She’s two years old with curly blonde pigtails and a dimple in each cheek.  She’s about as big around as my little finger,  but loaded with personality.  She’s my younger granddaughter, Mazie, and she’s a laugh a minute. 
I know I haven’t written too much about Mazie Lou, aka Mazie Mookins, aka Mazie Moo, aka Mazie Monkey Moo, ad nauseum.  It’s not that I don’t want to write about her.  It’s just that most of her life, she’s lived far away from me, and I haven’t gotten to know her really well until recently.   Now that she’s moved back into New Carlisle, I’m having a great time enjoying her antics.
Like a lot of two-year-olds, Mazie hasn’t yet mastered the letter L.  So, when she encounters one, she gives it a Y sound.   It’s always cute.  But sometimes it’s just hilarious.  The other night I was trying to cook dinner, and Mazie was impatiently waiting -- underfoot.  She wanted my attention and my food.  So, I sat her up on the countertop and handed her a container of shredded parmesan cheese, just to see what she would do with it.  She immediately dove in and started shoving the cheese into her mouth by the handful.  Every few seconds she would pause for a moment and yell, “I yuv it!  I yuv it!”  This went on for about five minutes until I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe.  Naturally I had to “kisscipline” her after that.  I find that most days she needs to be “kissciplined.”   I’ll bet your kids or grandkids do too.
One thing Mazie doesn’t like is to be left out.  Whatever big sister Lola (who is almost four) does, she has to try.  So, when Lola is having a learning time with her mommy or Aunt Gwen, she has to get one of her learning books and study too.  The other day, she got out her book of shapes and plopped down on her bed to review.  She saw the circle and said, “owal.”  Then she saw the square and again said, “owal.”  Then she turned the page and saw the oval and got a confused frown on her face.  “Hmmmm, owal!”  she said.  Recognizing her previous mistakes, Mazie turned back to the page of circle and square and corrected herself.  Too cute.
For whatever reason, Mazie refers to herself as “Mimi.”  If you ask her to say “Mazie” she will do it, but any other time she calls herself  “Mimi.”   “It’s Mimi’s turn!”  she’ll exclaim when Lola is taking too long riding the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe or hogging the slide.  One time when she had escaped the house and I went to retrieve her, she looked over her shoulder at me chasing her and yelled, “Help!  Nonni’s gonna get Mimi!”  I got her all right.  Then, more kissciplining.
Among other important things, Mazie is being taught to have faith.  She can recite simple Bible verses like “God is love.”  And she sings “Jesus Loves Me” and other short choruses.  It warms my heart.  But her bedtime prayers are the best.  While Lola asks Jesus to help her be good and obey Mommy and Daddy, Mazie simply says, “Dear Jesus, I wanna swim in the wata.  Yuv you!  Amen.”
Well, I yuv my Mazie, in case you couldn’t tell.  And I can’t wait to spend as much time with her as possible.  She’s living proof that the best things come in small packages (or maybe I should say yittle packages).
Thanks for giving me (and Mazie) a moment of your time.