your hair for very long so you're constantly looking out at the world through a veil of fine black hair.

-You are girly like JieJie and enjoy dressing up with dresses, hats, sunglasses and purses.

-The other day, you put a doll in the toy highchair and pretended to feed it applesauce with a toy spoon. Then you hugged the doll so sweetly!

-When you're not happy about something, you purse your lips like a duck and pout. When you're angry, you scream like a banshee and scratch whoever has offended you (yeah, we have to work on not doing that anymore). 

-You don't like it when my attention is diverted away from you for too long so if I have been talking to someone else for awhile (i.e. five minutes), you start babbling REALLY loudly so that I can't hear the other person over you. Or if I have been looking at my phone, you stick your face right in between it and my face!

-You ask me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" *every* night at bedtime, sometimes dozens of times.

-I sadly had to stop breastfeeding you when I got my Covid vaccine but you still like to be cradled while you drink your bottle of milk. Whenever I hand you your bottle, you back up toward me to tell me that you want me to pick you up and bend your knees as soon as I start lifting you up. Then you lay in my arms while you drink your milk. I really miss breastfeeding you so I am grateful that I still get this milk-drinking bonding time!

Love,

Mom

Waiting for Mama

Dear Mackenzie,

All of your siblings' said "mama" first when they were babies but you deviated and your first word was "hi." You now also say "bye" and "whoa." I am anxiously waiting for you to call me Mama! You kind of did it in the car today--you were trying to get my attention from the backseat and called out "Ah!" Then you said, "Ama!" And then you said, "Mama!" That counts, right? Even though you haven't said it to me again?

Love,

Mom

Come Hither

Dear Mackenzie,

I love how you have learned to ask me to follow you by holding your hand out toward me and curling your fingers in a beckoning motion. You look so cute!

Love,

Mom

Top Tunes

Dear Mackenzie,

You have always loved the songs "In Summer" (from Frozen) and "Slaughter Race" (from Wreck-It Ralph) but now two more tunes have joined your list of top faves. The first one is a kids' classic: "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider." You always listen intently when I sing it and every time you want me to sing it, you mimic the spider motion that I make and tap all of your fingertips together and say, "Ungh ungh ungh." It is so cute! Last night, you actually requested that I sing it over a dozen times. I was getting tired of singing it but the way you tap your fingertips together and look at me expectantly and then the way you look so pleased when I start the first refrain--I can't say no!

Your second new favorite song is the favorite song of hundreds of toddlers around the world: "Baby Shark!" You get SO excited when I sing it or play the song on YouTube and you do your adorable pointed finger wag/back-and-forth sway dance move. When Daddy sings it at super speed, you shake your head back and forth so fast and giggle like crazy. Adorable!

Love,

Mom

Independent Woman

Dear Mackenzie,

We went hiking yesterday and the trail led to a pretty shoreline. It was your first time on a beach since you learned how to walk and you seemed to really enjoy exploring the area, playing in the sand and picking up rocks. You kept saying "whoooooa," which was so cute! Sections of the beach were pretty rocky and I tried to hold your hand while you were walking around so that you wouldn't fall but you kept pushing my hand away and making your way across the rocks on your own. You were like, "Mom, I got this!"

Love,

Mom

Toddler Traits

Dear Mackenzie,

You are 16 months old now--a full-blown toddler! I love everything about this stage because you are sleeping through the night (most of the time), I don't have to worry about potty training yet (ugh, soooo not looking forward to going through that for a fourth time) and there are so many cute toddler behaviors! For example:

- You are always saying "aaah," "unngh," "dadadada" and other toddlerese phrases. When you want something from me, you say, "Ungh ungh ungh ungh" and when I correctly guess what it is that you want, you smile a satisfied smile and utter an approving, "Unnnnngh."

- When I am at the kitchen sink, you often run up behind me and hug my legs really tightly.

- I was feeding you strawberries one day while you were sitting in my lap and held one strawberry in the air for a second while I was talking to JieJie. Apparently, you reeeeally wanted that strawberry and didn't want to wait, so you grabbed my hand, pulled it to your mouth and forced me to feed you the strawberry!

- When you fall down and hurt your hands, you hold them up to me so that I can kiss them and make them better.

- You give me the sweetest, softest little baby kisses on the lips. When you're not feeling that affectionate, though, and I ask you for a kiss, you merely turn your cheek toward me so that I can kiss it.

- You are more of a daredevil than your siblings were at the same age. The other day, you managed to climb from the daybed's side railing to the back of a nearby desk chair but then you got stuck and couldn't get down. Thank goodness I was in the room to get you down before you fell and that Second GuhGaw was actually sitting in the desk chair at the time so that it didn't topple over from your weight.

- You have advanced from crawling up the stairs to walking up the stairs while I hold your hands.

- You are so good at bedtime. Once I put you in your crib, you climb into your sleep sack yourself and hold out your hands for me to put mittens on them (you still scratch your face while you sleep, hence the need for mittens; however, they only make scratch-proof mittens for newborns so the "mittens" I use now are actually your socks). 

- When I carry you up to Daddy's office door, you knock on it for me.

- You touch your fingertips together whenever you want me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to you (which is a lot).

- You always sway back and forth when you hear music.

