40 Days to Kindergarten: Day 9 | July 20, 2026 | The Lizard in the Ponytail 🦎😂

One of my favorite things about this new house is all the wildlife. It's seriously like we moved into our own little nature preserve.

We’ve got a family of deer that hangs out in our yard every day, including two tiny fawns that are absolutely precious. We’ve seen a fox trot through carrying a squirrel in its mouth like it was no big deal. A giant turtle showed up in our driveway one afternoon after the flood waters. And then there are the lizards 😂 They are EVERYWHERE.

Alessandra is absolutely obsessed with them. Ever since we moved in, she and Tyler have been running around the yard trying to catch one. The big ones are these striped Texas spiny lizards (according to google) that can absolutely fly across the ground. You think you’ve got them cornered, and then they’re gone before you even know what happened.

Well… today Alessandra finally caught a baby one. She spent forever outside playing with it while I worked from my office. A little while later she came inside looking sad and climbed up into my chair with me.

“My baby lizard got away.”

Apparently it had crawled up her arm, and she assumed it had jumped back into the grass and run off. Trying to make her feel better, I told her it was probably just happy to be back running in the grass and was off trying to find its family. Then I jokingly said, “Can you imagine if it climbed up your arm and into your hair?”

I started running my fingers through her ponytail and said, “Girl… your hair is a mess.” And then…

Her ponytail MOVED!!!!!! I kid you not - the LIZARD was wriggling around inside her HAIR!!!!! I screamed. Like horror movie scream. 😂 She immediately looked at me with huge eyes, so I tried to switch gears as fast as humanly possible.

“It’s okay! It’s okay! It’s just actually in your hair! Hurry! Go outside! Hurry!!” 🤣🤣🤣

Poor thing had no idea whether to laugh or cry. She hurried outside, and before I could help get it out she stopped me and said, “Wait… take a picture! I want to see!” which absolutely cracked me up. Most kids would’ve wanted that thing out immediately. Not Alessandra. She wanted photographic evidence first. 😂

We got the little guy out, and after all that… She picked him right back up and kept playing with him. I couldn’t stop laughing. I had to tell my coworkers, “I need to take my lunch… my daughter just came into my office with a lizard IN HER HAIR.” I don’t think that’s a sentence I’d ever imagined saying. The rest of lunch was spent laughing about the whole thing while we played Barbies in her room before I had to go back to work.

After work, Joey got home, and we went outside to greet him. As if this house couldn’t get any cooler, there was a beautiful buck standing out in the yard. He was still in velvet, so by the time hunting season rolls around he’ll probably have an incredible rack. I can't imagine watching him just stand there, munching away, so peacefully next to his little family, will ever get old.

Then Joey mowed the yard, which is one of Alessandra’s favorite things. She climbed up on the mower - sorry, the “grass cutter,” as she calls it 😂 and rode around with Dad while I watched from the driveway.

It was one of those completely ordinary evenings that somehow ends up feeling really special. And somehow… The highlight of the day was still the lizard in the ponytail. 😂