Ode to Hazel -you don't have to read unless you're a grandparent

So, last year my sister Shawni gave me the idea to write a little something (in her case a poem, in my case a poorly written blog entry) for each kid on Mother's day to help you feel the mother love that you have for them (and in my case, to ease the "what is Jeff doing for me today" anxiety and focus on what is really the point). Although I didn't actually get around to posting it right on Mother's day I've been thinking a whole lot about what I would have written and here it is. Better late then never.

Favorite things right now about my little Hazel:

1. she LOVES dandelions and collects bunches of them wherever she goes. I'm pretty certain it's not that she thinks they are the most beautiful of flowers, but that they're the only ones I told her she's allowed to pick. Malden is looking pretty much dandelion free lately. Hopefully the neighbors are happy. She busily collects them and decorates all kinds of things with them (our stroller, her little plastic slide in back, our car, her room). There are dandelions (and ants) everywhere now. Lovely!
2. She is really into math and numbers. She's always asking to "do math," mostly when she's sitting on the toilet (ask Jeff, not me). She's getting pretty good at doing little sums without her fingers, and she's pretty darn proud of that.

3. She's a pretty generous little lady. Over the past 3-4 months she has been diligently (sometimes) earning quarters. On Saturday we took her to buy her much desired princess coloring book and she ended up buying kind of a cheaper one so she could buy one for Charlie because he is "poor." Lately she has been picking all kinds of flowers and leafs to give to the "poor."

4. She is stubborn. Perhaps even more stubborn than me (is that possible?). We go head to head quite often and man she has a hard time letting go. I think we've crossed some sort of milestone though because yesterday when she REALLY wanted a 3rd bowl of cereal and I'd said no repeatedly she announced (in an annoyed/resigned grumble): "O.K., I'll just drop it."

5. She is obsessed with the baby in my belly. Yes, I'm pregnant, I don't think it has been announced on the blog yet, but if Hazel could blog, the beans would have spilled long ago. She has been making all kinds of "announcements" in primary, in Joyschool, at the grocery store. It's nice to have a little mouthpiece, now that we're actually telling people.

Hazel wants to see pictures of babies in utero everyday on the Internet and is always asking things like: "does the baby in your tummy need that water?" "does the baby like Broccoli?" "oh yes, you should eat that strawberry for the baby in your tummy" "Charlie, you MUST be quiet, you're going to scare the baby in mommy's tummy." It's so nice to share the joy of pregnancy with this little lady. She walks around most days with various stuffed animals up her shirt and insists that I check for the heart beat and help them to "pop" out. Man is she in for a big surprise one day.

6. I've been noticing lately that her mind works in patterns. She'll work for 30 min making really cool weird patterny towers with her blocks. Her little brain seems to work very differently than mine (which is probably a really good thing).

7. she loves dancing. maybe mostly the dressing up part of dancing. My good friend Angi has been teaching Hazel and her daughter Adi and a Adi's cousin Ashley for a long time now. I'm not sure if Hazel is graceful enough to be a ballerina, but she sure loves to groove. Angi hosted an adorable little end of year concert a few weeks ago. Hazel was happy as a lark most of the time, I'm not sure what was happening in some of these pictures.

Can you believe how quickly she bounces back and forth! From complete "the world is ending" sobs to "this is the best day ever" smiles. Heaven help us when she's 13!
8. She is still great at playing on her own (or with her dolls and animals). I love it. I love the imaginary worlds she's always creating. She's living such a magical part of childhood. I'm encouraging these things as much as possible. Before we all know it she'll have to face the real world....I want her to really get to know the magic of imagination first. Joy School has been great for that. Lately she has been running upstairs as soon as we get home from anything and dressing up, announcing that we're having a special visitor for lunch, or dinner or whatever. It never gets old for her like it does for me!Above: This is what I found in Hazel's room when I went to watch her sleep. I love thinking about how she had carefully put each of these little friends to bed. I especially love the bed she designed for her elephant (an old sunhat). He looks rather cozy.

Hazel seems to love Joyschool, except for when it's at our house. Then her face pretty much gets stuck looking like it does in the above picture (aside from when she is sobbing or screaming).

9. She LOVES reading all kinds of books with me. I think so far this is my favorite bit of parenting. She's starting to even sit through books that are pretty exciting to me (Little House in the Big Woods, Ida B, Charlotte's Web). I don't think she gets most of what is going on, but she'll lay still and listen and man do I love feeling her all cuddled up to me and reading things that I find charming and that bring me back to that magical time of life. I love love love it.

10. She is beautiful when she's asleep.
I seriously love this little girl so much.