Dear Mackenzie: Stop the world – you’re 2 years old!
Dear Mackenzie,
It’s hard to believe that two years ago today, I was laying in a hospital bed cuddling you…wondering what nursing for the first time would be like…wondering what sort of person you would become…wondering if the bitterly cold ice storm we were having would ever pass and just when we could finally leave the hospital…because you had in fact just joined the world a few hours beforehand and we were so thrilled that you had arrived, just perfectly on schedule. Thankfully it’s not quite as cold this year as it was then…but the cold sure does seem to be headed our way. Two years ago, the streets were covered in ice and we almost needed ice skates to make it into the door of the hospital (something which really isn’t advisable for a pregnant woman in labor)…but we didn’t let that stop us.
For the last 2 months, you were a total cuddle bunny at night and would curl up with us before your bed time and let us read you a story in our big bed. Your daddy and I were really starting to enjoy that routine, with you under the covers and us laying next to you. But apparently now our bedroom is only good for scaring cats and jumping around like a frog. You still let us read to you some nights when you’re not totally wiped out but most important is that you get to brush your teeth — which in your world means eating the toothpaste off the brush and then chewing on the bristles. 
You have recently discovered how to take off your t-shirt and you love to strip down to your diaper after you take a nap and sometimes when you wake up in the morning. I never know what I’m going to find when I walk into your room. One morning, I did actually come in and see you with poop all over. Apparently it was pretty fun to play with until you were laying there and dropped it on your head. No, there are definitely no photos of that (I was more concerned with how to get you out of the crib without getting poop all over myself) but I do have an embarrassing photo of you that I can only assume was part of an assignment from Elmo. Surely drawing on yourself is similar to when he draws on the TV screen (or so you think — so glad you can’t reach the TV screen anymore!)
You have come a long way from the baby you were two years ago…even though you often refer to yourself as “baby” now. You’re becoming more independent every day and totally let us know when you don’t want our help. You want to walk all the time when we take Ayla…and I’m sure it won’t be too long before we’re just leaving the stroller at home. But I still have to teach you the full importance of holding my hand while we walk along the street. And you always want to push the stroller by yourself now but refuse to take my advice about the necessity of steering. The stroller has a wicked pull to the left so you’re constantly about to drive it off the path every 5 feet….and get totally crazy when I help steer it from behind. You’ve managed to drive off the path and tip the cart over twice…both times you crashed down with it, so I can only hope that you start to see the importance of good driving skills soon.
Speaking of which, we went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up the last of the Thanksgiving meal goodies and they have tiny kids shopping carts in there that you can actually push around. I was pretty impressed with your driving skills although I did have a few heart attacks as you drove awfully close to shelves full of glass jars and bottles. So we still have to work on figuring out consequences (I know that’s going to take a long while) but you were actually quite a bit more in control than I expected.
Taking photos of you is a major challenge lately because you get all silly and shy. This not only causes you to close your eyes and/or hide, but sometimes you feel the need to close your eyes and walk around. I’m pretty sure that is going to lead to some sort of accident eventually…but so far you’ve only walked into the front of the TV stand, which was probably a little bit painful, but I think more startling than anything. What was even more impressive was the fact that you managed to walk around in a circle for about a minute before you actually collided with anything.
You still love seeing the “baby” inside the camera after I take photos of you — but I think you’ve definitely gotten the fact that it’s you since the kid is wearing all the same stuff as you. You watch your reflection in the glass door on the oven which is hysterical and sometimes you also have Peter Pan moments in the kitchen when you see your shadow. You really are very amusing.
You had your U7 checkup last week and you are in top health and on track with your developmental skills…I’d even venture to say that you are a bit advanced. You’re 88cm tall now and 10 kg…which is a bit on the light side but since you’re really active and both your daddy and I are tall and thin, it’s really not much of a surprise that you’re the same way. I do wish you’d get past this rejecting all food I put in front of you phase, though. It seems that anything which is cooked is taboo…except for maybe a few noodles with nothing on them. You won’t even eat Nutella…which is mostly chocolate for crying out loud!
You wore your Winnie the Pooh jacket from Miss Meredith for 3 days straight and pulled the zipper (“yip”) up and down, up and down. Then you’d take the jacket off and throw a fit because you couldn’t put it back on yourself. If there’s no zipper on your shirt, you don’t want to wear it…which has seriously limited your wardrobe these days.
You are so tired some nights that we can barely get you changed for bed. You squirm and squiggle, and I think you might actually jump off the changing table…hopefully you’ll get the hang of putting clothes on soon so we can do this in a more dignified manner than the changing table. Actually, while I’m hoping for things, let’s talk about the subject of potty training. Because I think both of us would be a lot happier with less diapers to change in the house.
