Dear Mackenzie,
"Today is my daughter's fourth birthday. When she came to me this morning, I didn't recognize her. I had never seen her be four." #dadjoke
Happy fourth birthday to my fourth kid! You had been looking forward to your birthday all week and kept asking me, "Mama, how many days until my birthday?" When you woke up this morning and saw Daddy or one of your siblings, you exclaimed, "It's my birthday!" And when Second GuhGaw led you into the dining room where you saw a table full of balloons and presents, your whole face lit up! I love how kids are super excited for birthdays because I love celebrating birthdays! And I had so much fun celebrating yours today, Kenziebear!
Since you were born right before the crazy coronavirus pandemic, we weren't able to have big parties for your first three birthdays but you are getting FOUR celebrations this year! Today, you had a party in school (with chocolate doughnuts and apple juice!), a party after school at Eddie's Sweet Shop (with ice cream sundaes!) AND a party at home (with homemade chocolate cake!). This Saturday, you are going to have a birthday play date with three of your BFFs at Kid's Play World. We are clearly making up for lost time!
You had so much fun at your ice cream party! Current classmates from Mercy and former classmates from Community House came and you and your buddies had a blast eating ice cream and playing in the shop (which was thankfully not that busy, so we practically had the whole place to ourselves). Everyone brought you presents and wished you a happy birthday and you had such a big, happy grin on your face the entire afternoon! I could tell that you felt so special--and you deserved it! (Btw, you were so busy playing with your friends at the ice cream shop, you only had maybe three bites of your sundae before you dashed off. With your sweet tooth, I was shocked. Shocked! JieJie ended up eating the rest of your ice cream, haha!) After the ice cream party, our family went out for pizza and then home for cake. I guess it was a good birthday because when I was helping you get ready for bed, you asked me hopefully, "Am I going to have another birthday?"
There were several other cute quotes from you today, too. When you saw your gifts this morning, you jumped up and shouted, "This is my great birthday!" On the way to Eddie's, we were walking behind your friend Gianna, who lives down the block from Eddie's. I said that because she lives so close, she can get ice cream every day. You replied, "But that's not healthy. You can't eat ice cream every day. You'll get a stummy ache." And when we came home after pizza and you saw the giant Bluey balloons we'd gotten for you, you had such a cheeky grin and exclaimed, "This is the best birthday!" Yes! That was what I was going for!
You are such a sweet, funny, smart girl! Here are some things about Mackenzie, age 4:
-You didn't really recognize any letters before school started but that has drastically changed over the past couple months. You definitely know the letter M since that's what your name starts with and every time you see one, you point to it and shout, "M!" You also recognize many of the other letters in your name and have been working hard at school learning how to write your name. You have such a long name that when the school year started, your teacher only had you practice writing "Mack" at first, but you have since moved on to writing your whole name now. When we named you, I always knew you'd have a bigger challenge than your siblings when it came to learning how to write your name but you are mastering it quickly!
-You are taking Spanish in school and already know some basic words like "hola," "buenos dias" and how to count up to five.
-It's been a little hard for you to wake up at 6:30am every day for school, but you do like going. When you had a bad-sounding cough yesterday, I kept you home and you told me, "I don't want to miss school." When your siblings came home from school in the afternoon and you realized the entire day had passed, you asked me if school was over. I said yes and you actually started tearing up and repeated that you didn't want to miss school. Thankfully, your cough was gone today and you were able to return to school today for your party!
-Your drawings now consist of recognizable human figures with heads, eyes, arms and legs, instead of just a bunch of scribbled lines. I don't even know when you made that transition but it's pretty cool to see! And one time when you showed me a picture and I asked you what the circle in the corner was, you replied, "It's a random thing."
-You say other cute things like "Do you remember yesterday a long time ago?"
-When you want your siblings to give something to you, you tell them, "Sharing is for caring!"
-During recess one day, you found a shiny, gold-colored, still-wrapped Mickey Mouse coin on the playground and your first instinct was not to keep this unexpected treasure but to show it to your teacher and tell her that someone lost it. Knowing that the coin would never find its way back to its owner, your teacher said you could keep it. Thank you for being so honest, baby girl!
-You are so well-behaved and do such a good job following the rules, at home and at school. You clean up your toys, eat dinner, get dressed, etc. whenever I tell you to without much complaint. Sometimes, you do too good of a job following the rules. One day, you told me that you were crying during rest time at school and when I asked why, you said you had to go to the bathroom but your teacher had told you guys not to talk so you didn't ask her if you could go. Oh, sweetie! We had a talk then about when it is okay not to listen!
-You like to play shop and are always in your room arranging your toys and setting up different kinds of stores, like a mochi shop, ice cream shop or jewelry shop. You also like to set up a "library" in your room.
-You are SO loud. I can always hear you clomping up and down the stairs. And in a house full of older siblings, you make SURE we hear you when you talk, even if someone is already talking. You need to work on waiting to speak while someone else is speaking but I do admire your assertiveness!
-You are by far the most independent of all my kids. You always insist on doing things by yourself and sometimes it takes all of my energy to grit my teeth and let you because it takes so long. But again, I admire you for taking charge.
-I also admire you for your helpfulness. You constantly rush to assist me with things, whether it is getting something out of the fridge while I am cooking, pouring ingredients into the bowl when I'm baking, running to get my water bottle from another room or carrying the laundry back to my room. Thank you so much for being such an awesome helper!
-Your loves: the color purple; playing with your dolls and dollhouses; playing in your play kitchen; dressing up with headbands, sunglasses, capes and bags; wearing dresses; dancing, watching Bluey and K-pop music videos (whenever you hear one of your favorites start to play on my computer, you FLY into my room to watch it--your current faves are "3D" by Jungkook and "Cupid" by Fifty Fifty); eating chocolate!
-You have a big sweet tooth but also a discerning palette because you reject some desserts when they are "too sweet." You love strawberries and blueberries, too, but even those can sometimes be "too sweet."
-You have the BEST dimpled smile and adorable giggle! You are so playful and joyful and I am so, so, SO grateful for you. Happy birthday, baby girl!
Love,
Mom
