Coincidence?

Okay, east coasters. Why is it that whenever someone from the tri-state area comes to visit us, it just happens to snow in Kansas? Hmmm? We understand that you all like to have massive winter storms that bring two to three feet of snow but do you really have to bring it out this way? Yesterday, Grammy flew in from Newark and her arrival coincided with the arrival of 6 inches of snow in our yard. Not to worry though. The snow kept Christopher thoroughly entertained throughout the day and Kasey has had multiple crazy sessions that usually begin with her sticking her entire snout in the snow and finish with her jumping on Grammy's bed in the guest room. It is good to have Grammy here and Christopher just can't believe that both of his grandmothers have visited him in less than a week!

Happy birthday to... ME!

I hope you all have taken the day off from work today. What do you mean, why? It's only the most important day of the year, that's why. I am turning 5 years old today, and you know what that means? If you take dog years into account, I am now officially the oldest member of this household and now everyone must respect my authority. Being 35 and ruling the house is pretty cool you know. I get to eat whatever stuffed animals I want (regardless of who they belong to) and I get to hang out in the backyard and protect my turf and nobody will mess with me. Mom even let me be in charge of watching CJ today and putting him down for a nap while she went out to register him for his Children's Day Out program. Can you believe it? Now, if only she will get me a cake to match my superior age...

(Yes, CJ is officially registered for his first CDO program and in keeping with family tradition, he will be attending a Methodist school--Lenexa United Methodist. It is so crazy to think that he will be starting a preschool program! My little man is getting so big!)

Hangin' out

Chris and I dropped off Kasey today at Pawz at Play for some good old fashioned puppy fun. Because of this fact, Christopher wanted to make sure Kasey's deer did not go hungry while she was away. He whipped up a nice dish of whatever it is that deer eat and fed her until she was full.
It's been nice having Daddy home for awhile and Christopher is taking full advantage of everything Brian has to teach him. This morning, the boys were examining a fish tank layout book and planning the design of Christopher's future 120 gallon tank. Here they are, heavy into discussions:
Not much more to report other than that. It was nice enough today for Christopher to run around in the sunshine and fresh air for awhile today, and run he did! Mommy and Daddy had a nice Tex-Mex lunch today at the Salty Iguana while CJ hung out with Kristen, his babysitter. And Daddy gets to escape tonight for dinner with his friend Matt at one of our fine local establishments. More updates to follow!

"I like blue!"

Some of you know the story referenced in the quote above, but for those who don't, let me share. It's not a very long tale but when Brian was young (help me out Grandma and Grandpa--preschool? kindergarten?) he waltzed into his class and announced to the teacher, "I like blue!" Well, folks, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Last week, Christopher pointed to a blue crayon and said "blue." We were so excited and he said it a few more times that week. Now he points to everything that is blue and says "blue" (or in his pronunciation, "boo"). Today at Kindermusik, the kids were playing with sensory balls. Although he received the yellow one from the teacher, he later "traded" with another child for the blue one. Then he kept bringing it over to me and saying "blue." When you look around our house, it's really no wonder why the kid likes blue; it's everywhere from our dining room table decor to his straw cup to Brian's cool coat (I promise he doesn't really wear it anymore!) to, well, Christopher's room. Although he does enjoy pointing to the purple train car in "Freight Train" I do believe there will come a day in preschool when Chris will make the same proclamation as his father once did.

BAM!

Is anyone out there a fan of Emeril Lagasse? If you are, then you understand the reference in the title of this blog. If you are not, it is simply the exclamation that he says when he adds a little kick to whatever he is cooking (usually in the form of garlic). Well, it appears that we have a mini Emeril living in our house in the form of CJ Woglom. That's right, if there's something brewing in the kitchen, Christopher wants to be there! Over the holidays, Chris enjoyed watching all the moms and grandmas cooking in their respective kitchens. When we returned to Kansas, that fact did not change but our little man took it to a whole new level. One day, I dropped him off at his friend Emily's house for a little playdate. When I returned to pick him up, Emily's mother informed me that Christopher had been playing with Emily's mini kitchen for the past hour! If you know Chris, you know he doesn't stay in one spot very long so this was truly phenomenal. Long story short, we now have the same mini kitchen in our house and it is a huge hit. Here is our boy cooking up some yummy grub for us.

