2GoodTuesday3.29.11

We had a really good day yesterday. It was beautiful out, and should be even nicer as the week continues. We got some sunshine, Zach took a nice nap, Mackenzie played nicely by herself for a little bit, and Mommy never felt like I was totally struggling to keep up.

This week's 2Good things have both already been referenced, but they really were awesome.

1. Zachy saying Mommy and not just Momma. Something so sweet about hearing your child call you Mommy.
2. Mackenzie and I stumbling upon a circus. The look on her face as she clapped along with vigorous excitement. Simply delightful.
3. Here's a third: This week they have had a few times where they have played well together: taking turns pushing one another on the racing car, making 'paddy cakes' in the sandbox, and collecting rocks in the creek.

M.CircusSnakes&Musings

Okay, now it's Mackenzie's turn. First and foremost, if she knew right now she was 'second,' I'd be in some trouble. She really is into: First, Second, Winning, Fair, Fault, and Blame. Serious stuff for a three year old.

So, Mackenzie and I had a little adventure this weekend. We really didn't know what we were doing. No game plan. But she's a trooper and just up for getting out. We ventured to town. I needed a haircut. It happened. We did a little basics shopping at Walmart and then decided to head to the mall for the play area.  And what did we find? A mini circus. Next show in twenty minutes. Why not? So we did. She had cotton candy. For the first time. And loved it. She brought home a souvenir coloring book. She clapped vigorously for the juggling guy. As far as the lady on the long rope, she said, That looks not safe. I not going to do that. Phew! I can sleep easy now. At intermission she decided she'd had enough, so we left. It's her adventure, right? We went into the mall. Tried to take pictures in a booth but all the booths were broken, darn it! She rode the car ride. We played in Barnes and Noble. She pretended to be a 'Circus Leader' on their little story time 'stage.' Then her sugar high wore off and it was quickly and clearly time to head home. She had french fries in the car. And chocolate milk (Apparently it was a junk food adventure more than anything).

Mackenzie had a bad dream the other night. It really freaked her out. All of the sudden she woke up and scooted to the side of the bed and screamed. She told me a snake licked her. She made me check under the blanket, which she would not put back on. She didn't want to go back to sleep. She really got scared. Her talk about the next day, however, was pretty cute. It went something like this:

It was big and huge. It lickded me. Let's look for it more. I think I heard it. Maybe that was Rufus. It licked my arm. Right here (pointing). Let me tell you some more truths about snakes, baby snakes you can hold, but not big snakes. Momma snakes are in big holes and baby snakes in small holes. You better keep an eye on me so the snake don't lickded me again. Can we check again?

She talked about it most of the day. And then again this morning. At some point it clearly became more of a 'thing' than an actual fear. For now anyway. Until the next bad dream, poor thing!

Some of Mackenzie's favorite things right now are:

• Her friend Saige at school. She identifies everything with Saige. Me and Saige like purple. Me and Saige....
• Performing songs and dances. The other day she did an edgy, punk rock like version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
• She's obsessed with her birthday. Which is in August. Five months away. The day we went on our Adventure, I asked her where she wanted to go and she said, of course, To my Birthday.
• Her imaginary friends.
• Cars. She still loves playing cars. And probably will for quite sometime.
• And playing babies. And playing baby, where she's the baby.
• Practicing her letters and shapes and coloring.
• Books right now: Purplicious and Knuffle Bunny.
• Competing with Zachy, for everything. Making sure she has more of everything or is first or second, or whatever is 'better.' Today Zachy started to put rocks in his bucket, so she made sure she got more and bigger ones.

Things I find cute. Like with Zach, it's the little things. Such as:

• She has been working on different letters and shapes. The other day she made a triangle and said Look Momma! I made a triangle. I worked hard.
• Her facial expressions and hand gestures.
• Her use of language.
• Her thought process.
• Seeing her interact with people.
• When she takes pride in being a big sister.
• Of course, when she tells me she loves me.

Lastly, how about a few totmusings?

• When we were driving, Mackenzie saw a balloon and said, Oh, when  Zacher sees those, he's going to want one!
• Taunting Zachy before naptime. Good night, Zacher. Sorry you have to nap. Big sister doesn't have to. Just you. Sorry. Big sister is going to have a treat.
• Commenting on Zachy: Look at Zachy. He's a crazy dude.
• I didn't toot on your leg, I tooted on my hand!
• After getting mad at me: You're not a perfect Mommy! (Glad we got that figured out.)
• Commenting on my mothering abilities yet again, another day we got in the car and had to arrange all her stuff. She said Wow Momma. You did much better than yesterday. Good job!
• And my personal recent favorite: After getting mad at Zachy for something, she said, Zachy, you a dirty diaper! Such a little lady.

