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I'm actually getting pretty good at updating this more frequently, huh?

McKenna is doing wonderfully. Her personality cup runneth over. Here are a few interesting things that she does:

My picky, picky eater has ventured out and tried a few things all on her own. She ate some pickle slices, cucumber slices and a lemon slice. You'd think she would hate those things but she really liked them. Especially the pickles. She also voluntarily took a bite of some pasta w/parmesan cheese that I made. She NEVER accepts bites of my food. But she just reached right in and grabbed some and ate several pieces.

She has two types of dances that she likes to do. The crazy dance where she will run around and spin and make herself dizzy and then fall down. Or she can tap dance. And when she tap dances she says "Rat-a-tat-tat."

She is now a HUGE Teletubbies fan. She learns a lot more from shows like Dora or Blues Clues or Sesame Street. But she reacts with sheer joy over the Teletubbies. She likes to copy their actions and dances and oh my gosh I cannot even describe to you the squeals when she sees that freaky baby in the sun.

Does anyone remember that show Small Wonder? With Vicki the robot? Remember the annoying next door neighbor that says "no-na-na-no-no-no"? If I say that, McKenna repeats it.

She copies most words we say now. A few she just stares at us blankly (like "Your Welcome") But she has attempted most words that we've asked her and even one word we did NOT ask her to repeat (crap). LOL! Guess its time for Mommy to cut that word out of her vocabulary. She did make a very noble attempt at saying "Happy Valentine's Day." She said "Vahtine Day". Pretty good.

She will spontaneously tell Erick or I that she loves us. That melts our hearts because we don't even ask for it. And she has given us kisses and hugs out of the blue as well. That has got to be the most wonderful thing for parents.

And she will say thank you all on her own many times. That is something I am really proud of. Manners are so important and it really makes me proud that she remembers to say it on her own.

In the morning, she likes to name everything that we're getting ready for breakfast. Here is a typical morning conversation that her and I have:

Me: "Good morning pumpkin!"
Her: "Mama! Mama! Mama!"
(That's when we do the "Mama's here" dance which is basically just us jumping up and down and saying "Mama's here! Mama's here!")
I pick her up and she immediately says "Food?"
Me: "Sure, let's get some food."
Her: "Manas?"
Me: "Sure, you can have bananas."
Her: "Bed?"
Me: "Sure you can have some bread."
Her: "Melk?"
Me: "Sure, you can have milk too."
Then I hand her her cup of milk and she says "Tay too" (thank you).

I LOVE having conversations with my daughter!

I also love that when she "answers" her Care Bear phone she says "Hi Care Bears", that when I ask "Who is my princess?" she responds with "Me! Me! Me!" and that if she makes a mess she will point to it and say "Mess?" Then I'll tell her "Yes, that looks like a mess. Let's clean it up ok?" And she will actually help me put her books, toys or dvds back in their place.

She's been having lots of fun with all of her Grandparents lately. For Valentine's Day, my Mom came over with some Valentine's treats. I gave McKenna her own piece of chocolate. What on earth made me think she would eat it in one bite? She licked that thing for 20 minutes until she was a chocolate mess from head to toe. It was a huge mess but oh-so-cute. I would have taken pics but I was trying to clean her off before we had chocolate on every piece of furniture we own.

Erick took McKenna to see his parents while I had to work the other night. They gave her a farm book and she can now tell you every animal in it AND what sound they make. The funniest is her "cocka-doodle-doo".

And my Dad and Cheryl came over to babysit tonight. It was so fun that as I left I watched her showing off her dance skills for Gramps and listening to them laugh together. He somehow manages to get some pretty big giggles out of her.

We have had one behavior issue that freaked me out a little. First, McKenna likes to hit me. Not anyone else. Just me. With an open-hand, on my face and then she claws at me. Now fortunately, I have a wonderful group of friends who all have babies the same age as McKenna and most of the babies are doing the same thing right now. So I understand its normal. Its just not fun. And we're working on discouraging that game. But the way she reacts when I tell her "NO! We do NOT hurt Mommy" is to gag herself! She will stick both her index fingers in her mouth and gag herself, sometimes until she throws up. At first, I would keep grabbing her hands and telling her no but that only seemed to egg her on. So now I just refuse to look at her when she does it. This seems to discourage the behavior faster. But it gives me the heebie jeebies nonetheless.

Well, I think that's about all to update for now. The most recent pics I have to share are on our website. We just put up some pics from a trip to Disneyland. You can find the link at our family website: http://www.biegerfamily.com

Also be sure to check out the pregnancy journal to read how our littlest Bieger is doing.