Fore!

Dear Mackenzie,

You say "headfore" instead of "forehead." Love it! I also love how comically dramatic you can be. You cleaned up your room today and when you were done, you sighed heavily, wiped your arm across your "headfore" and said wearily, "I finally done with all my housework. I'm so exhausted from all my housework." You even shook your head a little and did a little, "Whew." Hahaha! Where did you learn that from? I know I am exhausted all of the time but I don't do that! 

Love,

Mom

Sad Games

Dear Mackenzie,

This morning, you found a stack of the cloth face masks we all had to wear during the height of the pandemic (why does that already feel as if it was a lifetime ago when it's really only been a few years?). You put them on you and a couple of your stuffies and said you all had Covid, which was giving me all kinds of negative feels. Mmmkay, maybe stop telling me that you have a life-threatening disease, even if it is pretend? I don't know if that game was better or worse than the time JieJie and Second GuhGaw packed up their backpacks, sat in the hallway and pretended to be homeless. I overheard them talking about how they had no food and needed to beg for money. Seriously, where is the game where my kids pretend they have MBAs and seven-figure salaries?!?

Love,

Mom

Healthy Appetite

Dear Mackenzie,

Oh, the way you say "banilla" instead of "vanilla!"

Also, I find it funny that both of my sons are picky eaters with small appetites while my daughters are not picky and have big appetites! After school yesterday, you ate a plate of strawberries. An hour later at dinner, you had a bowl of shakshuka, half a piece of chicken Florentine with a few scoops of pearled barley, a smoothie and a couple more strawberries. And yet you asked for more food! And when I said you'd eaten enough, you whined for ten minutes: "I'm so huuuungry! My stomach needs fooooood! Can I have more foooooood? Pleeeeease?!" OMG, you acted as if you hadn't eaten in days when you actually ate more at dinner than I did!

Love,

Mom

Book Hauler

Dear Mackenzie,

Yesterday, JieJie and I were moving a bunch of kids' books from the first-floor study to the attic. You were eating a snack and when I came down from my first trip up to the attic, you were standing in the second-floor hallway holding a very heavy set of Dog Man books. You'd finished your snack, washed your hands and taken it upon yourself to not only help us move the books but to bring up the heaviest ones. I'm actually really surprised that you were able to carry the whole set of hardcover books up the stairs by yourself but as you're always reminding me: "I have muscles!" Thank you, sweet girl, for always noticing when others need help and for jumping in to help. You are amazing!!

Love,

Mom

Dragon Drama

Dear Mackenzie,

Recent Mackenzie funnies:

-We went out on Saturday and Daddy and I bought you and your siblings ice cream. You got a big scoop of Rocky Road and ate it so happily. When you finished, your eyes were twinkling and you said with the biggest smile on your face, "I finished my ice cream! Can I have more?"

-You told me, "When I grow up, I want to be a big sister." Um, no.

-We watched Wish Dragon last night (aka Aladdin but with Chinese people) and there was a scene where the character was looking for the dragon. He opened the lid of the teapot and boom! The dragon's eye was peering out at him. That scared you so much that you screamed, your eyes bugged out and you frantically waved your hands up and down for a good 10 seconds--you looked like the way a cartoon character looks when it gets scared! I'm so sorry the movie scared you but your reaction was really cute!

Love,

Mom

Stepping Aside

Dear Mackenzie,

We were walking home from school with your bestie today when the two of you stopped on the sidewalk to look at some plants. You noticed a group of people walking toward us and you immediately stepped off of the sidewalk and into the grass so that they could pass. Later tonight, I asked you to clean up your Legos and then get into bed while I went to brush GuhGaw's teeth. After I was done with GuhGaw, I saw you climb out of bed and told you to get back in. You replied, "I forgot to clean up my Legos so I'm cleaning them up now. I'm being 'sponsible." Thank you, sweetheart, for being so thoughtful AND 'sponsible! That makes me so proud!

Love,

Mom

Self-Assured

Dear Mackenzie,

Last week, we were playing in the attic when you jumped over a toy and then said, "Good jump!" When you came home from school today and told me about your game of hide-and-seek, you said, "Mrs. K said I'm good on hiding." Later at night, you called out, "Mama, where are you?" I said I was in my room and you replied, "I guessed you were in your room. Good guess of me!" I love your self-confidence!