That's a little bit of Mackenzie right now. Just like with Zachy, I love that girl. And, as always, she's as sassy as she is sweet. And loving. Incredibly so.

Over the weekend, she had been outside and came in to surprise me with 'flowers.' She said

 I saw flowers and thought to myself I pick you some flowers and some for me too. This one is for me and this ones are for you. 

What'sNewWithTheZ

I thought I had a system organized for having all the cute things my two favorite little people do and say at my fingerprints when I was ready to post them, but every time Mackenzie notices that I have a notebook, she takes it over and scribbles on each page. One by one. And then puts it someplace I can't find it. So, I went through twitter and facebook to see what I wrote on them, in hopes of triggering some recent happenings.

Today, I think I will start with Zachy.

First things first. Just about an hour and a half ago, I think he threw his first temper tantrum. It was heartbreaking, really. He wanted a bottle, but it was lunchtime. He cried for about thirty minutes. And got mad at me. And then wanted me. And then got mad at me again. Finally he got distracted by pounding the balls into the thing where they roll down. Good way for him to get his frustration out. He ended up eating a super lunch. He even had some salad. That's right. With ranch.  Speaking of Zachy and eating the other day something happened, which I'm not too sure exactly how I feel about. I tried to feed him grilled cheese, then cottage cheese, then some beans, and then some smoothie. He wouldn't eat any of it. Not until he mixed together the cottage cheese, smoothie and the beans and used them as a dip for the grilled cheese. I guess whatever works, right?

Oh, and he had his eighteen month well child check last Friday (at nineteen months old) and is weighing in at 22.2 pounds and above the 10%. Yay. But, I was never worried.  I always knew he was healthy. He's just a small baby.

As always, Zachy is all personality. He is learning to stand up for himself. He has the whole Mine thing down pat. The other day he was playing with some bugs that snap together and Mackenzie came up and tried to take them. He got made and then tried to scoop up all six or seven of them so she could not have them. I was amazed at the thought process and his determination. But he knew he had them first and he had no intention of sharing.

That said, he does like to pester her sometimes. Oftentimes. Really it's a back and forth. She wants what he has and he wants what she has. And he likes to get a reaction out of her. And, since she's three, that isn't too hard to do. They do have their moments where they play well, which is always a treat to watch. But, since he has started standing up to her, and does so increasingly more frequently, I anticipate more and more battles ahead.

His communication skills develop more and more all the time. I think he understands just about everything you say. Today Mackenzie and I were discussing going on a walk and next thing you know he's trying to climb into the stroller. If it's bath or bedtime, he'll start playing chase and trying to avoid the inevitable by being really, really cute. He is learning bits and pieces of songs. I have mentioned that he will sing the word Happy during 'You Are My Sunshine.' And now when we get to the part where it says You'll never know, dear, how much I love you....he will say Wuv you. Ahhhh. When we leave the house Mackenzie and I will say Let's G-O go! And Zachy will chime with Go, go, go!  Speaking of 'going,' he likes to GO! Whenever, wherever. Today he called me Mommy for the first time. I have to admit, it was kind-of sweet hearing him say Mommy instead of Momma.

Some of Zach's favorite things right now are:

• Brooms.
• Vacuums.
• Hoses.
• His Gunky, of course.
• Blocks.
• Balloons. (If he sees Balloons and we're driving, he'll yell out 'Balloon!')
• Shoes.
• He has a first favorite TV show (not sure if this is something to be excited about or not). It's Little Bill. He loves Little Bill. He hears the music and looks at the TV and says, with a big smile, LiBi.
• Being sung to and dancing. (Last night I was saying something about dancing and next thing you know he broke out in dance. Precious.)
• Snuggling before bed (my favorite, too!).

