"What in the World?!"

There are a couple things that Mckenna does lately that I love, so I figured I'd write them down so I actually remember them when these early years become a blur.

"I missed you" - Mckenna tells me or Ronnie that she missed us frequently. Whether it's in the morning when we get her up, or if one of us has been back in the office working for a few hours, she tells us often. It is the sweetest thing. It's usually accompanied by a bear hug and some sweet snuggles. I'm not sure I'll ever tired of hearing "I missed you mommy" come out of her mouth.

"Bear down, Daddy" - If you know Ronnie, you know he loves his Wildcats more than life itself. I think if I forced him to choose between me and his cats, well, I may be packing a bag…eh, forget that, if he chose the Cats over me, I'd make him pack a bag..hehe! Anyways, point is, he loves them. He started singing their fight song as a cheer of sorts for Mckenna when she would do something cheer-worthy (a little self-serving, but she liked it, so it worked). Now whenever Mckenna does something she thinks is cheer worthy, like puts on her own shoes, goes potty and gets her own underwear and pants back on, is a good girl, she runs to Ronnie and says, "bear down, Daddy." He asks her what she did, she tells him, and the singing begins. The cutest is to watch her little eyes. They light up and then they, almost timidly, scan Ronnie's body and her own. She looks at his feet, and then her own to make sure she's doing it the same. Then she looks at his leg and then her own to make sure she's doing it the same. It's the sweetest thing to watch. And why does she ask daddy to sing it, you may be wondering. I don't know. Mom doesn't cut it. She may sense that I don't have the same love for the Cats that he does.

Baby Walks - Mckenna has asked to take her baby for walks at least once a day now. She gets her baby all ready in the baby's stroller, and then pushes her as we walk around the neighborhood. It's endearing to see her loving and caring nature shine through as she stops, takes baby out of the stroller, and proceeds to bounce and shush baby as she informs me that baby is crying. Once baby stops crying, back in the stroller she goes and we are off again.

"I'm a sorry Mommy" - That's how she says sorry, "I'm a sorry". I'm not sure where she got the "a" from, but it makes it even sweeter to hear her apologies.

"I dock it. I dock it" - This is actually "I've got it. I've got it"…but she says, "I dock it"…and it's awesome. She says it all the time. All. The. Time. When she wants to flush the toilet, put on her own shoes, dress herself, get her own snack, open a door, you name it. This one she's said for a long time, but it only increases in frequency as she insists more and more on being independent.

"Mandi Sharpe" - At some point she has realized this is my name. And now, it randomly makes its way into play time. The other day she was pretending to be on the phone and the conversation went like this, "Hello Mandi Sharpe. Are you running? Ok. Bye." The way she says my name makes me melt. However, it's less than amusing when she's in bed and wants out and I hear "Maaaannnndddiii"…umm what? I will never answer to my first name to you. Learn that and we will all be better off ;-) For a while now, she's "known" Ronnie's name. But I don't think she knows it's his name, instead she thinks it's how you're supposed to call for him in the house (I wonder who she's modeling!) "Hey Ronnie!" She yells (more like "Hey Wonnie")…But I think she thinks "Hey Ronnie" isn't "hey __(insert name of person)__" I think she thinks it's just one word "Heywonnie."

"You kidding me?"- This one is new in the last few days and cracks me up. She hasn't figured out the correct usage totally yet, but it's adorable even still. Today she was looking for pants in the dryer and I heard a muffled, "you kidding me?" to herself!

"What in the world?" - Another new one in the last few days. My mom reported hearing it the other day. My parents were sweet enough to offer to watch Mckenna all day Friday and Friday night so Ronnie and I could have hubby/wife time. Well Saturday morning Mckenna wanted to go for a walk, but Nana told her it was probably too chilly out still. "I have a sweatshirt in my bag," Mckenna negotiated. What Mckenna didn't know was that her mom usually is good like that, but this time her mom packed as if it wasn't January, at least not January on the equator. They went into Mckenna's room and as Mckenna pulled out shorts and t-shirts she exclaimed, "What in the world?"

…Gosh I love this stage!