I also love how funny and silly you are. I was exercising in my room when you came in and asked me if I could play with you. I said I just wanted to finish my crunches first. You then proceeded to have the following pretend conversation with me:

You: Mama, can you play with me?

You (as me): No, give me second. Can't you see I'm doing something?

You: But I want you to play with me.

You (as me): I know you want me to play with you but I have to do my work.

The funny part was that you said your part in a high-pitched voice and my part in a deep robotic voice. Is that what I sound like? And thank you for letting me finish my mini workout! We did play afterward!

Love,

Mom

Triple M

Dear Mackenzie,

We have a few phrases that are specific to just us:

Run hug: when I squat down, you scurry to the opposite end of the room or hallway and run toward me until I catch you in my arms and give you a big hug; sometimes, you and I will be in different areas of the house and I'll hear you shout your request, "Mama! Run hug!"

Squiggly hill: the hilly street near our house where the sidewalk curves in this unusual S-like shape instead of being straight like most other sidewalks; the first time we walked home via that street, you said, "Oooh, squiggly hill!" and now if you want to walk home that way, you chirp, "Squiggly hill!"

Mama-Mackenzie Morning: last year, you and I had a four-hour window of time between the time your siblings all left for school and the time I had to take you to school and we started calling them Mama-Mackenzie Mornings; now whenever it's just the two of us at home, you say, "Yay! Mama-Mackenzie Morning!"

Love,

Mom

Million Dollar Listing

Dear Mackenzie,

I constantly have music playing in our house. Whether I am listening to BTS on my iPad as I'm cooking dinner or dancing to a Dua Lipa playlist on YouTube while I'm folding laundry, the sounds of one song or another are almost always traveling through our hallways. You are so used to this constant music that when there isn't any, you immediately ask me, "Can I put on a song?" I usually say yes and you run to get my iPad, which you know how to navigate in order to get to your favorite songs (which are currently "You Need To Stay Calm" by Taylor Swift and "I'm A Mess" by AJR--you call the latter "The Elmo Song" because the singer dresses up like Elmo in the music video; I don't think you even know the actual "Elmo Song," even though your siblings were all obsessed with it at your age). 

Tonight, you had to use the bathroom and it was a #2, so I said I was going to clean up the kitchen while I waited for you to finish. I said I'd put on some music for you before I went downstairs and you were so grateful, you shouted from the bathroom, "Thank you, Mama! I love you one million dollars around the whole world!" Whoa, that's a lot!

Love,

Mom

Crisscross

Dear Mackenzie,

Cute things you said recently:

-"Mama, wait! I have to get something from Sawyer's room. It won't take long."

-"It's a beautiful day today! Let's go for a walk!"

-"Mama, I'm so glad I have you."

Funny things you do:

-You cross your eyes at the most random times, like when I'm brushing your teeth or washing your hair. It always cracks me up and you know it always cracks me up, so you cross your eyes often. It especially cracks me up when you cross your eyes AND curl your tongue at the same time. You look like a cartoon!

-You still love it when we do our "run hugs" and charge at me with such enthusiasm and excitement! But you know that you are stronger and heavier now, so you are kind enough to slow down right before you get to me so that you don't knock me over! 

-When I'm showering you, you like it when I spray the shower head at your belly while you squeeze your belly. It's so weird and cute!

Funny thing you said today:

-At your annual checkup in December, the doctor said you have high cholesterol. Wha?!? I wonder if the results were skewed because the day before the party, you'd had your school holiday party, where you had consumed multiple cupcakes and cookies. However, you do have a big sweet tooth that I often indulge with all of my baking, plus you also really like cheese. So we are cutting back on the cheese and sweets, which I know will be hard because you're used to eating lots of string cheese and getting dessert every day. Tonight, we finished eating dinner and you asked, "Can I have a treat?" I went into a whole spiel: "Your doctor said you have been eating too many treats, so we're only going to have dessert on Wednesdays and Fridays. I know you love dessert, and I do, too, but it's important to be healthy and we have to eat less sweets from now on. So we can't have a treat every day, just sometimes." You listened intently and nodded, and when I was done, you asked, "Can I have a treat?" It might be a long year.

Love,

Mom