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