The thing about Zach is, he's just cute. What makes him cute? The little things. Such as:

• When he hands me something and says Elp (Often shoes, which he wants me to put on. So he can go somewhere. Or so he thinks).
• When he responds to things I ask him to do, like talking about changing his diaper and he walks to his room. And then wiggles around the changing table, but that's another issue.
• When he does something and just starts clapping and cheering for himself.
• When he just starts clapping and cheering for someone else (Like me. When I sing to him. Even though I can't. Sing that is.).
• When he waves and says Bye Bye to everyone before bed. With a big Zachy smile on his face.
• When he learns a new word or expression and then uses it every chance he gets. Like today he learned Wow! Happy as he is, he had lots of opportunity to use it!

And so on and so on and so on. That's just a little bit of you right now, Zachy. You're just cute and sweet and amazing. No way around it. And I love you. As you know. Like crazy.

WeekendWithGrammieDayTwo

 In lieu of 'FotoFriday,' I am posting Day 2 of our fun weekend with Grammie over Spring Break. It still counts, therefore, as a FotoFriday, I'm just not giving it a FotoFriday title.

Day Two of our most fun weekend, Dad was there. We got up, had breakfast and headed to the zoo. This was the biggest zoo we've been to yet! Obviously much bigger than our 'local' animal sanctuary and even bigger than the special zoo we frequent on a fairly regular basis. We even got to see some Koalas that were on loan from San Diego.  Despite taking a tram ride around the zoo, I must admit, we didn't see too many animals. It was almost too big for little ones. But we had a most wonderful time anyway.

 We decided to rent a tricked ride for the little ones.

Shaded and everything.

What would a trip to the zoo be without a petting zoo?

Fearless little guy, as always.

And what would a zoo be without a play area?

This zoo had plenty.

Here 'we' are in a Little People inspired play area.

Just like home.

Mommy and M.

 And Zachy and Mommy.

I think he wants to get back to playing.

 He loved this place.

This would be a perfect picture, except for the kid's butt in the background.

Grammie and M taking a break, watching ducks go by and talking.

On the porch of the most excellent treehouse.

A wonderland for creative toddler minds!

Three or was it four Merry Go Round rides?

I want to cry when I see her on Merry Go Rounds.

She looks so happy and so sweet.

Simple.

I hope she never stops.

Zachy did not nap the whole time there.

He's a trooper.

He found water.

And he liked it.

The Boys..

Pizza for dinner that night.

And Max and Ruby on the DVD player.

Followed by Bambi with Grammie.

Zachy's favorite thing to do at the hotel:

Unload and reload the refrigerator.

Lastly, before bed,

A Balloon Partay!

Woot-woot!

After the kids went to bed, Dad headed home so he could take care of the animals and get some 'work' done. 

A couple of 'cute' things from the day:

• At the zoo, while on the tram, the conductor referenced Monkeys and a half asleep Zachy perked up and shouted out Gunky!
• Back at the hotel, while walking through the courtyard, Mackenzie was singing very loudly Twinkle Twinkle Christmas star... People laughed. And smiled.

And so concludes Day Two.  Thank You, Grammie! Day Three, coming soon.

Survival&Sugar

Consistent with gender differences and sibling order, Zachy has fewer words he says than I seem recall Mackenzie having at this age. He communicates just fine, but his vocabulary is a little smaller. That said, there are six, count 'em six, words that come to mind, which he has definitely learned before her.

They are:

No!

Mine!

Cookies.

Juice.

Ice cream.

(and)

Chocolate.

Yep. For Zachy, sibling number two, it's all about Survival and Sugar!

OCDgirl&Helperboy

Mackenzie is OCD. I'm sure of it. Here's the evidence:

• She has a thing with doors. They have to be closed. If she wakes up in the middle of the night and the door is open, she either gets up or wakes me up to close it. It's serious.
• If we're outside, she even has to have the slider closed to the inside. This, I don't get.
• She used to have have all the blinds down as well, but I have finally gotten her permission to pull up the blinds. Hopefully, by summer we'll be able to open a door to the outside here and there.
• If she's eating and Zachy burps, she screams and throws away her food because she believes he 'burpded' on it.
• If her clothing gets the tiniest bit wet, she won't wear it and screams while she takes it off.
• If my hands are wet and they touch her, it's all over.

Zachy is a natural helper. Here's the evidence:

• This morning I told him it was time for breakfast and he started to put plates on the table.
• After he ate, he threw his leftover food in the trash.
• Before we went to the library, he put away Mackenzie's cars.
• He loves brooms.
• And vacuums.
• And wiping up things.
• He tries to wash Mackenzie in the bath. But this conflicts with her OCD, so it's a problem.

