Merry Christmas!

Highlights from the trip east 2009: today, Elizabeth and I took Ruby on her first train ride -- from Allen Lane Station (yes, the station near Elizabeth's childhood home is called "Allen Lane") to Chestnut Hill West. 3 stops, I think, and Ruby loved it. Yesterday, Gama and I took Ruby to the Morris Arboretum where we saw an extensive toy train layout, which she also loved. At my sister's she had a nice time playing with her cousins, Stephanie and Alexis, and loved her new stovetop from mom and dad, which Aunt Christie helped her play with ("Is it hot? ooh! let's turn it down!"). First candy cane at Aunt Christie's, and first encounter with Santa (courtesy of the Little Silver, NJ fire department. First snow, upon landing in NJ, and first sledding, at Markham Elementary School -- we left too soon for her taste, and her daredevil side showed itself again ("Faster!"). Perhaps more later from E.

Whipped Cream and Pie

"Gama" made pumpkin pie and whipped cream. Ruby had both for the first time, licked the beaters (second time for that, first time having been after making cupcakes with her mom for her birthday last week) from the whipped cream. She repeats almost all new words, but repeated whipped cream with particular attention. Happy Thanksgiving!

Darndest Things

"Dagnabit bunny rabbit!" as far as we know, her combination and rhyme (though dagnabit is definitely from mom).

"I all done. I set to go to work with my boots on." (after breakfast).

I eating up a storm!

Ruby said last night at dinner. Delighted. Delightful.

Stories

We have these stories we tell. Benjamin running story; Benjamin Ice Cream story; Benjamin on the bike story; Abdullah goes to day care story; Coulter gets angry at Aeven story ... The other day I told a story about Abdullah, a 2 year old boy who has just joined Ruby, Coulter, and Benjamin at their day care. He's having a little bit of a hard time -- understandably, since he just got here, and doesn't speak any English -- just Arabic. So I told this story about Abdullah, who spoke Arabic, but not English, and who wanted his dada-baba when he was at day care. The next day, Ruby asked for the story again, but wanted Elizabeth to tell it. Elizabeth dutifully did so. But she said that Abdullah spoke another language -- at which point Ruby broke in and said: Arabic!

She's not even 2!

Pop a sill

Popsicle, that is. And she's doing these amazing alphabet rehearsals -- clearly knows it has something to do with reading. She'll pick up a book and start saying "Abcde lmnopj rst z" Notice the j after the p, which clearly comes from "pj's"

"I like it."

More Things Ruby Says

"No Daddy pick you up." "You," here, means "me," which she gets from me saying can Daddy pick you up?" Or, usually, in fact, "Do you want to walk, or be Daddy-uppy?"

kdd

Activism

Activism can seem so silly compared to spending time with Ruby. But I want a just world, and I want Ruby to have a just world, so it's not so silly after all.

Carousel! with Maja, July 2009

Language acquisition

Ruby loves verbs. I do it. I climb it. I read it. I pat the dog. Mommy pat the dog. I jump. I push it. I playground. I tumble. I pee. Mommy pee. Daddy pee. (Does everybody pee?) Yeah!

Ruby says her name!

Today, in the possessive, in fact. She's very into toothbrushing, and points to Daddy's toothbrush, and today pointed to "Ruby's." I'll attempt the phonetics later.

kdd

Sentences

I should first say that Murphy's law of blogging states that if you write up a list of words and forget to put in Grammy ("Mimi") and Poppy ("Pop"), it will be less than 24 hours before Grammy and Poppy logon to check the blog.

So . . .

I should also mention hamow (Grandma).

But the most popular sentences are now:
"I do it."
and "I got it." (how else do you call off the right fielder?)

kdd

Words, words, words.

We were regaling our friend Adriana today with tales of Ruby's words.  She said "Write them down!"  We're obedient; here they are.

The one that we were talking about today is "peeps."  No, not the marshmello chicks that my grandmother used to love (stale is how she preferred them), but in Ruby-ese "grapes".

Here's more.  

wao (wow)

deuh (dude)

beuw(r) (bird)

tao (crow)

ph-doh (poodle)

bh-doh (beetle)

bawaowao (dog)

cat (pretty much any animal, including cats)

baby (baby or other non-adult being)

baba (banana)

baba (water)

bah (ball)

bubuh (blueberries)

beeees (beans)

ay-sh (ice)

bdz (beads)

ah-sai (outside)

shn (chin)

maa (more)

First Sentence!

"I'll be back." tonight, in the bath. Her mom had said I'll be back five minutes earlier.

Seriously, what is up with this little one? 16 months old and saying a sentence!

Watch out!

At the playground

We've been so busy, we haven't posted much. But here's something. Ruby's first sentence, about a month ago, was "Airplane bye bye." (ehpehn by by)

kdd

Merry Christmas

...and Happy New Year! Ruby's first Christmas was spent in New Jersey and Philadelphia with doting relatives on both sides--which meant many hands to hold while climbing up and, heart-stoppingly, down stairs, and several dogs to play ball with, feed, and converse with ("woo-woo-woo"). Ruby has at least 20 words now many starting with "b": ball, banana, blueberry, bellybutton, baby, bye-bye; cheese; kids; hi; airplane; up; mama; dada.... She also has a few signs ("more," "nursing," "shoes") and a few quasi-words like ne-ne (also for nursing). And she started using "mama" for her grandma too, much to grandma's delight. The most amazing vocabulary word though is her laugh: more than an occasional giggle and deep from her belly, a real kid's laugh. Her laugh reminds us just how full a person this child is already.

Ruby's Birthday

Ruby's first birthday warranted many celebrations--one at Kathy's day care, with blueberry muffin "cupcakes," and one with Grandma and Christopher with carrot cake. The carrot cake was not popular, and sometimes the wrapping paper was more fun than the gifts, but we're sure goal-orientation will come soon enough for this determined little creature--and in the meantime her happiness is what counts.

Splash

Four days before Ruby's birthday our dear old cat Splash died just shy of 18 years old. He was a snuggly, affectionate cat particularly beloved of Madeleine, who has been lonely without him--and so have we.