First day of school

First grade and fourth! Both girls came home with positive reports of good teachers, fun with friends, and a very exciting PE activity that involved scooters.

They each told us something that they are excited about for the coming year.
 

"Isolde and Jahtoi!" (Her two best friends from kindergarten, all in the same class.)
 

"Long division!"
 

(For the record, I think this says nothing about how much Hazel loves math or how much Juniper values friends. But it still made me laugh.)

Big Day for Hazel!

Kindergarten graduation! Hazel has had a terrific first year of school, and she was exceedingly happy at her graduation.

Hazel with her wonderful teachers, Madame Anastasie and Ms. Kwaseera. The teachers recognized each child for a particular quality that they demonstrated throughout the year; Hazel's was open-minded.

As if graduation weren't enough for one day, right before bedtime, Hazel finally wiggled out her two front teeth. If you look closely in the first photo, you may be able to see how loose and snaggly they were.

Father's Day/Sleepaway camp

This year we celebrated Father's Day in some ways that are typical for our family. The girls made posters and gifts, and we had a lingering big breakfast.

 

We visited Toccoa Falls (one of the tallest waterfalls east of the Mississippi). Toccoa is a Cherokee word that means "beautiful," and these falls and the surrounding region are aptly named.

The girls clambered like mountain goats and enjoyed getting close enough to the waterfall to feel its spray.

But this Father's Day, it wasn't all about Aaron.

We were up in Toccoa to drop Juniper off for sleep away camp at Camp Toccoa! Here she is claiming her top bunk. She was a little bit nervous in the week before camp, but by Saturday night she was just excited. ("I'm too excited to sleep! I wish it was already tomorrow!") She was delighted to head off to camp and looking forward to making new friends (but also hoping that there wouldn't be anyone mean in her cabin, especially not her bunk mate).

When we left, she had just joined a circle of other girls and was learning how to play Poison Dart Frog--a favorite camp game.

Just how high I can fly

Last week, Juniper figured out swinging. When we arrived at the park, she could sort of swing, but not really, and she wanted me to push her. Then something switched, and she just got it, and she could swing. You can hear her delight in her ability to go so high. (Her song, apparently, is adapted from something in the Roald Dahl book The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me. Hazel's song is a great example of the wonderful magpie creations she is up to these days.)

I had promised Juniper I would push her some after she practiced her own swinging, so after taking this video I offered to push her. After just a few pushes, she sent me away so that she could swing on her own some more. There's an exciting achievement--reaching the point where independent swinging is better than being pushed!

Kindergarten Graduate

Today was Juniper's last day of kindergarten. Juniper's school emphasizes a variety of good qualities they are trying to foster in the students (thinker, open-minded, compassionate, inquirer, etc.). For their kindergarten graduation, each child got to pick one of these qualities to describe herself. Juniper chose "risk taker."

At the start of the year, we never would have described Juniper as a risk taker. She's so bold and outgoing that many people may not have realized how completely unwilling she was to do something she couldn't do "right." She would quickly become frustrated and give up when trying something where she wasn't immediately successful. There is so much that comes easy to Juniper, we feared she might sail through on the easy accomplishments without starting to learn how to do hard things. Juniper made a lot of progress this year in learning how to be a risk taker. She tried new things that were hard for her. She did things that weren't perfect on the first try, or the second try, or sometimes the third try. She still gets frustrated when she tries something and falls short of her vision for how it should be, but she is much more willing to put herself in that position than she was 9 months ago. We are proud of Juniper for learning to take risks (and grateful to ICS and the amazing Ms. Wong for pushing her to become a risk taker).

Juniper's surgery

Juniper had eye muscle repair surgery on Friday. She was first diagnosed with strabismus (or crossed eyes) when she was two, and she's been wearing corrective bifocals ever since. Over the past few months, her bifocals have become less and less effective at forcing her two eyes to work together. Surgery was the next option for correcting her crossed eyes and (hopefully) making sure that Juniper continues to have vision in both eyes.

Juniper was understandably a little nervous about the procedure, but she was very excited about getting to have popsicles, juice, and Gatoraid for breakfast the morning of her surgery. (Notice how her right eye is crossed in toward her nose in this pre-surgery photo.)

She was a champ the morning of her surgery--no complaints about being hungry or thirsty, and only the most appropriate and understandable expressions of fear or concern about the procedure. She was her typically extroverted self and made friends with all the pre-op nurses.

Once the novelty of the children's surgery center (and its many toys) wore off, Juniper buried her nose in a book and entertained herself till the surgery. She was scared when we went back for the actual surgery, but thankfully she fell asleep quickly. By the time we had agreed on a song for me to sing to comfort her, I sang one line, and she was already out.

Everything went well in the surgery, and Juniper continued to be in remarkably good spirits. She was a little confused and deflated right after the surgery, but she perked back up pretty quickly. She continued to be a superstar and has done an especially good job of following all the doctor's instructions. We were in and out of the hospital in just over 4 hours, and she had a great weekend at home. Aside from the zombie bloodshot eyes, you wouldn't even have known that she was recovering from surgery. Sadly, although she is well recovered from the surgery, she was not back at school today. In a bit of rotten timing, she came down with a stomach bug and spent the day home on the couch.

She looks pitiful in this photo, but what she doesn't look is cross-eyed.

