21 months of MacKenzie

MacKenzie,

Yesterday you just turned 21 months, we are starting to think about your 2nd birthday already! It is amazing how much you change and pick up on a daily basis. If only we could harness that learning and developmental ability and apply it to everyone in the world!!! Above all of your "smartypants-ness" we love you and the child you are and you bring us so much happiness.

I could continue to report on all of your eating habits, but I think you would find that a bit boring so here are a few highlights. You are doing better with a fork and spoon and drop less and less each meal. You will sometimes get frustrated with using utensils and will grab food with your hands, which is fine because you are still learning. When you don't like something you will hand it to us until we tell you to put it back on your plate or on your high chair tray. Yesterday while eating pizza you reached over to Mommy's pizza and swiped all of her black olives which I thought was very funny! You are not the biggest fan of sweets, but neither was I at that age. You will take a few bites still, but the biggest sweet you like are cookies and always ask for one at Kroger. You have started eating canned carrots with dinner which is a fairly new development. We also sometimes have to remind you that you like something by telling you to say "ahhhh" and then putting the food item in your mouth. Your reaction is usually along the lines of "hey...oh...wait...I do like this!" Your favorite foods right now are still Macaroni and Cheese, bananas, oatmeal (you request that for breakfast), and bread.

You are learning a lot. You are very good at your colors and we have started to teach you brown, black, and white along with the basics. You are doing great on your letters and will even name S, O, M, B, E, and W (duh-bwah-ooo). Mommy has to go back and teach you all of your lowercase letters now because she only taught you the capital ones. You will pick up on signs and new words very quickly and we catch sentences and phrases that you are mimicking a lot. You are very observant and we often have to look around for what you are showing or telling us because we know you see things that we don't. You like to show people how smart you are by looking around and saying all the things you can see while pointing to them. I hope you continue to learn and have a joy in being smart!

You love your puppies still, but a new love is for that crazy little monster..."Eh-mo!" I am not quite sure where you picked up on this love as we only have a few Sesame Street things and rarely watch it, but you have picked up on it strong. You look for him everywhere and love the little stuffed Elmo that I have found amongst your things. You have also picked up on Minnie and will claim that Mickey is Minnie too and Mommy and Daddy have been teaching you about Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. You love music and will dance with your hands in the air in a bit of a wild fashion whenever you can. You love to play with "muh-knee" as previously posted about and will snatch whatever money you can find to put in your purse or juice container of coins. You love shoes and walking around in shoes or socks (either on your feet or hands). We spend a lot of time reading and you will also sit on the floor on your own while reading and looking at books (so remenscent of pictures of mommy). You love to swim and to play in the water and like to explore the park, but it has been way to hot for that.

You are sleeping in a "big girl" bed as we got a full bed from Dee and Doc to put on the floor for you. You have transitioned well into the bed and have had no problems and have only once gotten out of bed to play. Speaking of Dee and Doc (and all of your grandparents and good friends) you now point out where we are going once we get close by...you will start saying the names of the people that live at the house when you recognize the places around there. You will also list off a long list of names when we ask you who you love (Vah-Vah, Enny, Vay-very, Ah-ie, Mama, Dada, Neh-nah, etc).

MacKenzie, this past month has been wonderful and I am really enjoying spending time with you. It still startles me to see how big you have gotten and how much you can do for yourself. I am thankful for every second you are with us and look forward to many more seconds to come!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy