TWAS THE WOG BEFORE CHRISTMAS...

We have a lot of catching up to do! The Wog and I just got back in town from a week's visit in NJ with her Minnie, Pop-Pop and Aunt "Whuh-Beth." The Wog packed lots of fun and activities into her holiday week, and came home full of new words and ideas.

For the first time in The Wog's three Christmases, we have not moved in the month of December. Hence, her first at-home Christmas tree! I went all out with the decking of the halls. (But I guess my version of "all out" differs from The Wog's father's version of "all out" since he returned home from work that evening and asked where all the decorations were.)

We do an all-pink pig tree. (You can't tell from the picture, but it has all pink lights):




The score, after one day with decorations up and out, was The Wog: 4; Ornaments: 0. I learned to move them out of reach. Here she is, plotting her next attack.


The Wog is a lover of all creatures great and small. Unfortunately, most of them do not love her back. My parents' sweet, old lady dog, Maggie, is best described by my uncle (and oft-repeated by his grandson Peter) as, "blind in one eye and can't see out of the other." After we returned from Christmas Eve dinner, The Wog was quite pleased to see Maggie. Here's a sequence of the two together.







Maggie can run (or hobble, as the case may be), but she cannot hide.

Here she is, being inspected by flashlight:


Our pretty little girl:



Squirming with Minnie and Pop-Pop. (As you can see, the flashlight was big hit this Christmas).


The Wog had been dabbling in full sentences for the past month or so but really got her chat on during the past week. She is particularly gabby when she first wakes up in the morning and is looking to be fetched from her crib. Minnie and Pop-Pop have the room on speaker throughout the house so we all got to hear her throaty little voice demanding things like, "My Mommy not coming!" and "Mommy, I talking!"

My favorite new Wog expression is, "I take you home." This was heard at least three times during the week and delivered to a variety of items including one of Maggie's dog toys, a childsize rocking chair she fell in love with at her aunt's house (and which she attempted to carry with her throughout our visit uttering her signature grunts and groans to let us know just how much work it is), and my childhood Cabbage Patch doll, Ace.

More to follow!