Proud Mom

I am amazed with McKenna. I know that I am her mother, that I carried her for 9 months and gave birth to her a year ago, but sometimes when I look at her I don't see anything in her (physically or characteristically) that resembles me. I see a whole lot of Jensen, that's for sure! But personality wise, I often think "Where did she come from?" "How did we get so lucky?" There are many things about McKenna that impress me so much, mostly the qualities that I see in her that I wish I had! One of them is the way she learns. She is an observer. She watches very carefully, processes as much information as she cans, and then practices. She will do something when she has accumulated as much knowledge and experience as possible. She seems to be very thoughtful and very thorough in her preparations. Many times we won't even know she can do something until she has it down.

Example #1: Walking
About a month ago she started walking. It was a long time coming! She had been standing by herself, walking along the couch, and even taking one step by herself for months prior to this. Every time we would "practice" with her, she would cry like we were torturing her and refused to walk from Mom to Dad. I suspected that she could walk better than she let on though, because on a couple occasions I would catch her practicing when she didn't think anyone was watching. Then, one Friday evening while we were all watching a movie, she let go of the couch and walked effortlessly across the whole family room. My reaction was "when did you learn how to walk?!" She has been walking ever since.

Example #2: Talking
McKenna has very few words at this point and most of them can only be understood and translated by Dave or I. Even still, we sometimes disagree on what she is actually saying. Needless to say, McKenna is just barely "talking." Last week, there was one day when McKenna was making a "K" sound all day. She wasn't pointing to anything to indicate that "Kkkk" meant something, she just seemed to be practicing the "K" sound. (Impressive!) Then, a couple days later, she surprises us by saying "truCK" "booK" and "Kkkk Kkkk" (cracker). With one day of practicing her "K" she doubled her vocabulary! Again, Impressive! to me.

I am very proud of our sweet McKenna and amazed by her personality. She adds so much to our family and I am impressed by her daily. Again, how did we get so lucky?! We have been seriously blessed with two incredible girls. I am blown away, overwhelmed, humbled, and grateful everyday to be their mother.