Dear Mackenzie,
How is this happening? How is it that I am already sitting down to write your 2nd birthday letter??? I remember during your first year when it would feel like ages since I last wrote you a monthly letter. Yet, I haven't written one in 6 months and I feel like I just did it yesterday. I can't believe our little 7 pound, 6 ounce bundle has turned into this amazing, adorable, precocious little 2 year old! Stop it! Slow down! Stay little for just a bit longer!
So much has changed with you in the last 6 months, yet you are still the same fun loving, friendly, outgoing, always happy, little girl... just with added, random temper tantrums as we reach the age of 2 and your need for independence continues to grow. I think the biggest change for you over these past 6 months has been in your verbal skills. My goodness... you are a talker! The difference between now and 6 months ago is that we understand about 90% of what you say and you are getting so good at putting together 3 or more words to make sentences. Some of our favorite things you say now are "pool water" for pool, "poo poo gas" for poop (I just think that is adorable for some reason), "chencha" for your name (we have no idea why we can't get you to say Kenzie yet... you can say it if we say it slowly first but you usually just call yourself chencha), and "scuse me" when you want to say excuse me as you walk by something. Anytime you bump in to anything you apologize and say "sowwy" to it, even if it is an inanimate object. You also say "tanks" for thanks, "pees" for please, and "yeah man" for yes ma'am. You are just too polite. Well, not too polite but it is always funny when people remark at how polite you are and ask how old you are. When we tell them almost 2 (though now it is actually 2) they are amazed. People ask me all the time how old you are as you and I carry on full conversations with understanding and reciprocation on both ends. You continue to amaze me every day with what you say. You are also a little parrot so we have to be careful what we say and how we say it. You will randomly come out with things that we might have said once in passing (though we are both really good about not saying anything we don't want you repeating) when we didn't even know you were listening. You are so smart. Just last week you went into the big class (2-3 year olds) at church. You came out with what I kept calling binoculars and in the car you informed me that they were "super eyes". It wasn't until I looked at your coloring page that I realized you were calling them that because that is how they were explained to you in Sunday School. I don't know if it was drilled in to your head in there or if you just happened to remember, but it was amazing none the less that you corrected me because I was definitely wrong in calling them binoculars. You weren't going to stand for that.
Speaking of church, any time we drive by the building you say "church, dance, play, gogo (goldfish)". I think one of your favorite times each week is going to church. You get to dance to a song before we bring you in to the nursery, then you get to go play with your friends and have goldfish. We are going to start bringing you right to class from now on since you will likely start moving more regularly to the big kid class. I don't know how much you will miss dancing, but I think you LOVE playing and learning so you won't mind. You love to dance at home too. We turn music on and you just can't help yourself. You are definitely turning out to be a musical kid. You love to sing "Let It Go" even though you have never seen the movie. You sing a lot of songs with me like the ABC's, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, and my personal favorite... You Are My Sunshine which we still sing every night before bed. You still like to sit at the piano and play. Now, you sing as well. It is absolutely one of the most adorable things ever. You sing mommy and daddy songs which basically consist of you playing the piano and singing "mommy" or "daddy" over and over again. What amazes me about it, is that fairly consistently you sing mommy songs in a higher key and daddy songs in a lower key. I don't know if you might be thinking that our voices are higher and lower like that or something else, but it is pretty impressive that 9 out of 10 times, that is how you do it.
You are a social butterfly. You love playing with the girls next door and you easily make new friends. You absolutely love going to story time each week at the library and you request it throughout the week even on days other than Wednesday, when it actually takes place. You like to interact with a lot of the other kids. You make friends really easily. I think it is because you are so easy going. You don't mind when other children want to hug you or pull you around the room wanting to show you different things. You are good with whatever is going on usually.
In likely the most impressive news... well, maybe just for me as a proud mom, you are officially potty trained. We started early because you showed all the signs of being ready. You were trained at about 23 months old. You still have the occasional accident, specifically on Sundays. We don't know if something with church throws you off in the morning, or what. Other than that, we have an accident (or two because you seem to bring them in pairs) once a week, not counting Sunday. I'm going to call that officially potty trained because you only wear pull ups at night and during your nap. We can even go on longish car rides and you are mostly fine. You tell us when you need to go about 75% of the time. The other 25% is usually me or Daddy asking you if you need to go, you telling us no, one of us taking you anyway, and you going. Stubborn kid. We are off and on regarding the whole pooping situation. Sometimes you are good to go, sometimes not so much and we have poop accidents, but you are working on it. I'm still so very proud of you.
