Time out with Mom

Hi everyone, Hazel here.

Monday, Mom and I had some time to ourselves when Dad went to work and Mitch went to school. We needed some herbs and an outing, so we trekked down to Central Market. Central Market is a gourmet grocery with a great cafe and playground.

At the end of our trip, we went inside to get the stuff we needed and I got some great samples of tomatoes, guacamole and bread, but the best part was the playground.

I had a great time climbing on the little playscape and just walking around. I also made a friend. A little boy walked up to me and I grabbed him by the shirt. His dad hauled him away pretty quickly after that.

I moved on to chase a bird and tried,  unsuccessfully, to convince Mom to let me play on the big kid playscape. I really loved the slides and climbing on all the equipment. They had a cool ramp I enjoyed crawling up and a tunnel that was fun to hide in.

Speaking of hiding, I have found some good hiding places around our house lately. I like to go between the coffee table and couch when I find things to play with that Mom and Dad don't want me to have. I also like crawling behind a musical toy with a big mirror in Dad and Mom's room. Sometimes I read back there and other times I like to go back there, giggle, then poke my head out and yell, "Boo!"

I have also been talking a lot more lately. My latest word is "cracker," but I have been trying to say lots of animal names and making their sounds. This morning when Mom was reading to me, I said, "Duck! Quack, quack!" when I saw some ducks in a book. I am particularly excited about horses and bunnies lately.

Yesterday, Mom, Mitch and I went to the library. Mitch and I were each allowed to pick out a book. Mitch was really excited about his book and kept yelling its title, "Boo Boo!" Then I started shouting it too. It was a loud car ride home, especially once Mitch realized there is also a goat in the book and began yelling, "Goat! Goat!" but Mom thought it was all very funny. Dad did not know what to make of us when we came home to him this way.

For photos of my Central Market adventure, click here.