Yep – purple. It’s been purple since you were old enough to
decide. But, I wonder how much of that
is because we would encourage it (buying purple things…purple clothes etc) and
how much is because that’s really what you like. I suppose I know better…if it wasn’t true,
you, of all people, would let us know.
Favorite Food: “Bagels and cream cheese and Bubby
pancakes”
At some point this year I gave
you a bagel with cream cheese just to see if you’d like it and I have to agree,
this has become one of your favorite foods.
It probably helped that I asked you these questions AS you were eating
breakfast (a bagel) but you do eat them nearly every day now. I’ve always felt like you are a more
adventurous eater than your sister and I think that’s still true today. You’ll try just about anything, and while you
don’t always like the new thing, you do pick for a wider variety of foods than
your sister and I love ya for that! You
do well with most vegetables, though you’ve decided you hate peppers for some
reason.
Nicknames:
- ·
Franny – the most
common and longest standing nick name we use for you. This one will probably stick for a long time!
- ·
Hay Hay – honestly though,
I listed this one second, but it might be the only name Abby uses for you. Well, she screams “Hazel” when she’s mad, but
otherwise, you are Hay Hay in her book and I think it’s adorable that she’s
given you this name. Might not be what I’d
have picked, but I think that’s not really how nick names work I suppose.
- ·
Booby Moopy – or really
any other silly rhyming name depending on how the mood hits. “Flippity Floppity”…“Boobity Moopity”….”Wiggle
Waggle” – so many options.
Favorite Toy: “Stripes”
You said Stripes (a small soft
baby the Easter bunny brought a few years ago) is your favorite toy and I’d
have to agree that she really is up there!
I’ll have to get a picture of you with her so I can include it here for
posterity. Stripes and your dollies are
some of your favorite toys. This past
Christmas Daddy, Auntie and I worked really hard to make you a special wardrobe
for Dolly’s clothes and I think you really do love that. I hope it’ll be a something you treasure for
a long time and maybe something that gets handed down through the years. Only time will tell.
Favorite Outfit: “My Packers shirts…and my purple Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory shirt”
I’m honestly not sure how these
two somewhat random items made it on the list here, but, that’s what you said
when I asked. If I was answering this I’d
say “anything with a skirt”. You love
dresses and skirts and they’d be your outfit of choice no matter the weather or
the season. It’s funny, because I wouldn’t
necessarily call you a girly girl if someone asked me, but dresses are your
jam. And shoes! You love shoes!
Some firsts this year:
- Writing full
name with correct letters (Capital M, G): Kindergarten is such a
year of growth and exploration....I'd forgotten how far Abby progressed in
just that one year. This year you mastered writing your full name
correctly, with all the capitals in the right place. You know how to
write all the capital and small letters, do pretty well with your letter
sounds, write phonetically, read some works (we're working on sight words
this summer).
- Showers:
We moved Abby up to taking showers sometime during the summer she turned
7. I was tired of kneeling and running baths and while you two could
play nicely for quite some time in the bath together, more often than not
it ended in a fight so we moved on to showers. Plus, your hair is
cleaner when you aren't sitting in dirty bath water. Anyways, you
started taking showers independently this year and this Momma is so happy
to have another job (mostly) off her list. You still need some
management (showers can take way too long if I'm not rushing your through
the steps) and sometimes your hair comes out more tangly than when you
went in, but overall this was a big win for us this year and I'm proud of
you for doing it nearly 2 years before your sister.
- Lost
tooth: You have been very excited (and brave) about losing your
first tooth since seeing all the dramatics your big sister goes through
for a loose tooth. You vowed that you wouldn't be scared and
couldn't wait to lose your first tooth and baby girl, you weren't
wrong. One random afternoon you said your tooth was hurting a little
and one bite of string cheese later your tooth was nearly out! You
wiggled it and wiggled it for the rest of the night and while you didn't
lose it that same day, it was out by....
- Car seat
updates: This year we had some car
seat updates too! Earlier in the
year (probably last summer sometime) you started being strong enough to
put down your “bottom buckle” in the car seat meaning you can finally unbuckle
yourself when we get somewhere.