Fortunately and unfortunately, I'm sure they'll both outgrow 'it.'

2GoodTuesday3.22.11

Not a bad week. not at all. Here's my 2GoodTuesday for today. Plus One.

1. Over the weekend  I put Zachy to bed. I could tell he was in a snuggle mood, so I sang songs to him for about twenty minutes. Part of the time, he swayed from side to side and 'sang' along, especially the word 'Happy' during You are My Sunshine. After while he just rested his head on my chest. When I put him in the crib, he said Hug and after I gave him one last hug, he just went right to sleep. It was perfect. And sweet. I Love Him.
2. Today was the first day back at Totcollege for the kids. Mackenzie made me a card that said I miss my Mommy. Mackenzie. Don't tell her, but I missed her too! I Love Her.
3. One more. Tonight the kids were playing together. They took turns riding and pushing one another on the sit and ride 'car.' Cooperatively. Happily.

I Love Them.

My Babies.

Grateful Momma.

WeekendWithGrammieDayOne

We had a wonderful weekend last weekend with Grammie. The kids were on 'Spring Break' from Totbabycollege. Grammie flew in from California and we met her down in Phoenix. The weather was simply fantastic. We had a suite at the Doubletree for three nights and had a blast. Mackenzie was excited for weeks. She couldn't wait to see Grammie, stay at a hotel, go swimming and do fun things. Both kids did remarkably well the whole time and their adventurous spirits were nourished for three full days.

I already posted a few 'teaser' pictures on FotoFriday, but have many more to share. In the interest of time and post length, I have decided to post pictures from Day One today, and will get to the other days this later this week!

Day One we went to the Hall of Flame Museum. It was perfect. We arrived in Phoenix about 12:30 (after a tantrum-free, crab or fuss-free two and half hour drive, just me and the kids). By the time we got settled in and had some lunch, we made it to the museum by about 2:30. Really neat place.  We spent a solid two hours there. Perhaps longer.


They have hundreds? of antique fire engines. Really beautiful engines.

As exquisite as they were, those didn't interest the little ones too much.

But the totally cool play area did!

A wonderful place for imaginations to go wild.

If there's somewhere to sleep, Grammie will find it.

It set on pretend-fire, but the firekids saved the day!

They also loved playing on the fire engine.

This they could have done for another hour, easy.

There was also a real fireman there (not pictured) in his civilian clothes.

He gave the kids fireman badge stickers.

Fun. Fun. Fun Day.

Thanks, Grammie!

Back at the hotel...

Mackenzie went swimming with Grammie.

Zachy stayed close to Mom and explored. 

He even made a cute Zachyfriend.

What did Mackenzie have for dinner? Uh, I think it was french fries. She probably had them for lunch too. Neither napped. Nope. Two and a half hour drive and no nap. Geez! But they hung in there. So, it was bath and early bed. I think they took baths? Maybe not. Dad arrived just at bedtime. Mackenzie was excited to see him. They went up the elevator. And then back down. Zachy had already fallen asleep. And that, my friends, was Day One of our most fantastic weekend and mini vacation.

MommyMeltsWhen

Life with two toddlers is undoubtedly crazy. Downright insane at times. But the beauty of it is that the same kids who can drive you close to edge, can make you melt in an instant. Feel love like you couldn't imagine before. What's making me melt these days? Here are a few things each of my kids are doing in the now that make me feel so much love, it almost hurts. In a good way, of course.

Mackenzie first...

• The way she talks. Her facial expressions, gestures, and the things she says. Sometimes, oftentimes, she amazes me.
• When she tells me for no reason that she Loves me.
• When she sings. When she makes up silly words to songs. Or the determined look on her face as sings along and concentrates intently,  careful and focused on learning the words. Smiling just picturing it.
• Her chattering as she plays by herself. She says the cutest things. And has the most incredible imagination.
• Her face when she's sleeping. And the way she's all curled up.

Now Zachy...

• When he starts to sing and bop his head from side to side. When he sings the word 'Happy' during You Are My Sunshine. At nighttime. Before bed.
• How his face lights up when he laughs.
• His curiosity. When he learns something new. He shocks me every single day. He's a little sponge.
• When he starts a flirty game. Chase. Peek A Boo. Naked babytoddlerboy on the loose. Those kinds of games. Smiling again.
• How he randomly comes up and gives hugs and kisses. His way, I'm sure, of saying I Love You.

