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We have all the lovely tantrums that make you so frustrated you want to jump in your car and return in 16 years. Sometimes these tantrums are over something so small, I actually have to keep myself from giggling...which as you can guess, if Mckenna picks up on it, only makes her more angry. We had a 10-minute standoff this morning on the potty because she (for the third time in an hour) said she had to go potty, but as soon as she sat down, she was "all done." She just wanted to take off her own shorts and diaper, and the potty was doing the trick. Well not in my house, sister. So we sat (well I sat, she was held in a sitting position on the john) for 10-minutes while she begged to be all done. I'm not sure who was being more stubborn, me or her, but regardless, it was frustrating. On Friday, she was in her room 3 times before breakfast for various offenses. When she wakes up from her nap, you hear, "knock knock, hello? Mommy, where are you?" in whines over the monitor, but when you excitedly greet her you get a, "bye bye!" in return - followed by 10 minutes of refusing to let you take her out of bed, but whining when you actually say "bye bye" back and walk out of the room. She is becoming her own little person and wants us to know it.
But as frustrating as those times are, I am so thankful that she is becoming expressing who she is, and I'm really excited by the person she is becoming. To say that Mckenna has quite the personality is an understatement. She is playful, excitable, passionate and goofy. She is outgoing, friendly, and engaging. She is smart and athletic. She is loving and compassionate. She is confident. She is bold. She seems to be well-liked wherever she is, by both other kids and by adults (how's that for the most "mom" thought of them all!) She has all the characteristics to be incredibly successful one day...or major trouble in high school ;-) I am so excited to see more and more of who God has made her and who we get to be the parents of. She has all the right ingredients and my prayer is that we can put them all together to create a woman that will make a major impact in this world.
I love that she now speaks in (toddler) sentences so I can begin to see how her brain is working. I love that she tells little crying kids "otay boy" or "otay girl" with a look of compassion on her face. I love that she plans ahead and tells me (after getting in trouble for not listening), "Mckenna listen tomorrow to daddy." (...Ok thanks, that's helpful right now) and that before bed she rattles off the 15 things she wants to do tomorrow..."wake up, Mckenna read book...wake up, Mckenna drink milk...wake up, mckenna gym." I enjoy hearing her predict what she thinks everyone she knows in the universe is doing at that moment...all back, to back, to back (can you tell it drags on?), "Josh working...Chrissy working...Nana home...Papi home...Brock sleeping...Tristan sleeping....Baby Caden sleeping...no Harlow Sad..." and on and on we go. I love that after a fit or crying spell she will inform me, "Mckenna choose happy" (Can you tell we've been drilling happiness as a choice around here? Ha!) I love that she will tell me what to do (albeit, it's rarely effective). Not because I like being bossed around or like that she is being bossy, and certainly not because I like to hear what square inch of floor I'm supposed to sit on or what toy I need to play with, but because I know that if we channel that current bossiness properly, she's just a leader in the making.
We truly are loving this phase, with all of it's ups and downs...so I say, bring on the actual terrible twos!
