An Afternoon with Hazel Nina - April 19, 2016

Yesterday was the first time that Hazel Nina has arrived since Tom moved the fence, which I wrote about here. What a difference it made. No craziness at the gate, no having to carry Hazel in because Lucy was jumping with excitement and could knock her over. Just a lovely, calm walking in.

The area between the patio and the fence is where our little vegetable garden is going to be.

Hazel walked in the door, took off her jacket, and lifted her feet asking for help getting her pink cowgirl boots off. She immediately said "marshmayo." She has fallen in love with two things lately - M&Ms at her house and marshmallows at Pop and Nana's house. As vegetarians, we are so pleased that a company has come up with a vegan version.

They taste terrific. You may ask Hazel! Every time she's here she likes to have one for each hand, several times over the time of her visit.

As soon as she got her marshmallows, she went into the living room, climbed up on the chair, and said "Bababoo."

If you have a little one in your life, you may know that Baba is a character in one of the best television shows for children that I've ever seen, Puffin Rock. It is an Irish show, shown there, in the UK, and in the US on Netflix. It is sweet, the characters are adorable, there is a wonderful love in the family, and lots of information about the natural world. Tom and I love it as much as she does. This is Baba and his big sister Oona.

We first learned about the show when we were visiting our grandsons. It is a big favorite of Campbell Walker's as well.

After a little tv, we went outside for a walk. Hazel loves mud and mud puddles, and since it had rained the day before, she was a happy girl.

We went out in the field where the stream is very swollen from all the rain.

Can you see how soaked her pants are? She loved it out there. We came back to the house, and she was delighted with the words "dripping wet" (which I told her she was) and repeated them over and over.

She played pretend sleep in the playroom/study.

She had a little lunch and then I read her a book her mother used to love, Bea and Mr. Jones by Amy Schwartz.

Toward the end she began to fall asleep.

I sat with her a while, and then Pop brought her up to bed. She coughed a little later and woke herself up. She fell right back to sleep in my arms but we didn't want to chance putting her back in the crib (she still sleeps in the crib here, but at home she's been on a floor mattress for a long time) so I sat down in the living room and held her for an hour and a half. Pure heaven. When she woke up it was time to go home. Another wonderful day with Hazel Nina.