Far from all comprehensive. Far from. But, have I mentioned lately how much I love my two kids? Gosh, could I be more lucky? No way. Not in a million years.

FotoFriday3.18.11

I know, I missed last week. And, I'm not really fully ready to post vacation pictures, so I have a few to share this week. But they are sort of random from the last two or so weeks.

A couple of weeks ago we had snow.

I forgot to share the finished snowman project!

Here's M and Dad.

And Zachy and Me.

I had shorts on!

Beautiful day.

We went from snow.

To this...

Fast forward a couple of weeks,

And we're still 'there.'

This was M's great idea for a Water Slide.

Zachy wasn't so sure about the whole thing.

But he got in the spirit.

Zachy reading about Choo Choo Trains.

Mackenzie playing cars.

In her own special way.

Coming soon...a post about our trip.

And here's a preview.

Here we are on the road.

First Zachy.

Drinking a bottle and holding Gunky.

And now Mackenzie.

Zoning out to Max and Ruby.

We arrive.

First things first.

Grammie and Mackenzie hug a tree in the hotel courtyard.

Huh? Why?

While Bottle Boy explores.

Much more to come...but not today.

And that's all for this week folks.

ThursdayTweetsOnFriday

I got me some catching up to do. Life's been busy. So, today I'm just going to bullet point a bunch of random tidbits - sort of like twitter tweets. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. A totmusing here, a new 'thing' there. I won't include any vacation talk, because that will be it's own post, but I want to try to catch up on 'everything else.

Over the last couple of weeks, life has included...

