Dear Kenna,
Oh Kenna Wenna, you have had quite the year. You've been two years old in all it's glory and it's been quite the ride with you and your sister this year. You are absolutely bursting with energy and you can be crazy hilarious and sweet as candy and you can also be full of emotion and volume and drama. It's a hilarious balance. This year of your life you've traveled to Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Germany, France, and of course the U.S., Bahrain, and Saudi. We've discovered that you and your sister have very sensitive gag reflexes. You've had motion sickness many times this year and you also seem to suffer from bouts of nausea when you're over-tired. If we're late for nap time, have an overnight flight (which we frequently do), or you just get SUPER upset and exhausted, you usually throw up. It makes traveling difficult and anxiety inducing, knowing that motion and exhaustion are just par for the course and that usually means vomit. Poor little girls!
You also have a VERY sensitive sniffer. You love smelling things that smell good. You frequently ask for gum wrappers or gum boxes and have been anxiously awaiting the time when you were big enough to chew gum too. You love smelly lotions and perfumes and shampoos and hand sanitizer. You'll carry things around and just hold them in front of your nose and sniff them all day. You're also very sensitive to bad smells and stinky breath in your face, or a stinky bathroom, or even a dinner cooking that you don't care for will make you start gagging immediately and you'll run out of the room whining and gagging to get away from the smell. Silly sweet girl!
Our trip to Sri Lanka was pretty great. Lots of time on the beach and in the pool which you absolutely love. You're such a little fish. You seem braver in the pool and Taryn is a little braver at the beach. Our Christmas trip to Germany and France was tough. Really tough. Missing naps, new sleeping arrangements and schedules and people threw you and your sister for a loop. You were clingy, but only to Glenn. You did NOT want to ride in your stroller, ever. And you were a downright meanie to Auntie Mallo which broke her heart. One time you went running after your Dad crying, "Daddy please pick me up or Auntie Mallo will get me!" It was bizarre and so sad. You were completely out of sorts and it made us seriously question how much traveling we're going to be able to manage this year. Hopefully we'll be able to figure that bit out and help you feel a little more stable when we're on the move.
You're a sort of picky eater and you don't eat much. You'll pretty much always eat strawberries, melons, cheese, tomatoes, berries, mac and cheese, and pizza. You could just drink milk for every meal every day and be completely satisfied. You'll drink yogurt drinks and morning shake. But pretty much everything else is hit or miss. You don't love chicken, nuts, and bread. You have a hard time processing them and they just sort of stay in your mouth for a long time until you eventually spit them into the garbage Truly, most days I'm not sure if you get by on much more than a few bites at each meal and lots of milk. But you're growing and you're happy so I guess we'll just keep putting food in front of you and hoping you'll eventually branch out.
You really really love books. You love having us read to you and any time anyone is reading a book out loud you come running and snuggle on our laps so you don't miss a thing. But you seem almost equally happy looking through books and "reading" them to yourself. Every evening we put away books and every morning you start getting them down from your shelves and carrying them around the house and reading them to yourself again until the whole house is just covered in books. Lately you really love chapter books from the library. We haven't started to read them to you yet. We pick them up at the library for Tate. But you latch on to them like having such a big, hard cover book is the coolest thing and you carry it around for days.
You ask me what things are called a lot lately. Titles of books, names of things and you repeat them and ask me over again. You are a collector of words like your Dad and your big brothers. It's adorable. Especially with your cute voice right now. All of your ar, er, ir sounds are "oi" instead. So the word adorable is even more adorable when you say "adoiaboh!" You are very good at expressing yourself when you're happy and when you're less happy. Once when you were frustrated that I wanted to hold your hand while we walked down some stairs you screamed at me, "YOU...Broke....My...Life!" You know how to sass and it's not my favorite, but you also know how to use a soft, quiet voice, to tell me "I wuv you so much momma" and then it's all okay.
You have music in your soul, little girl. You sing with your whole body and when you start belting out a song you're usually running around a room or running up and down the hall. I think your favorite is "Let it Go" but you can also belt out a song from Mary Poppins or My Fair Lady or The Greatest Showman. You don't discriminate. You love them all. The addition of a cape or costume usually heightens the volume and facial expressions, which are already pretty impressive. Any time music is on you dance. Almost always "dancing" is spinning in circles until you fall over. Then getting back up and spinning again. You like to be applauded but you'll dance in an empty room too. You just can't hold still when there's a tune playing.
You can be very particular about a few things and we're trying to figure out what they are so we can help you deal. You do not love to have your hands washed because you hate having wet hands. Wet hands means that when you touch your toys they will get wet and then it just all gets so much worse So we thoroughly dry your hands when we wash them and that helps. You're really funny about closing doors. We close your door at every nap and every bed time but you still remind us every single time, "Mom, cwose the doi a widdle bit okay?" Yep. I always do. You close every door in the house all day long even though we ask you to just keep them open. It's a thing with you.
You have very big facial expressions. You have a serious look over your brooding eyebrows face that you can hold and not flinch even when we're laughing at you because, hon, it's hilarious. You also have a pretty good puppy dog eyes face when you look up at me and ask for something with your sugary voice. You love hugs and kisses but lately you've also been very clear about when you're done. When you're hurt or sad you need some love to help you feel better. A listening ear and a little tender snuggle. But most of the time, you don't come searching for a snug. You've become pretty independent lately.
You're a tough little lady. You have days when you are defiant and don't flinch even a bit when we ask you to change your tone or use kinder words or obey right away. We're trying to figure out what motivates you to listen and obey but so far we're kind of stumped. Most of the time you're very sweet but when you decide to push back there's not much that can stop you. You're a little power house and I hope we can point that power in the right way because you are a constant bundle of energy and passion and it's gonna be pretty amazing when you decide what you want in life.
You love your siblings. You know how to push their buttons but most of the time you play nicely as long as they don't have something you want. My favorite parenting moments are watching you and your siblings love each other. Wrestling softly with Finn, having a water fight with Tate, getting completely soaked and just so happy that he's playing with you that you keep going after him anyway, and playing on the teeter totter or singing songs with Taryn as you swing back and forth on the swing set.
Kenna girl I love you something fierce. You're such a fun little girl. Two year old twins are tough at times and the melt-downs this year have been epic and frequent but all the snugs and sweet, thoughtful words and love in those beautiful chocolate eyes of yours washes away all the tough parts. I'm so grateful I get to mother you and I pray every night that I'll do and say the right things to let all the amazing, powerful, bright things about who you are shine even brighter. You're such a little star and we can't wait to see what you light up next.
The world is yours, my little girl.
Love,
Mom
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