Pig Tales

Dear Mackenzie,

Currently, you are really into Elephant & Piggie books by Mo Willems. Your favorite ones are Happy Pig Day and Let's Go For a Drive, which you have been asking me to read every day at naptime and bedtime. Tonight, I just realized that you like a lot of things involving pigs: Peppa Pig, Olivia and now Elephant & Piggie. You were born in the Year of the Pig on the Chinese calendar, so it tracks!

Love,

Mom

Puzzle Master

Dear Mackenzie,

I brought back a few Miami souvenirs for you, including a space-themed puzzle from the science museum we visited. It was so cute watching you put it together! You kept saying, "Will this work? Let's try it." And sometimes the piece wasn't in the right place and didn't quite work but you pushed it in so hard and forced it to work! Hahaha! So determined!

Love,

Mom

Missing Mommy

Dear Mackenzie,

My sweet girl! I went on a vacation with JieJie and Second GuhGaw* and we were away for five days. It was my first time being away from you for more than a few hours and I wasn't sure how you would react but like so many times before, you handled it with such maturity. It might have helped that the three of us left for the airport last Tuesday before you woke up, so you didn't have to see us leaving with all of our luggage. While we were in Miami, we video chatted with you every day and Daddy said you didn't cry at all, though there was one time when you got sad and said, "I want Mama."

We returned home late last night/early this morning at 1:30am and you were of course fast asleep in bed. After I took a shower, I crawled into bed with you and hugged you but you didn't wake up. This morning, you woke up before me and were playing in your room. When you heard me get out of bed, you ran to me, looked up at me with big eyes and wrapped your arms around my legs. I picked you up and then for a few minutes, you just kept repeating, "I want Mommy. I want Mommy. I want Mommy." You rested your head on my chest and looked so sad. I asked you how your week had been and you said, "I was sad. I want Mommy." My Kenziebear! I missed you so much and and am so glad to be back home with you!

Love,

Mom

*If you are wondering why I didn't take you on the vacation, too, it's not because I didn't want to! Daddy couldn't take the week off from work and it would have been too much for me to take all of you kids on vacation by myself. Next trip, though, you're definitely coming with us!

Clean Mouth

Dear Mackenzie,

Adorable things you have said/done recently:

"Oooh! I have an idea!"

-We were trying to choose a movie for you and your siblings to watch and you made a case for Frozen: "Frozen is a good movie. There are a lot of fun characters. There's Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Sven. There are a lot of fun characters." Wow, I didn't even know you knew the word "character." Or that you had such awesome debate skills!

-When I was helping you in the bathroom, you wrapped your arms around me and said, "I forgot to hug you today."

-Whenever I tuck you in, you ask me, "Do you have work to do?" The other night when I said I didn't, you said, "Yay! Then you can sleep with me the whole night!"

-We were eating a snack and you asked for a particular kind of cracker: "Can I have the cracker that is not the same shape as that one [that was already on the table]? The other cracker? You see my hands? [You make an oval shape with your fingers.] You see my circle? [I ask you if the cracker is shaped like a circle.] No, the cracker is not a circle. [I ask you if it's shaped like a rectangle.] No. [I go to the snack drawer and hold up a box of everything seasoning crackers and ask if it's those crackers.] No, that's not the ones. [I give up and just bring the rectangular everything crackers to the table.] Yes, those are the crackers." #facepalm

-In following with your independent streak, you go upstairs to the bathtub to wash your own hands after you eat. Last week, you started washing the food off of your face, too, but when you did that, you kept getting water all over your shirt and on the floor so I told you to stop doing it by yourself and that I would help you wipe your face with a washcloth if it was messy. Yesterday, you had a snack and washed your hands and then went into your room, got a washcloth out of your drawer, brought it back to the tub, put some water on it and wiped your mouth clean. Then you put the washcloth on the side of the tub to dry. I didn't know you did that yesterday (and was wondering where the washcloth on the tub came from) but then I watched you do it all today and I was so impressed. You are such a smart, capable little girl!

Love,

Mom

Supporting Hand

Dear Mackenzie,

Whenever I have to climb up on a stepstool to get something from an upper shelf in my closet or in the kitchen, you place a hand on my leg and tell me it's to make sure I don't fall. You are always the sweetest! Thank you for looking out for me!

Love,

Mom

Waiting for Friends

Dear Mackenzie,

When we were walking to school today, we saw your friend Bobbi walking ahead of us and you started screaming, "Bobbi! Bobbi! Wait for me! I'm your friend!" Hahaha!

Love,

Mom

Little Composer

Dear Mackenzie,

You sing all of the time and I love it! Sometimes it's BTS or Backstreet Boys songs (you love your boy bands like me!); recently, it's been "Skidamarink" because you learned it in school and also songs from the Moulin Rouge Broadway musical because I saw the show a few weeks ago and have been playing the soundtrack a lot. Sometimes, you also sing songs you just make up, such as the ones where you sing-narrate what you are doing at the moment: "I washing my hands! I putting soap on my hands and rubbing! Then I rinse!" And then there was the Mackenzie original you sang while I was showering you tonight: "You killed my daughter and you didn't even cryyyyyyyy." Um, what now?

Love,

Mom

A Big One

Dear Mackenzie,

To be filed under "Things That Are Only Adorable When A Little Kid Says Them": When you pooped today, you strained a bit and said, "It's a big one." Hahahaha! Three-year-old says that about her poop, cute! Adult says that, gross!

Love,

Mom

Money Bag

Dear Mackenzie,

I was eating a bowl of spicy noodles and sniffling from the spiciness but you thought I was crying. You looked at me all concerned and asked, "Mama, you okay?" I said I was and then you held out the bag of Monopoly money in your hand and asked, "You want money?" Hahaha!

Love,

Mom

First Dentist Visit

Dear Mackenzie,

You had your very first dentist appointment yesterday and like all of your other firsts, you handled it like a boss. Some kids would be scared but when we were in the waiting room and the receptionist was calling patients' names, you actually kept jumping up and asking hopefully with a smile on your face, "My turn? Is it my turn now? Did she say Kenzie?" When it was your turn, you climbed right into the chair and opened your mouth for the dentist. And when the cleaning started to feel uncomfortable, you squirmed and resisted a little but you stayed in the chair and let the dentist do her thing. No crying, no biting, no needing Daddy or me to sit in the chair and pin your body on top of ours like we had do to with all of your older siblings when they were your age. Rock star! And not only were you an awesome first-time patient, when it was JieJie's turn, you put one hand on her chest and used your other hand to hold hers. Always looking out for your sister, so sweet!

Love,

Mom

Picky Picky

Dear Mackenzie,

You were sitting in my room last night pretending to be a teacher and reading a book to your imaginary class. You read a page and then you looked up and said to the air, "Can you please stop picking your nose? It di-guthing." Hahahaha! I wonder if your teacher said the exact same thing in school yesterday?

Your role playing continued when you told your class the schedule: "Eat 'nack, then do music. How that sound?" So cute!

Love,

Mom

Huggamugga

Dear Mackenzie,

This morning, we were sitting on the couch when you looked up at me with your sweet eyes and said softly, "Mama, hug me hug me hug me hug me." No problem!

Love,

Mom