An Afternoon with Hazel Nina - May 26, 2017

It has been over a year since I've posted about an afternoon with Hazel Nina. The months and years are flying by. I keep meaning to post, but just don't have the time or energy sometimes! None of these photos is particularly great, but I took them to show her mummy what she did during the day. Margaret called the texts a "picture book of the day."

Turkey watching

This is really blurry, but she was just so cute. She had to have "tea with Pop." They had Earl Grey, and then she and I had chamomile.

Making popcorn. I used Arrowhead Mills organic popcorn, and made it right on the stove in a big pot.

Hazel said it was "the best popcorn ever!"

Then we watched the most wonderful children's show I've ever seen. It is called Emma and Grandpa. It goes through an entire year, month by month as a little girl and her grandfather explore the beautiful English countryside. We had a video of it when the kids were little, and a few years ago I went looking around the internet, and found a place I could buy a DVD. The new one is so much better because it is narrated by someone with an English accent. My video was narrated by Shelley Winters. Why? I can't imagine who thought that was a good idea for a movie about a little English girl and her grandfather! There is an interview with the grown up little girl all these years later. You may read more here, if interested.

She got a little sleepy so we thought we'd take a ride, knowing she would fall asleep, and she did. We got back as Matthew was coming home from work, and he brought his sleeping girl inside. I'll really try and write more often about our afternoons with all the grandkids. They are growing and changing so fast.

Grandchildren!

Doctors

Bankers

Ice cream tasters

Donkey riders

You Tube watchers

Walkers

Four wheeler riders 

All in a day full of fun and great joy and oh, so much love!

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.

An Afternoon with Hazel Nina - October 13, 2015

I was so excited when I came up with this topic and thought I'd post quite often about the fun afternoons spent with our granddaughter. But I've posted only once, and that was over a year ago! I can't believe it, but yes, I guess I can. Life is busy, busy these days. Although we take care of Hazel Nina only twice a week now, instead of the four days we did for a year, we still often see her and her cousins, Campbell Walker and Indy Thomas so the days literally fly by.

Today, Tom drove down to get her at 11, and brought her up to the house. We took a walk up the hill with Lucy. The dog always, always grabs limbs of trees left over from the logging, and today just for a joke, I put one in my mouth and Hazel of course mimicked me.

and decided it didn't taste very good.

We came home and walked around the yard for a while, came inside and played with a wooden toy that was Tom's when he was her age, and then she wanted to watch her favorite television program, Postman Pat. A whole blog entry on that show is coming up soon.

Earlier today, Margaret sent us a picture of Hazel watching Postman Pat at her house with dear Piglet the pug, and her toy, Jess the cat (PP's cat on the show).

And then we had our first baking day! We recently bought a "Little Helper" for the cousins to use when they come to visit Grammy and Grampy. It is the best thing. It is adjustable so it will be useful for years, and the child is much safer than when standing on a chair. We made chocolate chip cookies - this recipe.

As the cookies were baking, she fell asleep on my shoulder,

and she hasn't woken up yet to taste her cookies.

When she does wake up, it'll be time to go home. Another perfectly wonderful day with our dear, dear granddaughter.

An Afternoon with Hazel Nina

If you are a mother, you will remember that there were never two days alike when your kids were little. And it is the same with grandchildren. There is no typical day. I thought it would be fun to occasionally document our days of taking care of Hazel Nina. 

Today she was at the house for about five hours, from 11 to 4. She hadn’t really napped, so by 11.30 she was getting tired. Brought her upstairs and she soon fell asleep. We have a second-hand crib in the bedroom and here she is after she woke up, about 45 minutes later. She can’t stand up by herself yet, but could support herself, with Tom’s hand behind her in case she lost her balance.

Then she came downstairs, and Tom fed her while she sat on my lap. I don’t remember doing this much with my kids, but I wish I had. They mostly sat in high chairs to eat. This is delightful for her and for us. She has been eating a new product from when my kids were little, called Ella's Kitchen. 

After she ate, Tom put her in the Snugli for a while, 

and then I took her 

so he could work a bit on the new fence. I walked around with her for probably 1 1/2 hours. She is interested in every single thing right now, and it is so much fun to just talk away, telling her about trees and flowers and chickens. She loved watching Tom hammer. She loved looking at the tractor. We went out to the plum tree and lo and behold, there was a ripe one. Tom took a bite, and then I rubbed my finger on it and let Hazel lick it. She loved the taste. 

Then we came in and she spent over half an hour in the playpen.

Yesterday, Margaret and Matthew brought her to the hospital where she was born for a check up. She is doing marvelously. She goes back every few months to have things checked, and every time she has been, as Margaret says, ‘a rockstar.’ I still shed tears of joy every day over this miracle baby. 

And then, it was time to go home. The hours fly by. I think the big difference I’m noticing between being a mother of a baby and a grandmother of a baby is that my mind is never divided. When my children were babies I also had to make supper, shop, clean, etc. etc. - all the things one must do in life. As a grandmother, it doesn’t matter so much if I get anything else done or not. When I'm with her, she is all I think about. Very Zen. I now understand how fast the time goes, and I don't want to miss a single minute.

You may have noticed the cane. Well, when I was 15 I was in a car accident and broke my femur. In those days, that meant a 3 month stay in the hospital, and then crutches and later a cane at home. Ever since then I have had periods of trouble with my knee, and now that I’m older it is more of a problem. I have no desire for an operation, and am doing fine with the cane. My life is pretty quiet, and I’m not an athlete, so it really isn’t a big deal. Hazel is fascinated by it and tries to put it in her mouth as she does everything these days. Campbell Walker is too young to notice it yet.

So, there you are. An afternoon with Hazel Nina. As Tom said at the end of the day, ‘it just doesn’t get better than this!’