• You guys had a fun, fun playdate with Ari and Cate not last but the Friday before. Ari and Mackenzie played fantastically together! Momma T and I both loved seeing how you guys are developing socially. Learning to take turns, share things, problem solve. Beautiful! And Cate, she was hilarious. Full of so much spunk, I decided she has earned the title of 'Nut-Nut,' which is what we called Mackenzie when she was 'younger.' Zachy - you stayed on Mommy the whole time, except when you napped. I think you loved it, having my undivided snuggles that is.
• The next day we went to a party for one of Mackenzie's friends, Maverick. Again, Mackenzie played fabulously with her friends. As always, loved seeing her with her totschool peeps. Miss Anne was there as well, with Teddy and Lucy, who's in Zachy's class. Chance, from Zachy's class, was also there. Awesome time! Both of you were wonderful and had fun.
• And the next day, Mackenzie and I went to the Dollar Tree and Walmart. Mackenzie got dinosaurs to play with. And to share with Zachy, which she did. Very well.
• Talking about her friends Mackenzie explained, Me and Saige are fun girls! Kayden, he's just a little bit fun.
• Mackenzie's art was focused in the Preschool e-newsletter! Yay! It said she had said that she made it for Zachy and Daddy. When I read what it said, she let me know that she also made it for me and her. Sweet little Miss, worrying about my feelings. But I told her that it's okay for her to make a picture for Daddy and Zachy too.
• Amazing how Zachy the food thrower can manage to hold on just fine to an ice cream cone. Zachy, you can thank Grammie for your first ice cream cone. Mackenzie, so can you, but you had yours about a year later.
• Mom: We're leaving right after we wash your face. Mackenzie: But I look beautiful with my dirty face. Okay then. And we're off!
• Yesterday I asked Zachy to get the 'blue one.' A stretch I know. But he went and got a Balloon! Smart little guy, isn't he? Equally as smart, Mackenzie said, That's not blue! That's yellow (referring to the balloon he brought me).
• Mackenzie told me today that Coyotes eat cats. She then told me that they could eat our cats. When I let her know that meant our cats would die and we would not have them anymore, she replied with That's okay. We can buy another one. I think the girl thinks money grows on trees!
• When we were at the hotel, I told Zachy to put Mackenzie's milk back in the refrigerator and shut the door. And he did! That's a two part command. And he's only 19 months old, well almost.
• Lately when I put Zachy in his crib, he likes to stand up, holding his Gunky, and hug for a little bit. Then he goes down when he's ready. It's sweet.
• Last week I told Mackenzie we were going to 'run' to the library. Her reply? That's not safe, someone could get hurt. We should take the car.
• Zachy was walking with a balloon between his ankles a couple of days ago. Cute. And hilarious.
• Zachy likes to take things like vacuum hoses and pretend he is spraying things. He even makes noises. This gets Mackenzie upset because, in her words, I no want to get sprayded!
• Mackenzie was trying to get my attention and cleared her throat. Huh? Where'd she learn that?
• Mackenzie has decided she has a magic wand to turn things into what she wants. This could be trouble.
• Zachy's reallyReallyREALLY active. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's impossible to get him dressed or change his diaper. Difficult and frustrating despite how cute he is!
• Zachy says There go when he hands you something.
• Yesterday Mackenzie came up with the idea of putting the pool at the bottom of the slide for a water slide. I was impressed. She's got some creativity that girl of mine!
• Zachy came in and said Swing? basically asking me to go out with him and push him in the swing.
• Zachy fell in love with trains when we were in Phoenix. Maybe before, actually, but Phoenix sealed the deal. This morning he saw the book The Little Engine That Could  and sat down with it, pointing and saying Choo-Choo!
• Zachy has been pointing to the potty and saying Pee Pee.  I put him on and he sits there, really focused. Wondering what's supposed to happen next, I suppose. He then points to the toilet paper, I give him some, and he wipes.
• Mackenzie has a new imaginary friend, Kenda. So far she seems nice enough. Earlier I had to tell them that they looked 'Gorgeous.'
• Totally thought Zachy said 'Blue' as he pointed at blue PlayDoh. And then he went and found a balloon. Has anyone noticed that the boy has a thing with balloons? He loves 'em. Of course he does. They present a choking hazard.
• Last week we were playing store and Mackenzie very seriously said I don't have dollars. I have money. Had she pulled out a debit card, it would have been even funnier. Who knows if they'll even have money or debit cards by the time you guys see this.
• Zachy now points to his behind and says 'Bum Bum.' Let the fun begin!
• I think Zachy has a favorite TV show. Little Bill. Usually he's oblivious to TV, but whenever he hears the music he shouts out Li Bi! and points.
• One day, Mackenzie was talking about how Coyotes eat cats and said that they could eat our cats. I explained that then they would die and we would not be able to see them anymore. She responded with That's okay. We can buy new ones.
• A couple of days ago, Mackenzie actually woke up after the sun had risen and said with concern: Oh no, the light's already on!
• Zachy goes in the corner now to do his 'business.' No expectation that he will potty train any time soon. Probably not for a year or so. But I still find it strangely cute when they do their 'hiding' thing.
• Yesterday at lunch time Mackenzie started to shout out different words to Zachy and he would repeat them. They were both hysterical. She ate up the attention. Momma Loves SilbingLove Moments.
• Zachy's 19 month old self just came to me and said 'Ouchy,' while pointing to his foot. Cute!
• Mackenzie just said 'Potty is poopy, yucky, gross,' when I asked her to go potty before we leave. Not one to mince her words. No, not my Mackenzie. She cracks me up.
• Zachy said Wuv you after I told him I love him. He probably isn't totally sure what it means, but, ah, it sounded sweet anyway.
• Just like it does when Mackenzie says it. And she KNOWS what it means!
• Did I really leave eggs on the floor for a 19 month to play with? Momma of the Year, right here! Well, Zachy, you enjoyed yourself.

Okay my little ones. There's always more. I started this yesterday and finally 'finished' it today. We've been busy lately, which is great, but doesn't leave much time for getting things recorded.

Mackenzie, You have been a delight these days. You still have your sass and incredible spirit, but you're also learning how to interact with the world and people around you. You have a sense of adventure, which I saw so clearly last weekend when we went to Phoenix with Grammie. You love to explore and learn about new things. You reason through things. You love to make people laugh. You are creative and your imagination blows my mind every day. And you're sweet and loving. Really, really sweet and loving. I love to snuggle with you. I'll miss these days when you're too big to snuggle anymore.

Zachary, You are growing up so fast. It seems like yesterday you were a baby and now you are all toddler. You are fun and equally as funny. It seems almost overnight that you have started to really communicate with words. People always comment on how easy going you are, but I also see how you let us know when you don't like something. I like that. You have patience. I don't know if you'll have it when your three, but you have it now. You're able to sit and focus with things. And seem to have an ability for figuring out things. You like music and singing and dancing. You aren't afraid to join right in with what everyone around you is doing. And just like your sister, you are sweet, sweet and loving and an amazing snuggler

2GoodTuesday3.15.11

Wow. I feel like I have been out of touch and am behind. I neglected my FotoFriday from last week. But all for good reason. We had a special mini-vacay with Grammie! Whoot-whoot! We met her down south over the weekend, stayed at a hotel, which Mackenzie was veryVERY excited about and had super fun adventures. Much more to come on our weekend, photos and everything.  And hopefully I'll catch up on the last week too!

