24 Hours

M and I went to Guilford on Sunday to visit my parents.  Some snow time and doggies-up-close at my mom's and a little more Christmas and height marked on the door at dad and P's.  I was most excited by the fact that M did not greet the snow with 'ne, no, nah, bye-bye bye-bye' as she has recently.  She seemed to actually like it!  She used a new word, "walk", and walked for awhile before hitching a ride.    

Lately, when I'm back home there is usually a split second (or two) when I look at M and am jolted by the realization that she is a city mouse.  I guess part of me still thinks of us as one and the same (does that ever fade completely?) so it's a funny feeling that we actually come from such different places, literally. I think this is the most superficial layer of a huge topic - to be otherwise left alone for now. Well, I was proud of my city mouse.  She braved the snow, braved the frigid sleeping temperatures, (the second floor of my mom's house is not heated - country mice are tough), didn't burn herself on the wood stove, tasted a dog biscuit and seemed to take it all in stride.

After leaving my mom's we made a pit stop at CVS for baby wipes and an impulse purchase of some new plastic barrettes for the little miss.  This new "walk" request makes simple errands more adventure-like.  The nail polish display was a magnet.  I still need to get a good recording of her "talking".  Yes, she has a number of real words, but she'll go on and on in an unintelligible tongue (sounds like bossy German) when the mood strikes.  The nail polish got an earful.

 It's a tough choice.  

On to Dad and P's for a mellow post Christmas, Christmas.  Just the 4 of us.  M offered a head start on ornament removal from the tree and the rest of us managed to have a little adult conversation.  I will consider it a coup if we get through this holiday season without shards of ornament embedded in fist or mouth.  I can see the finish line!

32.29 inches!

I had visions of "M meets snow and likes it Part 2" taking place on the Guilford Green - but this was not in the cards.  Back on the road, my co-pilot settled in to her nap right on cue.  I listened to NPR and sampled the candy from our stockings...and it was good.

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