December 1999

EVERYBODY –

MAJ is here!!!!!

She’s seven months old and beautiful and smart and delightfully wicked.

That’s pretty much it for our Christmas newsletter this year.  Don’t you hate when people get so wrapped up in the minutiae of their child’s accomplishments that they lose sight of the fact that the rest of us are bored to tears?

Me too.

But I did just want to tell you that Maj is the most talented baby ever.

EVER.

She can SIT!  And ROLL OVER!  And WHINE & YELL & CRY!  And EAT! And SLEEP!

O.K. – that makes her sound just slightly more gifted than our Dalmatian Sophie, who has never mastered rolling over.

But Maj can also GET UP ON ALL FOURS!  MAKE LOTS OF NONSENSE SOUNDS!  GET TO SITTING FROM HER TUMMY!  PULL HERSELF TO STANDING!  PLAY WITH HER TOYS!

Wait . . . Sophie can do all those things too.  And the dog never needs her diaper changed.

Hmmmmmm.

I guess the attraction is in the little things.

Like her giant blue eyes.  And the eyebrows that wiggle skyward whenever she spots something interesting.  Her long grabby fingers.  The birthmark at the base of her neck.  Her chubby little knees.

Her determination to walk instead of crawl.  The way she can make MAMAMA sound like an angry curse of blame and bitterness.  Her unending desire to put everything (including the pets) into her mouth for examination and tasting.  Her tendency to reach out and hold hands with strangers in the grocery store check-out line.

And her laugh!  She laughs like a crazy woman.  All snorts and gasps and shrieks.  And she finds the strangest things to be hilariously funny.  Like raking leaves.  Or the twirling jewelry display at the department store.  Or the dog leaping to catch thrown bits of popcorn.  Or a pretend sneeze.

Mark and I are completely entranced and enthralled.

Who knew a little girl could have such power?

We wish you all a Wonderful Christmas and a Terrific New Year!

Mark, Kris, & Maj