Right now, it's late but I, at least, want to do my 2GoodTuesday from the week. Too much to decide. What's it going to be?

1. Tonight I was singing You Are My Sunshine to Zachy before bed. During the You make me Happy, when skies are gray part, he started repeating the word Happy over and over with a big big smile, moving his head from side to side. Momma's smiling!
2. I can't come up with a Mackenzie 'moment' of the week. The truth is, her excitement throughout our vacation was 100% AWESOME. Watching her joy was absolutely priceless. Momma's feeling happy! VeryVERY happy.

2GoodTuesday3.8.11

Here's Three...

1. Zachy playing with balloons tonight. OhMeOhMy. He was giddy with excitement and laughter. Hard to get him calmed down for bed. But he was having fun.Fun.FUN! And that I like. A lot.
2. Mackenzie and I telling secrets. Whispering in one another's ear. Her secret for me? I missed you when I at school today, Momma. I melted. Not sure if there's any of me left.
3. Sibling too good from the morning: Mackenzie asked for an 'animal' and Zachy went and got her one. Actually what he got her was a rubber monster from the bath, which he calls 'Elmo.' So, I think he thought she asked for an Elmo. Regardless, it was sweet!
4. Okay, just one more. So this makes it 2GoodTuesdayx2. I know I already posted it, but Zachy says Mackenzie's name! Yay! Sibling Love.Love. Gotta Love It! Zachy heart 'Kengy.'

Total sidenote: I think kids are hardwired to know Elmo. Zachy has seen Sesame Street maybe once a 'long time ago' and yet totally knows who Elmo is. It's Freaky.

TotTalk&Happenings

Thought I'd get in a little TotTalk tonight. Mostly things they have said and a thing or two or three they have done lately.

First up, Miss Mackenzie:

• Mackenzie's teacher sent an E-letter home with awesome pictures of the class. Some nursing students had visited and when she was looking at that picture, she said When I grow up, I want to be a nursing student.
• She's ambitious, yes she is, because today she also said When I grow up, I want to be a Fireman, and a Policeman, and a Teacher and a Nursing Student. I going to be all those things!
• She has also said she wants to be a Cowgirl, but not lately.
• The other day I called her 'Sweetie Pie' and she said I not a sweetie-pie, I a Mommy. Nice! Almost as good as You're not a person, you're a Mommy.
• We were at Walmart this weekend and out of nowhere, Mackenzie said That's cool!
• This made me laugh. She's become a tattler. Yesterday she came in and said Daddy's not good at this game!
• Earlier in the day she came to tell me Dad had hurt her feelings. I suggested she let him know and she looked up at me with her head down and said Will you come with me?
• Still not too nuts about Zachy's pronunciation of her name. In response, she said But Miss Anne doesn't call me Kengy. She calls me MAC-KEN-ZIE!
• She has a new morning ritual. She wakes up. If I'm awake, I pretend to still be sleeping. She goes to the bathroom, gets her undies on, gets a summer dress in the middle of winter almost spring on, turns on the kitchen light and then comes back to the room and yells SURPRISE!
• We've been playing Store quite a bit and the conversations are hilarious. She gets so into character. Uses an 'adult' voice; Brings in her baby, 'Chaser' (Saige's new little brother); Makes small talk; Asks where certain 'sections' are (Do you know where the balloon section is?); Brings her things over for purchase and then asks how much - usually I will say $2 and she offers me $1 and then wants $3 back; Then she goes 'home' and comes right back, often returning something with a full explanation and everything; And on and on and on. I like the store game.
• With Dad she's been playing Baby Room. He's the teacher and she drops off - you guessed it - Chaser who is in the Baby Room with Zachy; Then she goes to work, which is in the kitchen but yells out instructions to Dad the whole time; When she goes to pick up Chaser, 30 seconds later, she pretends she's at the outside window and says Guess who's here? and Dad acts surprised and says It's Chaser's Mommy (often adding in a sarcastic, Who's been gone for a whole 10 seconds); And on and on and on.
• I told her that Grammie will be watching them one day next week and, very concerned, Mackenzie said Does Grammie know how to watch kids? I will teach her rules about how to change Zachy's diaper and feed him and that he naps and I don't. I'm sure you'll let her know all the rules my little sweet!
• My favorite Mackenzie~ism this week? She got mad about something today and very dramatically said This is the worst day of my whole life! And then Michael Jackson music started to play on Ellen, I asked Mackenzie if she wanted to dance and the world was right again.

