The World of Mackay

Mackay can hug. And she can give the most awesome, heartfelt hugs you could ever imagine. With me, it's a mini death grip around my neck, where she hangs on and doesn't let go. With her dad, she holds him tightly, and simultaneously pats him on the back (as he does her). Talk about making your heart melt... But if she throws my hairbrush in the toilet one more time, I swear I'm going to sell her to the gypsies.

Fellow moms, you let me down. I was critically misinformed about the amount of sticky mess that a 1 year old can produce. How is it possible that one baby can cover 500+ square feet with drool, food scraps, and general gunk in less than 30 minutes? The combined effort of vacuum, Swiffer, broom and sponge cannot hope to keep up. If you don't hear from me for a day or two, please send help. I may be stuck to the kitchen floor.

Mackay has learned to stamp her feet. At first, it was part of her dancing. Any time she hears music (radio, tv commercials, even her dad's off key ditties), she gets this look of absolute joy. She sort of hunches her shoulders, bounces up and down, and begins to randomly stamp one foot. Sadly, she lacks any sense of rhythm, and would not look out of place in the backwoods of the Ozarks. (No offense to any of you Ozarkians out there.)  She also seems to stamp when she's excited, or she discovers a new surface (a towel on the floor, a manhole cover, a rug...) She gets both feet going really fast - frankly doing a passable impression of Jennifer Beals in Flashdance. More recently, she has started stamping when she's mad. If you take something away from her, she lets out an ear-piercing screech, balls her hands up into furious little fists, and stamps her foot for emphasis. I have to turn away when she does it, because if I laugh at her, it only makes her madder. I thought the