Honestly, most of the reason (besides your readiness) that we tackled potty training so early is that you are getting promoted! You are going to be a big sister in October to your little brother, Will. You are going to make an absolutely amazing big sister! You love babies and while you don't always seem to get the idea that Will is in Mommy's tummy and will be here in the flesh one day as a little baby, you know you are a big sister and that your brother's name is Will. You can tell people he is in mommy's belly and you like to give him kisses. I can't wait to watch you grow into your new role. I think you are going to be in love. You are the best helper ever and I think you are going to want to help with everything related to your brother.
Speaking of helping, you are amazing! You always help clean up your toys when asked. You help me do chores like laundry, dusting, windexing (without me letting you use chemicals), making the bed, folding laundry, whatever I ask you to help with. One of your absolute favorite things to do is carry in bags from the car if we go to a store. I often have to ask for an extra bag so that I can put one thing in it for you to carry in. If you don't get to carry a bag, you get pretty upset.
You are definitely learning to exert your independence. You have always been an independent, non-cuddly child, but as you get older, you are even more independent. You love to do things yourself whenever possible. The issue is that as you are learning to speak your mind more, you are getting testy about some things. We have far more meltdowns over trivial things (what else would I expect from a 2 year old though) when you don't get your way. You recover fairly quickly most of the time though. One of your best independent moves though? Learning to put on your own shoes. Boy, I am thankful for that one. Getting down on the floor to do it for you was getting to be quite a chore but you took it upon yourself to learn to handle it all on your own.
As far as vitals go, we don't have your 2 year appointment until next week because Dr. C is out of the office until then, but you like to stand on our scale at home. Based on that, I think you weigh around 27 pounds. We tried to measure you recently and we figure you are near 34 inches. So, if the estimation thing holds true (and who knows how accurate it is though it apparently worked for your Daddy and your Aunt Juju) you should be about 5'8" as an adult. If so, you are going to tower over me. I wouldn't mind. You have 18 teeth. You have popped 2 of your 2 year molars so far. I don't see any physical signs of the top 2 showing up any time soon, but if your history holds, we should see them make an appearance in the next 2-4 weeks or so. This is the first time teething has truly bothered you. You didn't sleep well. You didn't eat well. We had a period of a few days when you wanted me in your room as much as possible at night while you slept and you would freak out if I left. Turns out you were cutting molar #2 in that time. It is in now, and you don't care for me to be in your room at night. Works for me. I tried laying on the floor for a while one night and that wasn't working out well. You have had a minor cold or two in the last 6 months but nothing we have had to take you to the doctor for. I think you had Tylenol maybe once for a very slight fever. You have a head full of blonde curls. The blonde is your Daddy, the curls are all me. Paired with those big blue eyes... we might have a heartbreaker on our hands. Daddy is already planning his speech for the boys that show up at the house trying to win over our little girl. It might not be so much of a speech as it is the sound of a shot gun being loaded.
Watching you continue to grow has been an amazing experience for your Daddy and me. We can't believe we have a 2 year old now. Only one more year until you hit the "preschool" stage. I will time to slow down sometimes, especially on those nights that you want to be held while I rock you to sleep. I know we won't have these moments forever so we capitalize on them now. We will see what the next year brings for you and we can't wait to experience all the new things with you. We love you kiddo. You are such an amazing little girl. Keep smiling, keep laughing, and keep dancing.
Love,
Mommy
How is this happening? How is it that I am already sitting down to write your 2nd birthday letter??? I remember during your first year when it would feel like ages since I last wrote you a monthly letter. Yet, I haven't written one in 6 months and I feel like I just did it yesterday. I can't believe our little 7 pound, 6 ounce bundle has turned into this amazing, adorable, precocious little 2 year old! Stop it! Slow down! Stay little for just a bit longer!
 |
| Anyone that doesn't think you are Daddy's mini me needs to have their eyes checked... |
Speaking of church, any time we drive by the building you say "church, dance, play, gogo (goldfish)". I think one of your favorite times each week is going to church. You get to dance to a song before we bring you in to the nursery, then you get to go play with your friends and have goldfish. We are going to start bringing you right to class from now on since you will likely start moving more regularly to the big kid class. I don't know how much you will miss dancing, but I think you LOVE playing and learning so you won't mind. You love to dance at home too. We turn music on and you just can't help yourself. You are definitely turning out to be a musical kid. You love to sing "Let It Go" even though you have never seen the movie. You sing a lot of songs with me like the ABC's, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, and my personal favorite... You Are My Sunshine which we still sing every night before bed. You still like to sit at the piano and play. Now, you sing as well. It is absolutely one of the most adorable things ever. You sing mommy and daddy songs which basically consist of you playing the piano and singing "mommy" or "daddy" over and over again. What amazes me about it, is that fairly consistently you sing mommy songs in a higher key and daddy songs in a lower key. I don't know if you might be thinking that our voices are higher and lower like that or something else, but it is pretty impressive that 9 out of 10 times, that is how you do it.