But! Just as school was
ending I decided to switch you to a big kid car seat. I think we’ve upgraded you about a year
earlier that we switched Abby, but, I think that’s how it goes for #2’s. You do everything a little sooner than
the first kids. With all the travel
we have this year (Yellowstone in just a few short day!) it’ll be nice for
you to have some more dexterity in the car. To be able to reach your toys and the
other things you’d need will certainly make my life easier too.
- Skiing: A first for both you girls this year was
skiing! Daddy’s been wanting to go
for a few years now and we finally made it happen back in Feb with a much
needed long weekend away. Honestly,
sweet Hazel, you were the best skier of the kids and I’m excited to see
what a few more times on the hill will do for your skill and
confidence. We promise to get you
and your sister on the hill again this winter….but, we’re going to enjoy
the hot summer weather for a while before we start thinking about that.
Fears: “The bad pigs”
At some point –maybe in the last year, maybe longer ago, you had a dream about “bad pigs” – you might have even had it more than once now because whenever you talk about “nightmares” or what you are afraid of, these bad pigs always comes up. I’m not sure what exactly happened in your dream or why pigs were the thing, but when you answered with this I wasn’t surprised in the least.
I remember very clearly two
nightmares I had recurringly as a kid and I wonder if this will be the just
like those dreams are for me now, 30+ years later.
A sweet story about you:
Age 5 has been the year of lists for you! It all started back at Christmas time when we did our tradition of cutting out pictures of toy catalogs of all the things you wanted to ask for from Santa. But, it didn’t end after one list session! Your list grew and grew until it included two pieces of giant craft paper covered with pictures and drawings of the things you wanted. For weeks (from maybe even before Thanksgiving, right up to Christmas) you thought and thought and added to your list. At first I was frustrated with you, thinking we’d raised materialistic kids who didn’t understand the true meaning of Christmas, but now, looking back, I don’t think that’s really what was happening. I think for the first time you understood that you could ASK for things and maybe, just maybe, you’d get them. You aren’t selfish and you aren’t upset if you don’t get what’s on the list…you just want to be sure we have lots of choices.
But, while I thought Christmas
day would be the end of your list making, I couldn’t have been more wrong. One of the gifts we gave you were some blank
board books – you love making books so much, and coloring and drawing, I
thought for sure making some “real” books would be a hit! Little did I know, they would be a hit…but
not for the reasons I’d hoped. It didn’t
take long, maybe even the day after Christmas, and you’d turned your attention
to your Birthday Books (lists upon lists of things you’d like for your
birthday). You’re lists are extensive
and more often than not include “uliv bunees” (Alive bunnies) or other animals
you’d like to own. I bet we have at
least 4 or 5 birthday books laying around the house with all your wishes listed
for us in full color.
Bears or Packers? “Packers” (in a very quiet whisper)….though,
I basically like both.”
I wonder if Ryan asked if you’d give him a different answer. Maybe it’s not fair for me to ask you this each year, but it makes me laugh and it’ll be interesting in 20 years to see where you actually land. Both you and your sister will probably end up saying “I don’t really watch football” or something funny like that. But, for now it looks like I’ve got at least one other team Green and Gold on my side!
Favorite TV show: “Bluey”
I’m pretty sure you said this
because it’s the show you and your sister are currently working through on
Disney+ (a COVID addition to the McGrath household). But, honestly though, you guys really do love
this show and even I think it’s cute.
The parents in the show set a high standard and I’m not sure that Daddy
and I quite live up to all the fun adventures and play Bluey’s parents create
for the kids, but I promise we do the best we can!
Favorite Movie: “Raya” – even though we haven’t
watched it yet
I honestly have NO IDEA why you picked this movie – we haven’t even seen it yet. But, Abby does know that it’s coming out soon and has been talking about it so it’s probably top of mind these days. We’ve watched some real classics lately, like Free Willy and Black Beauty on top of the new cartoon movies that have come out this year. Those old classics stand up to the test of time – or maybe it’s just because I’m nostalgic about it – but us three girls really enjoyed some of those older movies.
Height/Weight: 44 inches (Same as Abby when she turned 6)
and 40 lbs
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