MARGOT WOGTEYN

With our babysitter home on spring break, I got to leave The Doodle behind and bring my camera to The Wog's dance class today. I was so excited to finally have the chance to watch, and I was not disappointed. She and her classmates are wonderful little dancers!

WOG OF THE DOODLE TO YA!

My grandfather always called us his Irish Wops. I don't know what he would have called The Wog and The Doodle whose ethnic line has expanded in several directions, but they did enjoy celebrating their (1/8th heritage) thanks to Minnie and these great green clothes!

(The Doodle was very very mad. He did not enjoy being forced to wear the hat. Note both pacis are green, too!)

WOGSCHA COHEN

THE DOODLE'S TRUE COLORS

I suppose it's a good thing The Doodle isn't old enough to choose his clothes all the time. Otherwise, he would go around looking like this:

The Doodle is proving himself quite the unabashed Metrosexual--he always insists on the right accessories: shoes, boots, hats, whatever he deems appropriate. Or all at once, as the case may be:)

Playing one of his favorite games, "Peekadoodle:"



A boy and his balloon:


Down to basics:


Keeping watch for Daddy:


Sweet boy:

TWO TURN TWO!

We attended the very fun joint birthday party of The Doop (AKA Cooper) and Rooster (AKA Phoebe) over the weekend. The Wog and The Doodle enjoyed themselves immensely--particularly the many helium balloons and the giant playroom slide. (I tried to take a video of The Doodle zipping down the slide but alas it did not capture the amazingness of his daredevil descents.)

Cooper was VERY excited, while Phoebe practiced her typical self-restraint:


Time to blow out the candles!


Digging into the delicious cake:



The Wog and Chloe went on a safari:


Caught in action:


The Doodle and Phoebe set up camp at this table and patiently waited together for dinner to be served.

A WOGGLE IN TIME

The Wog's loves her nightly bedtime routine--we usually read a few of her favorite picture books, followed by nursery rhymes or poetry. Lately I have been wondering if she might not enjoy a chapter book, and considering starting her on the Little House series. On a completely unrelated (or so I thought) note, I have been revisiting some of the young adult fiction I enjoyed as a child--the Narnia books, Madeleine L'Engle, etc. Last night was Marc's turn to put The Wog down, and I could overhear snippets of their conversation through the monitor. The first time I heard "Charles Wallace" I thought, "Well, that sounds familiar, but it couldn't be..." And then I tuned it out and went back to whatever I was doing on the computer.

When Marc came down later he declared, "She LOVES that book." I was like, "What book?" and he explained that--at her urging--they'd started reading a chapter book that was up in her room. It turned out to be "A Wind in the Door," which is the 2nd book in the "Wrinkle in Time" series about the transplanetary adventures of Meg Murry, her brilliant younger brother Charles Wallace, their twin brothers and scientist parents--including the Nobel Prize-winning (and beautiful to boot!) Mrs. Murry. The Wog must have brought the book up to her room; she had been fascinated by the many-eyed dragon from the cover art. It's definitely beyond her mental and emotional comprehension but she likes the dragon enough to want to keep reading. I hope she will eventually love these books as much as I did when I was a child. (I never read Madeleine L'Engle's other books so I've only just learned that Meg and Calvin name their daughter--and future series protagonist--Polly!)

I think I'm going to steer them in the direction of "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler," or good old Ramona Quimby for future readings. In the meantime, she'll be the only kid in her preschool class who knows what "fewmets" are, I suppose.

A LOCAL WOGLEBRITY

(From today's issue of The Mountain Ear.)