- You squeal with laughter when you are being chased.

- When I put lotion on you after your bath, you like to put it on me, too. It gets messy, though, because you like to dunk your entire fist into the lotion jar and then smear the lotion across my cheeks and chest.

- You learned how to nod but you do it with your entire head and torso, which is so cute!

- When Daddy, your siblings and I are all laughing really hard because we're talking about something funny, you laugh really hard, too, even though you have no idea what we're talking about. You don't want to be left out!

Love,

Mom

Braveheart

Dear Mackenzie,

You are quickly becoming my little daredevil! You love climbing up on whatever you can, whether it's the coffee table, Second GuhGaw's bed or the couch. You hadn't been able to pull yourself up on the latter before but this afternoon, I watched as you grabbed a hold of the couch cover, lifted your leg up over the edge and hoisted yourself up onto the cushion! You are so strong and so brave--a dangerous combination! Maybe because you are the littlest member of our household, you love standing up on high surfaces and feeling tall. Whenever Daddy and I let you stand atop a dresser or kitchen counter, you start beaming and surveying all that is suddenly beneath you.

Other developments this week: 

- You started hugging everyone a lot more. You often walk up to me and hug my legs or go over to your siblings and hug them. So sweet!

- You like to press your face against mine and give me an Eskimo kiss. So adorable!

- You started blowing raspberries. Really forceful, wet raspberries. So messy!

- You don't like it when I pay more attention to your siblings so when you want me to focus on you, you climb into my lap, lay down in a nursing position and open your mouth wide. You know that when I nurse you, I have to pay attention to you! So sneaky!

- You *really* like corn. You tried it for the first time at dinner tonight and kept asking for more. So corny!

Love,

Mom

Open Wide

Dear Mackenzie,

You were standing up in your room today and I was suddenly taken aback because you looked so big! It's funny how I see you every single day but then I blink and it's as if you've suddenly aged several months. Your arms and legs are longer, your cheeks are chubbier (you even have a dimple when you smile!), size 12-months clothes are too tight on you, your hair has grown down to your shoulders and you have so many teeth (even your molars are all coming in). You have also become incredibly strong--in the past few weeks, you have acquired the ability to climb up the entire staircase, climb onto the top of the coffee table and pull yourself up on the iron bars on the side of the daybed in your room. The latter is especially funny because it's a little more difficult and you grunt so much while pulling yourself up, like a baby American ninja warrior!

In other developments, you finally started drinking cow's milk (about 6-8 ounces a day, but you still like to nurse), can now feed yourself with a fork and are showing an increasing interest in eating foods that aren't the pureed baby mush I've been feeding you for the past nine months. It's actually pretty hilarious how you ask for food: You open your mouth SO WIDE and just hold it open toward me (or whoever has the yummy looking morsels) until I feed you.

Example A:

Example B: 

Example C:

You are such a cutie! You often reach for my hands and lead me on little walks around the house. You like it when I lift you up and let you put items back on their shelves--my bottle of calcium pills, your jar of lotion--and beam and clap for yourself once you've done so. Whenever you hear upbeat music, you sway back and forth and wiggle on your butt if you're sitting. The other day, we were having a dance party with your siblings and you were doing the CUTEST dance! You were swaying back and forth, pointing your fingers in the air and lifting your legs side to side. Yesterday, I was holding you when Daddy came up to me and kissed me. Not to be outdone, you immediately held my head in both your hands, leaned in toward me and gave me the sweetest kisses on my mouth!

I love that you can understand more now. You wanted a bite of food the other day and I told you to drink your water first--and you did! When we were in your room and I asked you if you wanted to read a book, you walked over to your bookshelf, picked one out (your current favorites are Bedtime for Batman and Adorable You), brought it over to me and plopped down in my lap so we could read it together. When we were done, I told you to put it back on the shelf, which you did. You are already such a big girl (with a really big mouth, haha!)!

Love,

Mom

Cute Antics

Dear Mackenzie,

You are doing so many cute things that warm my heart so much!

-You have been making the funniest faces lately! Sometimes, you just suddenly widen your eyes and mouth a lot so that they are huge circles. Or you scrunch up one side of your face and smile. 

-When you hear a song you like (like when your Olaf doll sings "When I Am Older"), you smile, lean to the side and punch your fist in the air.

-When you play with your baby basketball hoop, you smile and clap for yourself every time you put the ball through the basket.

-When I come into the room, you immediately stop whatever you're doing, break out into the big open-mouthed grin and toddle toward me while giggling.

-When you want me to pick you up, you walk up right next to me, look up at me, smile, reach your right arm up toward me and say, "Hey!" It's so irresistible! And you have already learned that it's irresistible! You were crying today because Daddy was holding you but you wanted me instead. Then it must have hit you to use your new trick because you stopped crying mid-cry, raised your arm toward me and said, "Hey!" And it totally worked because I took you from Daddy's arms!

-You picked up JieJie's hat yesterday and put it on your head all by yourself! I had never seen you do that before and you looked so proud of yourself when you did it.

- You said Mama! I'm not exactly sure if it was directed at me as you weren't looking at me when you said it but you did say the sounds "ma ma" several times while I was in the room with you . . . so I'll take it!

Love,

Mom