Happy Mckenna!

As many of you know, my sweet McKenna has been more like my depressed McKenna since we left Utah. She never got over losing her best friend Josephine. She's been sad and lonely and about as depressed as a 3/4 year old can be. She's gotten really picky with food and spends a lot of time thinking everything is horrible. If you said, how was the pool? She would say, "Not that good" and then explain some tiny thing that happen like, "I got this little scratch on my pinky finger at the end. So it was not good." No joy.

We've been really trying to help her see the bright side of things so she wouldn't be such an Eeyore. Actually, thinking of her as my little Eeyore really helped me have a more positive, silly attitude about the problem instead of freaking out. It gave me more space to try to help her. And hey, not everyone can be a ray of sunshine, right? I was trying to get used to that idea.

But, in the last few weeks, Kenna has had a major turn around. It started when we got home from California and she started Gymnastics. The first week she had plenty of horrible things to say about it ... But she could not wait to go back. After the second week, the sighs were gone. Then things really turned around this week when she had her first sleepover (with her sisters) at my friend's house while Tim and I were gone for our anniversary. My amazing friend Melissa (also the gymnastics coach) made McKenna feel so special that she came home a new person. She smiles more, plays with new kids, eats what I give her, and this morning she even wanted crazy hair, which she has been completely against since the move. She is confident when rock climbing and loving her little sister more. Less jealousy, more sunglasses. My baby is back! She had an amazing play back with her little friend Emma yesterday. She was in the game the whole time, no sadness, no fear. I was so proud of her. I'm So excited to have her back. (And major thanks to Melissa!) Maybe it was the dress ups at the sleep over? She really has always loved a dress up! Now matter how it happen, I am grateful.

As a cute side note, she is talking about Josephine more and writing her letters through text now. It was like before this turn around, she couldn't talk about Jo without getting really sad. But now she talks about the good ol' days with fondness LOL. She said these things about Jo and her mom this week.

Dear Jo: "I have a picture for you and I like your dress ups and your mom is so good. She just makes dinner and is so fun and she maded ice cream sometimes. I love you. Let's play. Love Kenna."

Me: Hey Kenna, don't you think our new friend Emma is a lot like Jo?
Kenna: NO! Because Jo's mom is my friend. And she is so wonderful and makes wonderful food."