Tinkerbell & Tinkles!

Today was a big day for MacKenzie! We rearranged the dining room to be a place where we can all eat dinner together, but is mostly a play room for the baby. Grammy & I had been to a consignment sale a few weeks ago and had gotten some large scale toys. We added a refrigerator & hutch for a play kitchen to her collection that already included a borrowed "stand up & dance" toy on loan from Christian, a dinosaur that sorts balls, plays music and says "rawr", and an art easel. Nana & Pop got MacKenzie an early birthday present- a cute little house that she can crawl through and do all sorts of fun stuff with. Chris thought it was time to take down the Pack & Play in the dining room, so I conceded. We all went to Toys 'R Us and Grammy got a groovy chair for MacKenzie to rest on in her new play area. I was worried that I wouldn't have anywhere to put her if she got sleepy. Not to worry...! We found a foam chair decorated with Disney Fairies. The seat and bottom fold out and it makes into a little bed!!! The bed part even has a sleeping bag attached! I can hardly stand the cute!!!! We got the room all done up, put up the baby gates and let her go. Boy, was she excited! She hardly slept at all during the day! We even let her run around naked for a little bit. While she was nekkid, I noticed she was holding herself and squatted down a little. I asked her if she had to go potty, and if she wanted to pee on the big girl potty. I took her in, sat her on her potty seat on our toilet, and SHE PEED ON THE POTTY! We were so proud of her!

Walking Is Very Close!

MacKenzie is getting stronger and stronger, every day! I have seen her take four steps in a row several times today. I think she'll be really walking very soon. I am excited about it for her, but scared that I won't be able to keep up with her! I made a wish out loud yesterday that I wanted her to be able to run around on the farm at the Mother Earth Harvest Festival, which is in a little under two weeks. Be careful what you wish for...I think I very possibly could get that wish!

MacKenzie also got the opportunity to chase Lucky, the cat, through Chris' "man room" tonight. It was her first official cat chase! I didn't want to laugh, but she was giddy and squealing with delight to be chasing him! Lucky was not nearly as pleased.


We had a little photo shoot in the back yard today so that I could have an image for the invitations for her 1st birthday party. She had fun exploring everywhere in her tutu, crown and carrying her magic wand! I made her tutu this morning just for the photos and the party!

Bath Time Bliss

MacKenzie has taken bath time and turned it into an art form! She has learned to make typhoon-sized waves and splashes. I think we will definitely need some sort of waterproofing for the carpet around the bathtub! I watched as she leaned over the side of the tub and stretched out to get her rinse cup. She captured it, and promptly sat down in the water and submerged the cup to fill it up, purposefully. She made it happen on purpose, as opposed to playing around and it happened by happy accident. I love watching her experience things, learn from them, and use them later to her advantage. The assimilation of knowledge is an amazing process, and I am honored to be witness to this miracle through MacKenzie.

*The bathtime picture above is not from today, but one afternoon that Grammy gave her an impromptu and very necessary bath in our kitchen sink! MacKenzie had fun looking out the window while getting all clean!

We had a fun weekend...we took time out from our housework weekend to play at Paulus' Farm Fun Fort on Saturday. MacKenzie got to play with other kids (she had her first run-in with a bigger kid who wasn't playing nice..he knocked over her chair...she was none too pleased with him) and crawl around in and around and on hay bales. She crawled in the grass and got her first grass stains on her jeans! She had so much fun with all of that freedom! She got to play in a hay bale (and plastic) tunnel. I wasn't sure we were ever going to get her out of it! She crawled from one end to the other over and over again. From Daddy's end to me was downhill, but to go back again was, of course, uphill. That was entirely too much fun to watch...MacKenzie would go a little bit and then slide back down just enough to send her into fits of giggles. And she would get to the end where we were waiting for her, and get just close enough that we could almost reach her to pull her out, and then turn around giggling and carrying on and would crawl back to the other side. We repeated that many times, until I finally caught her at the bottom end. Poor MacKenzie! Foiled again!

Sunday was a big day for our little girl too. We again took time out of housekeeping and errand-running to have a little dinner. We went to Italian Oven for a late lunch/early dinner. We ordered off the menu for MacKenzie for the first time! I normally just get something that the baby would enjoy eating and she shares with me, but we got her a plate of penne pasta with marinara sauce, a meatball and a glass of water. She ate off of a plate and everything! She was so proud of herself! (And we were too...!) We had the leftovers for lunch today. She has learned to share...she offers little bites of her food to you while she is eating. It is precious!

Now I am watching her sleep as I am writing this. My little darling is now able to embrace sleepy nap time, and decide to fall asleep on her own. Not so much at night, but definitely during the day. Her little blue and purple polka dot butt is sticking up in the air, and her thumb is in her mouth. She just couldn't be any cuter!

*And just one more note to mention...MacKenzie finally took two steps to Daddy last night! Yay! He's been waiting for that for quite some time now!

The Big Day!

Today is MacKenzie's big day! She took her first real steps! She was holding on to one of her walk-behind toys with one hand. She left go, looked at me and took one step! Then she looked down at her feet and back to me, and took another step, and then sat down. She was sooo proud of herself! (I was proud of her too...we clapped and laughed after she sat down.) A little while later, she took three steps from where she had been standing up along side of a big Rubbermaid container over to the glider in her nursery. No hands, no help...just boom, boom, boom...three steps right in a row, like it was second nature! Boy, are we in trouble! It's only a matter of time now before she is unstoppable and has bumps and bruises all over. Look out, toddler-times...here we come!

Bling Shoes Already?

So, MacKenzie and I went for some retail therapy last Friday. Don't you know, she picked out her first pair of shoes? She spied a sparkly pair of sneakers and reached out to touch them. I let her pick them up and she said "oooooh", and then smiled a big 4-toothed grin! Needless to say, after I told her grandmothers about it...we of course had to go back and get those sneakers!

We had a lovely day today, ending up with a visit to the pet store (MacKenzie is fascinated with all the fish tanks and the parakeets!) and then a stop at the corner of Market & Main in Mechanicsburg for the Concerts on the Corner series. Tonight it was contemporary Irish folk music. We almost lost a shoe...not one of the Bling Sneakers, thankfully! It was my first go-round with playing "where did Baby kick off the shoe?"! We found it right beside the car when we were done dancing. Thank heavens...they are new too...this was only the 2nd time she had worn them.

We've learned some new things, including Eskimo kisses! Her BFF, Ava showed us that last week, and now MacKenzie likes to do it. Ava is a year and a half old, and smart as anything! We are working on "in" and "out" and have been using some sign language for a while. Today at lunch, MacKenzie asked for "more" ice cream with sign language!!! I was sooo excited!

Play Date

Today was MacKenzie's first playdate with her friend Christian. He is 2 years old. He brought his 3 month old sister Kaylee along today! The kids played on the swings, drove trucks around in the grass, sat at a tiny picnic table, had Cheerios together, and fell down together several times! Christian was a perfect gentleman, playing so nicely and learning to share with MacKenzie! Oh, and bubbles! We had some bubbles to chase after!

Tonight we visited Nana & Pop, and played with them a bunch. MacKenzie got to see the koi pond again, and chase after two very big and fluffy Maine Coon cats. She worked so hard on playing today that she was in bed by 9:30pm!

Mommy is going to take advantage of this early night and go to bed too. Sleep tight!