"Just Kenna!"

My little Makenna Mae is just starting to seem not so little anymore. I mean, yes, she is still very young, needy, dependant, small, innocent (mostly), and just a wee one. But she is growing up, and it feels like it is happening right before my eyes. Actually, more than growing up, she seems to be maturing so much. Her vocabulary has just exploded. It still cracks me up to find myself in the middle of full on conversations with my little toddler daughter. She is quite funny too. There is no way I could record every funny thing she says, but she has me laughing all day. If you ask her her name she will say "Kenna." (which sounds like 'tenna' since she has a hard time with the K sound). Then I will say, "Is your name Makenna?" And she'll say, "No mama, Just Kenna!" She loves to tell me every day that she is getting "Bigger and bigger and bigger!" She will often invite me to do something with her and when I say yes she will respond, "Sure Mama, that be a good idea!" She uses very good manners when she talks. A lot of "Oh, thank you mama, Thank you so much!" She loves her little brother and any time he stands up she says "Look mama, baby Kellen ('Tellen') is standing all by himself. He's learning to grow up!" It's just so cute!

She is also so much more fun to hang out with now that she is putting the confrontational, two year old side behind her. She is so much more cooperative, easy going, friendly, and just much less feisty than she has been. I think she is learning how to control her frustrations and anger and is less tempted to test her boundaries. This all comes as a big relief to her parents! I feel like I have my sweet little daughter back that has been possessed for the last little while :) I was thinking the other day about how much I adore this little girl. In a lot of ways she feels like a little best friend. We spend all day together, every day. We have conversations and inside jokes and silly things we do together. We bug each other sometimes but are always quick to forgive and move on. She is my little side kick. My little mini-me. Though she looks sooo different than I would have every pictured my daughter looking (well, at least in terms of her coloring), she acts exactly like I would expect a daughter of mine to act. She is a wild, strong little spirit with endless energy, but she is also so sweet and kind hearted and such a good, loving little girl by nature. I love Kenna Mae. My little Sissy Roo!

The other day I was taking Makenna off time out and we were talking about what she had done wrong. In the middle of me asking her to apologize she TOTALLY did a HUGE eye roll! It caught me so off guard I started cracking up. I know it may not have been the best thing to do, but I couldn't help myself. So we took a couple of pictures of it. It was just so funny coming from such a little person! Such attitude sometimes!

Makenna's version of swimming in her pool in the yard. More jumping and splashing than actually swimming.

She can get some serious air! White girl can Jump!

At Cameron's 2nd Birthday party we took a tour of a fire station. It was exciting for me, as well as the kids. It was really neat. Makenna loved it and has been talking a lot about fire trucks since.

Kenna and Cam holding hands. She was all over him...she wears the pants in the relationship, for now at least. :)

This is at the sprayground at Santee Lakes. It was all a bit intimidating for Makenna at first (which doesn't happen often). She started on the sidelines observing...

Then she got a little more comfortable and splashed around in some puddles.

Finally she went for it. After this she was a wild woman running through everything and not wanting to leave when it was time to go home.

Daddy wanted to get Makenna some balloons the other night, just to do something special to show he loved her. They had so much fun playing with them together, Makenna was thrilled with them and they were around for almost a week!

What a good Daddy!