 |
| Our little pianist |
In likely the most impressive news... well, maybe just for me as a proud mom, you are officially potty trained. We started early because you showed all the signs of being ready. You were trained at about 23 months old. You still have the occasional accident, specifically on Sundays. We don't know if something with church throws you off in the morning, or what. Other than that, we have an accident (or two because you seem to bring them in pairs) once a week, not counting Sunday. I'm going to call that officially potty trained because you only wear pull ups at night and during your nap. We can even go on longish car rides and you are mostly fine. You tell us when you need to go about 75% of the time. The other 25% is usually me or Daddy asking you if you need to go, you telling us no, one of us taking you anyway, and you going. Stubborn kid. We are off and on regarding the whole pooping situation. Sometimes you are good to go, sometimes not so much and we have poop accidents, but you are working on it. I'm still so very proud of you.
Honestly, most of the reason (besides your readiness) that we tackled potty training so early is that you are getting promoted! You are going to be a big sister in October to your little brother, Will. You are going to make an absolutely amazing big sister! You love babies and while you don't always seem to get the idea that Will is in Mommy's tummy and will be here in the flesh one day as a little baby, you know you are a big sister and that your brother's name is Will. You can tell people he is in mommy's belly and you like to give him kisses. I can't wait to watch you grow into your new role. I think you are going to be in love. You are the best helper ever and I think you are going to want to help with everything related to your brother.
Speaking of helping, you are amazing! You always help clean up your toys when asked. You help me do chores like laundry, dusting, windexing (without me letting you use chemicals), making the bed, folding laundry, whatever I ask you to help with. One of your absolute favorite things to do is carry in bags from the car if we go to a store. I often have to ask for an extra bag so that I can put one thing in it for you to carry in. If you don't get to carry a bag, you get pretty upset.
You are definitely learning to exert your independence. You have always been an independent, non-cuddly child, but as you get older, you are even more independent. You love to do things yourself whenever possible. The issue is that as you are learning to speak your mind more, you are getting testy about some things. We have far more meltdowns over trivial things (what else would I expect from a 2 year old though) when you don't get your way. You recover fairly quickly most of the time though. One of your best independent moves though? Learning to put on your own shoes. Boy, I am thankful for that one. Getting down on the floor to do it for you was getting to be quite a chore but you took it upon yourself to learn to handle it all on your own.
As far as vitals go, we don't have your 2 year appointment until next week because Dr. C is out of the office until then, but you like to stand on our scale at home. Based on that, I think you weigh around 27 pounds. We tried to measure you recently and we figure you are near 34 inches. So, if the estimation thing holds true (and who knows how accurate it is though it apparently worked for your Daddy and your Aunt Juju) you should be about 5'8" as an adult. If so, you are going to tower over me. I wouldn't mind. You have 18 teeth. You have popped 2 of your 2 year molars so far. I don't see any physical signs of the top 2 showing up any time soon, but if your history holds, we should see them make an appearance in the next 2-4 weeks or so. This is the first time teething has truly bothered you. You didn't sleep well. You didn't eat well. We had a period of a few days when you wanted me in your room as much as possible at night while you slept and you would freak out if I left. Turns out you were cutting molar #2 in that time. It is in now, and you don't care for me to be in your room at night. Works for me. I tried laying on the floor for a while one night and that wasn't working out well. You have had a minor cold or two in the last 6 months but nothing we have had to take you to the doctor for. I think you had Tylenol maybe once for a very slight fever. You have a head full of blonde curls. The blonde is your Daddy, the curls are all me. Paired with those big blue eyes... we might have a heartbreaker on our hands. Daddy is already planning his speech for the boys that show up at the house trying to win over our little girl. It might not be so much of a speech as it is the sound of a shot gun being loaded.
Watching you continue to grow has been an amazing experience for your Daddy and me. We can't believe we have a 2 year old now. Only one more year until you hit the "preschool" stage. I will time to slow down sometimes, especially on those nights that you want to be held while I rock you to sleep. I know we won't have these moments forever so we capitalize on them now. We will see what the next year brings for you and we can't wait to experience all the new things with you. We love you kiddo. You are such an amazing little girl. Keep smiling, keep laughing, and keep dancing.
Love,
Mommy
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