Hazel at Three

 I'm not even sure where to begin describing Hazel at three. She is sweet, spunky, spirited, and stubborn all wrapped up in one. I have come to realize that she is the type of person who will get whatever she wants in life because she will never give up. If you tell her no, she will only try that much harder to get it. She will be wonderful at whatever she puts her mind to (now my mission is to teach her to want good things).

Obsessions: PRINCESSES! Hazel currently is almost never called Hazel because we are instructed to call her Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora, etc, etc, etc. Her princess of choice changes about 20 times a day so we can never keep up. Since getting two princess costumes (Cinderella and Rapunzel) for her birthday she almost never wears real clothes except to sleep and leave the house. She will also say things like "I'd live pancakes for breakfast says Belle" so we know who she is at that moment:)

Likes: Rafi, pretending to go to ballet class, dresses (she still never wears pants - ever), swimming, spinning, story time at the library, reading, Dora, princess movies, Eliza, listening to stories, painting, nail polish, cucumbers, pancakes with buttermilk syrup, apples, any type of sweets, grandparents, and parades.

Cute sayings: "I have forgot...." "Ah, much comfortable" (as in much more comfortable), "For-cuse (because)"

 

I have loved seeing her imagination develop. She now has imaginary friends with her nearly all the time. For whatever reason her imaginary friends are usually Cinderella or nice dragons. Not sure where the nice dragons come from. She is also contantly inventing stories with great details and plot twists.

This summer Hazel began coming to one of my four sessions of work with me to be a typcial peer in our social skills group. She gets to join me for all sorts of fun activities and field trips which she loves, but it has also been great for her. She is learning how to be patient with peers that have autism and are maybe non-verbal or have limited language. She is also learning how to help them learn social skills by modeling the skill for them or prompting them. I have been impressed with her maturity in following directions at the group and with her willingness to help out.

Lastly Hazel has become such a great big sister. Of course she has her moments where she will push Eliza or not share, but overall they play well. The other day I say Hazel giving Eliza a smothering hug and saying "I love you Eliza. You're so stinkin' cute!" I'm so proud of my big girl! Love you Hazel!