And now for Zachy. He doesn't talk quite as much, but he sure is learning to get his point across!

• Lately when I ask him if he wants something, he very clearly says Yah! or No! And pretty much seems to know what he is saying Yah! or No! to.
• I swear when he got up from nap he said: Where's Dada? Where go? Work? All without me saying anything. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.
• When he likes doing something, he says, 'Gain!
• He knows the words No and Mine in a (really not so) Terrible Twos way. Learned them much faster than his sister ever did. Interesting. At least I think so.
• He loves jumping on the bed and jumping off the couch onto the bean bags (with help) and dancing. Oh, he is such a cute dancer.
• Lately when I am in the shower, he comes to find me and keeps opening the door and saying HI!, which has become one of his favorite words. He also likes the word Bye! a lot. And blowing kisses. Really into working on his social skills I suppose.
• He still says Whoa, but also likes Weeee now. Maybe more than Whoa.
• And, he likes to ask for a Hug! and loves to give hugs.
• This evening Mackenzie came crawling in the kitchen with a pacifier in her mouth (yes, she is the 3 1/2 year old) and Zachy pointed at her and said Baby!
• When I give him something he asks for, he says Tank You!
• He knows the name of quite a few foods now: Eggs, Bananas, Crackers, Cheese, Beans, Milk, Apples, and of course cookies and juice, two things that Mackenzie never had until she was probably 2! I'm sure he knows other food words (as well as other words in general), but I can't think of them right now.
• The other day he decided to join Mackenzie and I in playing doctor. He was using all the doctor things and so intent. Really serious. Really cute. He loves to play the 'big kid' games that his sister plays.

FINALLY!

It's official. Zachy says Mackenzie's name. Not exactly of course, three syllables is a bit much for an eighteen month old. But he definitely says her name.

We were out walking today and saw Emmy dog from next door. Zachy yelled out her name and I thought to myself, How can he know her name and not Mackenzie's? Not possible. He's saying it. Somehow, I just haven't caught it.

And then a light bulb went off.

Mackenzie and Dad were playing chase in the field. I pointed to them and simply asked Who's that? And clear as day he said KENGY! To make sure I heard him right, I asked again. And again. And again. He probably thought I had a hearing problem. But it was clear. He calls her KENGY.

She wasn't too nuts about it. I was so excited to tell her Zachy says her name. She was happy at first, until I told her how he pronounces it after which she just screamed I NO WANT TO BE KENGY, I MACKENZIE.

I'm sure it'll grow on her.

FotoFriday3.4.11

A day late. Once again. For good reason. We had friends over to play yesterday and this morning a preschool friend birthday party. So, last week's photos are behind  schedule. And, it was hard for me to narrow snow pictures down. They really had a great time in the snow last week! Here we go....a look at our week.

Saturday, we took a drive down South. 

Mackenzie running through the water.

She had a blast!

 And then took off her pants.

And (very briefly) her undies (NOT pictured!).

Zachy just loved walking around, charming people.

And then he saw the water.

Do I dare? He decided not.

Our venture ended up with eating out. Translation: French Fries.

How adorable is this?

Even with ketchup all over Zachy's face!

Getting some energy out inside during the muddy snow aftermath outside.

Now whenever he goes in the bedroom,

Guess what he wants to do?

If you guessed Jump!, you're absolutely right.

Hard to tell what it looks like, but we made a fort.

Here they are inside the fort.

And here they are lunching on the outdoor patio of their fort.

Mackenzie got her hoodie on all by herself!
Backwards, but she almost made it work.

In her beautiful beaded necklace.

Another chance to get some energy out inside.

Jumping into the beanbags.

Mackenzie has the pink one.

And Zachy has the blue one.

From Sunday Snow Day.

Gosh, it was beautiful!

Mackenzie getting ready to nail me with a snowball.

Zachy liked the snow much better this time around!

Gotta love siblings engaged cooperatively!