It’s so funny to hear you repeat things we say… like Over there (“o’der”), There it is (“thee-eese”), What was that? (“wuzzat”) or Gummy bear (“ga-bah-gahm-mah”). You also crack me up when you yell at the dog when she’s wandering off. It’s usually after I yell at her first…but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before you’re screaming out “Ayla” before I get the chance. You also say “want” or “give” now– and we just have to work on adding the “please”. You started saying “bye, bye” to all sorts of things as we pass by them. And when you want someone to look at you, you’ve already got the typical “See! See!” down pat.
You recognized your first printed word on the cards…and called out the right number with one of the cards as I brought them out too. I picked one up the cards the other day and you immediately said “sheep”, which was indeed the word written on it. And we have something like 200 word cards so I don’t really think it was just a coincidence. The numbers we just started on so who knows. But clearly I have to keep working on those even if we’re not doing them as often as the books suggests.
You finally got to really splash and play in the puddles which was a great time for both of us. I definitely need some galoshes for you quickly though. Snow boots, no problem…but tiny galoshes have been a bit more of a challenge. Not to mention that your feet always keep me guessing when it comes to their size.
You are obsessed with moisturizing yourself and love everything girly like putting on blush or lip gloss. The latter I can understand because I put those things on every morning when you’re standing next to me brushing your teeth eating your toothpaste. But the lotion obsession does surprise me. Hopefully you’ll keep at it though – nice smooth skin is important…and you still have the softest baby skin ever!
You can open and close most of the doors inside the house now…including the refrigerator door. But you mostly just go after the ketchup packets in there…which are apparently some of the best toys ever. You can also open the front door which means we have to keep a chain on it now…although sometimes it would be useful if you could let the dog out instead of the adults all the time. But we won’t give you that chore until the fear of you falling down the stairs as the dog whisks by you is lessened.
Speaking of fears, I’m sure your dad and I are a lot more fearful than you are about things. We took you to the playground a few weeks ago when the weather was still nice and you showed us that you have already figured out how to climb quite well. The slide there has a massive rope net that you climb up instead of a real ladder…you had a little trouble with it at first, but by the third time you totally didn’t need any more help at all. Which was good for your dad and I whose arms were about to fall off from lifting you to the top of the slide over and over!
One morning you went into the kitchen, opened the fridge, grabbed a container of leftover pasta and started chowing down. For breakfast. The neighbors looked at us a little strangely when we went out to walk Ayla and you had a bowl of pasta with you. But it was 10am already and as long as you’re eating something remotely healthy, I’m happy.
You love to draw and can occupy yourself for hours with a few crayons and markers. And now you can finally not only open the markers, but close them too. Which helps a lot since they dry out awfully fast with no lids on them. You have decorated a few things in the living room with the markers and crayons already but thankfully I’ve also learned how to clean it all (erasers work wonders on crayon marks on wood floors and vinegar will clean markers off of just about anything).
You’re almost definitely a leftie and love to pick out your favorite colors and just draw with them forever. You also seem to have gotten over the thought that crayons have to be “opened”, which meant pulling them out of their paper sleeve before you could write with them and then sliding them back in the sleeve when you were done. It was a rather impressive feat actually.
You walk into the room and announce yourself with “helloooo”. You kinda sound like Apu from The Simpsons actually. I have no idea where you picked that up exactly but it is hysterical. And you and your “hase” go everywhere together. You can’t go to sleep without him and he goes on walks, to your music class and all sorts of other places with us from time to time. Actually, several of your toys have gotten to visit the music group — I guess it’s some sort of show and tell thing for you.
You have so much character and personality already and we couldn’t ask for a happier, more relaxed child. You are so much fun to play with and are a little dance-a-holic. Surprising you to get a giggle is awesome. And listening to you when you’re waking up is so funny. You seem to be running through a mental list of all the words you know and things you might have learned recently. It’s totally adorable.
There’s a huge pile of presents waiting for you to open them…as soon as you wake up from your nap and your daddy gets home. You are getting some of the coolest stuff! But to be honest, I think you would have been just as happy if you’d gotten boxes and boxes of balloons! But I swear, I have a very special balloon thing in store for you…and I think it is totally going to blow you away. A clown made entirely of balloons…what could be better than that?
Because today is Thanksgiving, I just want you to know that I am so very thankful that you joined our lives, and you have enriched it in ways I didn’t think possible. Thank you for taking it easy on your parents, for letting us sleep past 8am most weekends, for almost always sleeping through the night, for knowing when it’s time to have yourself, for always finding new ways to make us laugh and for just being your awesome little self.
I love you!
Mommy
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Tiffany is an American who has been living in Germany with her husband since 2001. The two are self-proclaimed "Self-Reliant Yuppies" who are in their early-30's and bought an 1830's farmhouse several years ago, which they have been turning into a more sustainable and green dream house. Two cats, a Newfie and their 2 year old daughter enjoy the adventure with them. Tiffany enjoys cooking, rock climbing, lux-camping trying to turn her black thumbs green and taking road trips. Visit the 
Beautiful…
Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and your family!
From one MacKenzie mom to the other, happy Thanksgiving (even if it is a couple of days late)! Loved the mud splashing photo! Perfect timing.