New Year's Eve

This year, for the first time, Juniper and Violet were allowed to stay up as late as they wanted on New Year's Eve. Both girls made it to midnight--exhausted, but hanging in there.

"But, Dad..."

First Allowance

Hazel carefully sorts her very first allowance into her spend, save, and share jars.

So happy!

"I lost my tooth, and I lost my tooth!"

A new milestone on the path from little kid to big kid: last Friday, Juniper lost her first tooth! As she described it, she was eating lunch at school when she noticed blood on her cornbread. She excitedly confirmed that she had a gap in her mouth, but the tooth was nowhere to be found. Her teacher reported Juniper's joke back to us: "I lost my tooth, and I lost my tooth!"

The tooth had been wiggly since just before Thanksgiving, and Juniper was excited about the prospect of losing her first tooth and receiving her first visit from the tooth fairy. She was concerned about what would happen, given that she had no tooth to leave under her pillow. Her teacher helpfully wrote a note to the tooth fairy, attesting to the fact that Juniper really did lose (and lose) her tooth.

Those of you who know Juniper will not be surprised to hear that her scientific mind went to work analyzing the idea of the tooth fairy. She thought and thought and thought and drew some mature conclusions, including the realization that no matter what, she is looking forward to receiving a gold dollar coin in a fancy envelope the next time she loses a tooth and that she is glad someone put it there.

Firsts

Today was an eventful day in the Honeycutt-Dill household. Hazel got her first allowance, and Juniper has her first loose tooth. What big, big girls!

Big girl on the bus

One of Juniper's many new adventures in kindergarten is riding the bus. She's the little blonde girl on the steps, with her flame backpack. We're late posting it, but this photo was actually taken on her very first bus ride, on the second day of school.

Hazel is already looking forward to getting to ride the bus, "when I'm a big kid like Juniper."

Hazel's first dental visit

We've mentioned before how much we love our dentist's office. Hazel had her first checkup last month and, once again, they were superb. Juniper went first, so that Hazel could observe and get excited about the fun she was soon to have.

 

 Juniper helped Hazel get situated...


 
 ...and even helped Ms. Jennifer clean Hazel's teeth! (She's a pretty good helper--she's had lots of practice helping with her parents' cleanings.)

 Hazel opened wide, cooperated with everything, and was thrilled to get a new toothbrush and some treasure at the end of it all.

Ms. Jennifer remembered that Juniper had also worn a cape on her first visit and was delighted to watch this little super hero running down the hall, just like her big sister.

Hazel's first purchase

Hazel does not yet get an allowance, but she had recently acquired two dollars. Juniper gave her a dollar as consolation when Hazel was devastated about dropping her sippy cup into a canyon. A neighbor gave her a dollar for no reason other than the fact that people from different cultures have different ways of expressing their affection for adorable kids.

Hazel took her $2.00 to the UUCA yard sale and was delighted to spend it on this small dollhouse. It was money quite well spent. Hazel loves her dollhouse and all the tiny things it contains. It's beenin heavy rotation since she got it a couple of weeks ago.

First day of school - for both girls!

Today was our very first day of having both girls in (pre)school! Getting ready this morning  definitely felt like a new stage for our family.

Two girls excited and ready to go!

"I'm so excited...

 ...about goin' to school!!"

Fill in the obligatory comments about how much she has grown over the past few years.

Hazel could hardly contain her excitement about finally getting to go to school.

 All important occasions are best marked by a good monster face.

 "Now I'm a big kid!"

In her typical fashion, Juniper ran into her classroom, yelled "surprise!" to her teacher, found her seat, and started coloring her name card. When we said goodbye, she hardly even noticed we were leaving.

Hello, independent kindergartener. Today, your seat. Tomorrow, the bus.

We were a little less sure of how Hazel would do being dropped off at the Learning Lens. She is often hesitant in new places, and it was definitely a process to get her used to being left in the church nursery (the only non-family childcare she has had before today).

We needn't have worried. Who could possibly be sad about being left in a place this exciting and full of exactly everything kids love?

An added bonus is that her good friend Henry is in the same class!

After we each read Hazel a book, we kissed her goodbye and left her on the way to some important mission--maybe putting out a fire, or maybe just helping to make a smoothie for breakfast snack.

We were feeling sentimental last night and snapped this photo of the two girls asleep the night before school starts. They are both tuckered out after their full days today, and both report that they are looking forward to going back to school.

Goodbye and thanks, OCP!

Juniper being dropped off at OCP for the very last time

Friday was the last day of summer camp at OCP, the preschool Juniper has attended for the past three years. It's hard to believe how much she has grown (physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually) since she started at OCP. OCP has been a huge part of our family's life, and Juniper has thrived there in every way that a preschool-aged kid can possibly thrive.

We're really grateful that she's been able to have a few years of early childhood education in this little bubble where everyone has a shared set of core values when it comes to our children. I suspect that we're all going to be amazed when public kindergarten bursts that bubble, and I'm confident that Juniper is ready for it. She sets off for kindergarten knowing that learning (especially about science) is awesome, that good friends will play superheroes with you and also read quietly in the cozy corner with you, that kids can negotiate their own issues without turning first to an adult, that fairness and equality matter, that it's important to take care of the earth, that it's ok to do your own thing, and that you can only eat the flowers once a grown-up has told you they are safe.