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.