On being awesome.

I feel like I'm continually reminded by how awesome Makena is. She'll do something great, and I think "Man, she's awesome." Then she'll do something even greater and I'll think, "Wow, she's so awesome I can't stand it." And then, right when I think she's too awesome to handle, she'll do something so crazy awesome that I have to shake my head in disbelief. We feel so incredibly lucky that we have this amazingly perfect child. Well, she's perfect for us. Nobody is completely perfect! Lord knows I'm not. But Makena is without a doubt a perfect fit for our family!

We've always loved her, obviously, and always thought she was great. But I feel like within the last few months, say, around when she was 15 months or so, she's really amazed us. She's sweet, loving, silly, smart, funny, friendly, kind... and pretty much everything I always wanted.

Does she have moments that drive me nuts? Of course. Right now she's playing with her new Elmo See & Say toy, and she's getting mad at the pieces because she isn't taking her time and they aren't fitting. I am trying to get her to say "Mama" to ask for help, but now she just yells out "Ah mah! Ah mah! Ah mah!" in a super annoying whiny voice.
There. She wanted me to help and now she's back to playing. Silly monkey.

The other day she was "helping" me put the dishes away. I was handing her the plastic food storage containers to put in the Tupperware cabinet. She took a small round one over to the other side of the kitchen and put it on top of the laundry soap bottle. I love that she thought it was the measuring cap that is supposed to be there.

Last night she was upset that Pam wasn't letting her play with the window cleaner squirt bottle. I thought I had the perfect solution. We recently bought her a little squirt bottle for water, and we hadn't used it yet so I filled it up and tried to get Makena to want it. She just continued crying and got upset that I screwed the top on. So I got frustrated and just put the bottle away and that only made her more upset. I knelt on the floor and asked what she wanted. She ran over and hugged me, then reached her hands behind her and patted her back and said "bah." I started to rub/tickle her back and she calmed down. It was the absolute sweetest thing!!

She is such a joy. Every day with her is a good day. Even the crappy days are a million times better because she's in my life. Cheesy, but so true! I just love her. I want to freeze time and just keep her like this forever, but then I think of all the good times to come and I'm so excited about every day!