Two Cool

Turning two years old is a pretty big deal. In honor of McKenzie's second birthday, celebrated last week, I thought I would take a little time to brag about how awesome she is.  There are lots of things that make her awesome so this list is by no means comprehensive, but it's a start.

McKenzie rocks because:

She is a great communicator. She talks in 3-5 word sentences and says new words practically every day.  

She can count to nine.  That is, "one, two, three, nine."  She may be missing some of the numbers in the middle.

She knows nine letters of the alphabet.

       A for Adam

       B for baby, ball, binkie

       D for daddy

       G for grandpa and gramma

       J for Joshy

       K for Kona, Kaia, Kenzie

       M for mommy, McKenzie, Matt, and Monica (Munka)

       L for Lily, Leigh and Loren

       N for Nana 

She makes an incredible play-by-play announcer for everyday activities.  If you are ever wondering what Kaia is doing, just tune in to Kenzie's running monologue: "Kaia laying there, Kaia laying there, Kaia crying, baby crying, Kaia diapy time, Kaia daipy time" etc, etc. (Yes, everything is repeated at least twice)

She offers sound medical advice.  One morning about a month ago I told her that Mommy had a headache.  She insisted, "Mommy drink water, drink water Mommy." She also provides me with daily reminders to take my vitamins.

She loves helping her daddy work in the yard.  He has been planting grass seed, moving piles of dirt, preparing a spot in the yard for a vegetable garden and planting tons of vegetable seeds.  Kenzie is there every step of the way and isn't afraid to get a little dirty.

She makes people feel special.  She runs to hug her aunties and uncles when they come over, and she adores all of her grammies and grampas.  

She is ferociously independent.  The "me do it" stage has moved to another level.  She wants to do everything herself.  For example, last night we were looking for her sippy cup of water.  When I found it in the living room and brought it to her she screamed, "no me find it."  She then brought it back to the living room and put it on the floor.  Then she picked it up and proudly announced, "me find it, me find it!"

She remembers everything.  We are constantly amazed by the things McKenzie knows.  If she hears or sees something once she seems to remember it forever.

She's adorable.  Her latest thing is that she wants to go to bed wearing one of my shirts over her pjs.  How cute is that?

She is an amazingly kind, caring and helpful big sister.  She truly loves Kaia and wants to know what she is doing at all times.  She always helps me when I ask her to get a diaper or burp cloth, even if it is in the other room.  She seems to have replaced her common refrain, "eat sumpin'?, eat sumpin'?" with "baby Kaia?"  (Those of you who know Kenzie well know that this is a very big deal.  All the girl ever wants to do is eat something!)