Things I want to remember

As toddlers do, Mac is changing so quickly these days. Each day she seems to have a new favorite, saying and/or interest, so in an effort to chronicle as many of these magic moments as possible, here is what she is currently all about:

Her imagination has exploded in the last couple of weeks. For example she not only pretends her stuffed animals and dolls are real but that our toes, fingers, etc. are friends of hers.

Also, she seems to be creating her own language. Her favorite made up word is "cocky" and if you ask what it means she says "gahba geebe" or some other nonsense and then laughs hysterically.

She mimics Jeremy and I when talking with her dolls and toys (and even us). She repeats the "scripts" we use for her almost word for word. Oh boy, is that eye opening for us! She doesn't miss a thing.

Gone are the days where we can have a conversation about her or without her when she is near us. Now she asks "what you talking bout?" followed by many other questions until she has all of the information. Jeremy says this is my payback. Ha, ha. But I am sure my parents would agree. Hey, I just like to be in the know.

She is experimenting with terms of time, such as "earlier," "later," "awhile ago," etc. However, most things in the past happened "last night."

She has discovered the magic of a band-aid. She requests one at least daily. And one for all of her friends, especially her stuffed Lolas.

Mac's a decent eater. Breakfast is her best meal and on a hungry day she can easily eat most of an vegetarian English breakfast which includes: 1 scrambled egg, 1 piece of brown toast, baked beans, 2 veggie sausages and a carrot orange juice. She doesn't care for the mushrooms, bubbles and squeak or grilled tomato so mommy and daddy get those.

She still loves berries, especially "blublerries" and strawberries. She' not a fan of apples or bananas really. Vegetables are a real challenge. Peas are a favorite but others is usually refused.

Hummus and bread is probably her favorite "healthy" snack, followed closely by cheese or cereal bars. But she will gladly devour ice cream, crisps, and chocolate if you offer it to her.

She just started taking showers and LOVES them. I could leave her in there for hours. I'm sure she'll love sprinkler time this summer.

She's quite picky and can be obsessive about things. Jeremy says he knows exactly where she got that from and all I can do is laugh. For example, while showering the other day she peeked around the curtain and spotted some toilet paper unraveled from the roll. She told Jeremy, "daddy, that has to be up! That has to be up!"
Dad also gets scolded for not putting his shoes in the right spot and all sorts of things that I guess are rules for Mac and I during the day that he doesn't get told about.

She still sleeps about 12 hours at night, 7:30pm-7:30am with one wake up to go potty. She still naps from about 1-3 or so too. We went through a phase where lots of back or belly rubbing was needed to fall asleep, but now she's back to putting herself to sleep. But ALL parts of the bedtime routine must be followed; jammies (even for nap!), one last drink of milk, potty, teeth brushing, books and finally bedtime.

Mac loves to be around other people. If we are leaving a park or playground she often asks her friends, "you want to come to our house now? You should! You should come to our house now."

She has also recently started asking , "what her name?", "what that man doing?", etc. about every person and situation we encounter. Generally it's fine but sometimes it can be embarrassing and uncomfortable to explain some of the crazier behaviors.

She often calls people "sir" and "man" (for ma'am) even her friends, "sir, you want to play with this?"

Several months ago she would state, "I have idea!" but then not have a response when we asked what the idea was. Now she says, "I have great idea!" and she definitely has a response. Often it's "let's go to the park", "let's watch a movie", or "let's have ice cream." Great ideas indeed.

Scissors can fix everything in Mackenzie's book. Upon encountering a problem she will shout, "I got idea, I'll get my scissors!"

Mac can't stop with the "I love you"'s. Often out of the blue she'll grab one of our arms and proclaim "I love you! Love you so much!". She's especially lovey dovey at bedtime.

She'll say, "I so ecited! so ecited!" if we're on the way to park or playgroup or somewhere else she just loves. Followed by, "this gonna be fun!".

She calls herself "kenzie". Not sure if she can't say Mackenzie or just prefers the nickname. If I call her by a term of endearment she will correct me and say, "darling not my name, Kenzie is!"

Sadly she does not like shopping anymore. She'll tolerate grocery shopping but any other store we enter she asks, "do they have toys here?" and if they don't she asks that we leave. Now.

She does not like to say hello or interact with strangers. Even with people she is familiar with she does best if she's allowed to warm up to them and the situation on her own time, even family and her teachers at creche and playgroups. She will announce before entering creche, "I going to be shy today." Forcing her to say hello, good-bye or good-night does not work well.

She loves to help cook and is a great sous chef. I must really get into my stirring as she'll often say, "stop dancing mommy!".

Her favorite activity is probably going the park, especially if there is sand or water plan involved. Some current favorite toys are dinosaurs, play-doh, and role-playing toys such as her cleaning set, diapering and changing her stuffed animals and dolls, and her Little People.

She loves books and right now is digging Eric Carle's Panda Panda Bear What do you See?., Dr. Seuss's Go Dog Go! & There's a Wocket in my Pocket, Mercer Mayer's Little Critter books especially The Lost Dinosaur Bone, and the How do Dinosaurs... series. She'll request movies or TV too, with Diego, Dora, Elmo, Maisy, Madagascar, Leap Frog Letter Factory and animal shows as the top favorites.

I'm sure I could write an entirely different list of her favorite things by next week but for now at almost 29 months this is it!