Creative Kids/First Lost Tooth & Haircut /Hazel's First Big Kid Playdate

 So the compromise we've made with Hazel about all her various school papers is that we'll take pictures of the ones she loves before we throw them away. All I ever seem to do with my memory boxes when I go through them is decide that I didn't care as much as I thought about something I've been storing for years, so we're being pretty selective about which papers we physically keep. I think the picture taking is a good compromise.

Here are a few of her best from the first half of her kindergarten year:

 Some story and picture about coming home to play with her brother and sister

Jack-o-lantern for Halloween 

Tree with leaves #1 

Tree with leaves #2 

Hazel also got on a puzzle kick lately and she's upping her difficulty level pretty quickly

 Puzzle #1 (about 50 pieces)

Puzzle #2 (about 100 pieces)

And she also built a Perry the Platypus out of their magnetic toys :)

And made an awesome hat at Johnny Rocket's.

Speed is not to be outdone so he's been impressing us with his lego creations.

like his tank car

and his magic pirate sword.

His hat was pretty cool too.

Zizah has just been amazing us with her cuteness (as usual) by

 rocking the cutest little ponytail you ever saw

 

And eating drawing with crayons too.

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Our little kindergartner has also lost her first tooth. That bottom tooth was loose "forever". Or at least two months which is apparently "forever". She was SO excited to lose it - apparently all the cool kids in her class were doing it. Stinking peer pressure. One morning when I was helping her get ready, I noticed that it was gone. I got all excited and asked Hazel where it was. "Oh, I don't know." Well, where were you when you it finally fell out? "I don't remember." (I was confused by the lack of excitement over something that had been building up "forever" but I pressed on.) Did you lose is last night after you went to bed or this morning after you got up? "Last night so I guess it's in my bed somewhere. But I can't find it."

Thankfully Daddy came to the rescue and found the tooth so she could put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. She was pretty happy about her two quarters. (Yes, apparently the tooth fairy has had to adjust for inflation.)

So along with Hazel's first lost tooth, she also had her first (for real) haircut! It's kinda hard to notice because neither of us wanted her to have much length taken off - it was just looking unkempt. But she really liked her haircut and charmed my stylist the entire time. Her customary response to any compliment was "Oh I know."

And since I forgot to take my camera to the salon and my phone is too ancient to download the picture correctly and I can't text on that phone (old plus work phone), I had to resort to taking a picture of my phone's view screen like a noob. Don't judge me. :)

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Hazel's first big kid playdate was kinda awesome. Obviously she's had friends over before but this was the first one where I didn't know the parents first, wasn't technically babysitting her friend, and the parent didn't stay. She told me she wanted to have her friend Lexi From School (she knows 4 Lexis so she gives them their own special names) over to play so I wrote a note for her mom for Hazel to give to her at school with my name and number on it. So I was able to get in touch with the other mom and we set up a time for Veterans' Day because the kids had school off.

I didn't really know how things would go but I was pretty pleased with it all. For starters, Lexi and her family were very...normal. Considering what I do know about most of Hazel's class at school, that was a pleasant surprise: mom, dad, 3 kids, both employed, socially acceptable, etc. I'm pretty sure I was the weird one with the pink hair. :) Lexi was super polite and (also) being the oldest of 3 kids seemed to mesh really well with Hazel. It was really funny listening to parts of their conversations and they were pretty good about letting Speed and Zizah participate with their playing some of the time.

One of the really adorable moments for me was when they sat down to lunch and Hazel announced that it was time for a prayer. I hadn't really thought about it to be honest with you. Lexi wasn't confused but said that she doesn't always pray over her lunch. Then Hazel proceeded to give her a whole lesson on prayer right there over their macaroni and cheese - you need to say you're thankful and to bless the food, etc. She even popped out with "well, you don't really need to at school because it's so loud but we do when we eat at home". It was pretty awesome to witness. Then Hazel said a prayer for their lunch and they ate and went back to playing - no big deal. At the risk of sounding super cheesy (pun intended), it was pretty sweet and rewarding for me to witness that. You always wonder if the things you're trying to teach your kids are really getting through...but turns out they are. And it's a great feeling. :)

She's since had another play date over at Lexi's house which she LOVED and we were supposed to do another over winter break but lovely sickness derailed those plans. We'll plan another one soon I'm sure. It's comforting to know that as much as I miss her when she's gone at school, she's forming friendships and becoming her own little person and I love seeing that. She's an awesome girl and I'm so blessed to be her mother.