Рецепт Dear Mackenzie: Happy first birthday!
Dear Mackenzie,
First, I know I’m late…AGAIN! But we were having so much fun partying for your birthday and Thanksgiving that I just couldn’t find the time to sit down and compose my thoughts. But I think you know that my tardiness in no way reflects my level of love for you. In fact, it should prove that I love you oodles since I’ve been playing with you and giving you love instead of hanging out in front of the computer.
The last couple of days have been pretty rough on you. First there was all the excitement of opening presents for your birthday. Then on Friday, your Uncle Steffen & Aunt Steffi arrived which you just weren’t so sure about. Last time we saw them in September, you had barely any shyness and were cool just hanging around them. This time you were much more apprehensive, at least until some of the presents got to be unwrapped. Then you put your reservations aside so you could explore everything. On Saturday, even more people arrived (your Uncle Daniel & Aunt Henni) and the shyness was back. In addition to having all these people around who you haven’t seen in a while, you were also pushing out another couple of teeth. So it was sometimes rather tough on your dad and I who needed to hold you as much as possible while cooking and preparing food since you needed some extra comforting and snuggling. With a bit of juggling and chaos, we worked it all out though.
Speaking of your dad, you like him a whole lot more these days than you used to. There were moments in the past when he’d come home from work and you were so tired and cranky already that it just wasn’t fun to be around you. You acted like you didn’t want to be around either of us but you didn’t want to go to sleep either. But in the last few weeks you’ve learned the value of a hug and when you’re feeling insecure, tired or just plain loving, you will start handing those out to your dad and I. At times you even come over especially to give a hug. It’s fantastic. Your hugs so good we don’t even remember that there were any cranky, unhappy moments. Last week while he was on vacation, your dad had to put you down for a nap on two separate days because I had appointments. You had no problems going to sleep for him at all…which I can’t even say is the case when I’m the one putting you down for the nap. It’s reassuring to know that you can trust other people, even if it’s only a few of them like your dad.
You’ve been taking only 1 nap a day for several weeks now…but the last couple days those naps haven’t been nearly long enough. With all the excitement of guests being here and teeth growing in, you just haven’t been sleeping as solidly as usual. With all the commotion going on in the house it’s no wonder you couldn’t sleep. Since your naps only last about an hour now, there are some nights when you’re ready to head to bed at 4 or 5pm already. You might wake up for a bottle of milk after a couple hours but once your tummy is full again, you’re out like a light. Not that I’m complaining. When you go through stress, so do we…and we need all the extra sleep we can get these days.
You’re getting pretty good at feeding yourself and now that we finally have some bibs with arms to cover most of you while you eat, I have no problems just letting you do your thing. Food may get all over the place at times, but Ayla certainly loves the opportunity to share your food and, as long as you’re not intentionally throwing food around, I’m ok with the slight mess. It was a bit hard to let go since I don’t like cleaning that much anyway, but you have to learn to feed yourself since I don’t want to be feeding you still when you’re 14. Bananas are currently your favorite but you will eat just about anything. You even tried Brussel sprouts at Thanksgiving and seemed to like them. Not as much as the carrots and corn but I was still a bit surprised. So far you really haven’t met a food you don’t like– let’s keep it that way!
You suffered your first bloody boo-boo this month. You were cruising around the living room, from table to sofa to table and lost your balance. You hit the edge just right and bit down on your bottom lip with your teeth. It bled a little bit and you really didn’t like that taste in your mouth.
Unfortunately it was 1 of 3 noteable spills you took in 1 week. But falling is all part of learning. And since then, you’ve started standing for a few seconds all on your own. It’s SO exciting. You put our your arms and balance yourself after you’ve been leaning against something. You get delighted about standing by yourself too, giggling and smiling like a little Cheshire cat. Are you going to be walking by Christmas? We’ll soon find out! After all, it’s only a couple weeks away.
The weather has been so mild here lately that you haven’t had to wear your full battle gear to take the dog for a walk. We still get you snuggled down in the lamb’s wool liner (which I usually think you’d rather do without) but honestly if you’d like to trade places so you push while I sit in the cart, I’d be willing to try it. Just watch out that Ayla doesn’t start running after something. She can be a bit crazy still. You are still not convinced about the usefulness of hats either. You’d rather not wear them, even though you look super cute in them, and sometimes you think you know better. Personally I think it’s cool that you want to express your fashion ideas with us, but this one with the hat all pushed up is just not one of my favs.
You have fun playing with everything and play really well by yourself. This is extremely helpful when I’m in the kitchen cooking dinner and need both hands free to chop, stir and season. You love raiding the Tupperware cabinet and pulling everything out. The box of dishwasher soap tabs is also really fun. You take the tabs out, examine them really closely and then either toss them aside or put them back in the box. And then you’ll take another and repeat the process. I love that you are already started to have a neat streak. Someone in this house needs one!
You’re pretty much tall enough now to reach the floor while sitting on your Bobby car. That doesn’t mean that you know what to do once you get up there, though. Still going to be a while until you understand that you can push yourself around with your feet. And until you can get on and off of it by yourself, it’s probably better that you can’t push yourself all over the place yet anyway. Some days you want to sit on the car and play with other stuff. Other days you just want to stand next to it and examine things. And then there are days when you want nothing to do with it…but those are very rare. Usually you start pointing at it as soon as you spot it in the room.
You LOVE climbing the stairs and can go up them almost as fast as us. You’ve also started practicing how to get down them but that’s still really tricky. We have to remind you to go feet first so you don’t damage your cute little head. But I think it won’t be long before you scooting all over the stairs with ease. I just hope we can convince you to stay away from them when we’re not around.
You know your limits and only test them every so often. But when you’re tired and hear the word “no” or think someone is telling you not to play with something, you really turn on the water works. I know it’s not a word you like to hear, but we keep you from playing with some things simply because they will hurt you or because they are important and don’t need to end up in your mouth.
You’re becoming so interactive and really fun to play with. You often thrust your hand towards my face with something in it, wanting me to kiss it. And some of your toys have been getting hugs too. You love looking at books and pointing out things in the photos and drawings.
You had a checkup on November 13th and everything is right on track. Your pincer grip was good, your organs are still tucked away so they can’t get damaged while you learn to walk, everything looks and sounds good and you didn’t even cry when you got your shot. You’re 25.9 inches now (75cm) and 17.3 pounds (7.87 kilos)–right on track for length but on the slender side. And since your daddy and I are both thin, tall and lanky, it’s no wonder that you’re the same. It’s certainly not a lack of food that’s keeping you thin…you’re like a little trash compactor. I think you might actually be able to eat something around the clock. And since you’re so active all day, you’re burning calories like crazy.
Aside from lots of “mamamamama” and close similarities to Ayla and dada, there are no distinguishable words yet. But that doesn’t mean that you aren’t making all sorts of noises and babbles. When you do finally really start to talk, it’s going to be a non-stop stream. That’s something you must have gotten from me…cause your daddy still talks non-stop.
So much is going on in your life right now and I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. That doesn’t make it insignificant; it just means your mommy needs to start taking notes during the month so I can remember everything.
You are an incredible little child and you just fascinate and amaze us all the time.
All my love,
Mommy