Pretending was Hazel’s favorite way to play. At my house she loved playing “go to bed on Christmas Eve,” skating or swimming on my tile floor (with specific scripts which had to be repeated each time), playing in the forest (a single dwarf weeping birch in the back yard), and playing “family” with a dollar-store collection of dolls and doll furniture. One day, disappointed that it was time to leave, Hazel said, “But we didn’t get to play!” I asked, “What do you mean? We drew,, blew bubbles, played legos, and played the fairy board game.“ And she replied, “But we didn’t PPPLLLAAAYYY!” If it wasn’t pretending it didn’t really count.
Hazel and Ivy loved to put on shows-dancing, singing, cheer, puppet shows….. And with all they learned at family-room showtimes and their mom’s dance class recitals, by the time they were 5, they could greet the audience and introduce their acts with the aplomb of a veteran MC.
When the girls played house, there was always a lot of “Sweetie” and “Honey” in their scripts. It was obvious that they heard a lot of love and tenderness from their parents in real life.
Hazel and Ivy loved the jetted tub in our bathroom. With a couple squirts of dish soap, the jets could whip up an avalanche of suds. Hazel loved to let the jets run until the bubbles were above her shoulders. Like many things with Hazel, the bigger, the better.

--Grandma Bryant