The cutest thing is that Christopher is now doing a bit of pretending when he plays. In the mornings, I heat up my coffee a little extra in the microwave. His kitchen set came with two little coffee mugs and Chris puts them in his own "microwave," presses the buttons, and heats it up himself. Then he takes the cup to his books and feeds the characters their nice hot coffee. He follows this up by saying "Ahhh" after they drink. So cute! Here he is with Grandma in the kitchen when she came to visit last week. He was watching her every move... Do we have a future top chef on our hands? Perhaps he will open a gourmet restaurant in the city called "Christophe." You better get on the reservation list now!

Not to be outdone by little buds, Kasey also received a new toy. Brian got her a little deer with a squeaker in it and she loves her little deer, dearly. So far it is in one piece but give it a week and we'll see what happens.

So much has been happening in our little man's life since the holidays so let me fill you in on a few of them... Christopher had his 18 month doctor's appointment and he is now 33.5 inches tall and nearly 29 solid pounds (just ask my biceps)... He is saying many new words including cheese, fish, green, and blue as well as the old standards like Mama and Daddy (and Kasey of course)... He's also saying animal sounds like moo, meow, and ssssss for snake. Chris runs everywhere--oh wait, that's not new! Mommy has been looking at Children's Day Out programs and I think I've found the one we are going to send him to in the fall. CDO is kind of like preschool but you only go once a week. When I was looking at this one school, it was weird for me to be on the parent end of the spectrum rather than the teacher end. I can already sense my "teacher-ness" coming through when I look at these classrooms. I just hope I don't turn into that annoying-parent-who-used-to-be-a-teacher (any teacher out there knows what I'm talking about!). I will leave you now with one last smiley face from our happy little boy.

Stay tuned

After nearly a month off, the Baby Wogs blog will be back in effect for February. Yes, it has been hard being stranded on a Caribbean island for the month of January while everyone in Kansas has been buried under snow, but I guess we survived. I only got a slight sunburn but Christopher enjoyed sipping virgin pina coladas on the kiddie beach under a big old umbrella to protect his fair skin. Anyway, I know you all missed us (at least I hope you did!) and I promise to make up for it with cute pictures, funny entries, and the occasional clever poem. Peace out.

Christmas!

Well, I had to get around to this sometime so here it is: the now annual Christmas blog post! We spent a week back east with our family and friends and had a lovely time as usual. Our travel plans worked out perfectly as we missed the East Coast snow storm by a couple days and missed the Kansas blizzard by a couple days. To top it off, we got in early at LaGuardia flying out and early to Kansas City flying back despite the bomb-in-your-underpants security searches (no they didn't check CJ's diaper). Our visit started off with dinner at the Woglom residence with Grandma and Grandpa as well as Andy and Reina (who continue to supply Christopher with awesome Yankee apparel!). On Christmas Eve day, Grammy came over to stay in Westchester and got to play in the snow with her bundled-up grandson. There was still plenty of snow on the ground so we took Christopher out to see what he would think of all that white stuff. He did pretty well and and made lots of footprints until he got tired and just plopped himself down in the middle of the lawn.


Later that afternoon Aunt Dabney and Uncle Peter arrived from Brooklyn and we had a wonderful visit with them. We spent more time outdoors later that evening during Christmas Eve mass as Christopher was not particularly interested in listening to anything the priest said. Good thing it wasn't too freezing out. Christmas day was wonderful for out little man as he got to stay in his pajamas all day. He got some super cool toys and books but he was most excited (or his mom and dad were?) about their brand new Wii from Dab and Pete.


And, of course, Christopher fit in a moment to call his peeps and play a Mozart sonata.

The day after Christmas had us heading upstate to see the Turicks of East Meredith. Christopher, as usual, was a fabulous traveler and didn't make a peep the whole ride up there. We had a lovely visit with Grandpa T, Nancy and GiGi! Christopher thoroughly enjoyed playing with "his" dog, CJ's Nadia, listening to Grandpa play the accordian, rocking in the rocking chair with GiGi and watching the birds outside the kitchen window.


We came back down to Jersey on my birthday and had a wonderful dinner with friends and family at the Iron Horse in Westwood. It was great to see everyone, including Liz and Mare, Sheryl and the girls. The next day had us staying put in Westchester to rest up for our return trip to Kansas. It was a great visit all around!

Oh, and a side note: we had a great New Year's Eve with Dan, Mary, Tristan and the puppies. And I made this fabulous desert called S'mores Bars, pictured below. You know you wish you were here for them!