It's Begun...

So yeah...talking. Ruby said her first very clear sentence last week which was, "My name is Ruby." She didn't say it to anyone in particular, just whoever happened to be interested at our local Taco Time. If Kathy hadn't been there to hear it, I might have thought I dreamed it because she hasn't said it since.



When she needs help she says, "hoat" and it's so cute to hear her hold her hand up and say, "Hoat? Hoat? Pleeees!"



She is also getting really into getting dressed and dressing up. Some days she couldn't care less what she's wearing and other days she will only wear what she herself has picked out. Fair enough. She got some dress-up shoes for Christmas and those have been a big hit. I dug out the dress-up box left from when the girls lived here and she loooves trying things on out of that. If you ask me, a dress-up box is one of THE best "toys" out there and a very economical one at that. 90% of the stuff in that box are things from yard sales (including some dresses from a teeny tiny rodeo queen that my mom scored at a yard sale in Idaho) and Goodwill. It's good times for all. Of course, at this point, any clothing that Ruby picks out becomes a dress-up and as she is just mastering the art of getting dressed things like this happen:



She didn't quite get her head all the way through the hole so she looks like a little babushka and she is wearing THREE pairs of pants. Note the socks on her hands as well.



Here she is sporting the pimpin' vest that another friend of ours passed along while she helps her dad do some work. Seriously - it is important to look good at ALL times.



She loves her shoes and received a darling pair of red patent mary janes from her Uncle Steve and Auntie Monica. We are now in big trouble if we try to pick out any other shoes to wear. God help us when she grows out of them!



Ruby has also learned the words "mine" and "my" so we hear this a LOT. More recently, Grandpa Jack got her a sweet little booster seat to use instead of the high chair and she is constantly reminding us, "My chair!"



You may notice that some of the pictures of our Little Miss are of her reaching for the camera. She now knows that she can see pictures of some cute baby on that thing and demands to see it every time she sees the camera. Because of this, the camera is now known as the "Oh Baby" as in, "Have you seen the Oh Baby?" and "Quick! Get the Oh Baby!"



I leave you with a video of her begging for the Oh Baby:

Hasta Luego Uncle Harley!

Like Mary Poppins, the wind changed and Uncle Harley left for a different job a couple of months after the wind blew him in. Ruby loved having her uncle around and it was always one of the first things she'd say when she woke up in the morning, "Haw-leee!" She is going to miss him dearly, as are we. Come back soon, Uncle Harley!

Visiting with Grandpa Jack

We were lucky enough to get a nice little visit from Grandpa Jack who was in town over the weekend. Ruby wasn't sure what to make of him at first but quickly warmed up to him. She learned to say his name but was a little confused about the fact that her friend Jack (Grampa Jack's grandson) and he have the same name. Hard to explain to a 2 year old!

Some Pictures from the New Year

We had a very fun New Year's Day this year. First we went to Ruby's friend, Eva's house where her mum and dad made deeelicious crepes! Ruby had much fun playing with Eva and the other kiddos that were there and we had fun visiting and eating. We then went over to Hank's house for some more delicious food and good company. Ruby enjoyed checking out Hank's kitchen and they cooked a little something up. Ruby also feel head over heels in love with Gumby. They danced and talked for quite a while. I think it was just a fling though as he hasn't been calling. And she got to play with Ryder as well who really just wanted to play with the wagon. We left the house at 11:30am and returned at 6pm. This meant Ruby got NO nap. This meant that Ruby passed out at 6:15 as soon as we got home and didn't wake up until 7:30am the next day. Tired tired baby. Good company, good food and here's to a great year!

Happy 2009!

Christmas Cooking

Whew! It's been a busy week! At any rate, I had to post these pictures of Ruby playing with her new kitchen that Santa brought her. It's a hit! On first discovering it that morning...To playing with it in the afternoon.... ...to playing with it with her cool new dress up shoes from her pal Katya.

Good times!!

So This is Christmas...

This year, Christmas was extra fun as Ruby was a lot more aware of what was going on. She knows who 'anta is but not exactly what he does.... We kicked off the holiday with a Christmas Eve dinner with our friends Matt, Danette and Hank (Ruby calls him "Hate" - very punk rock). We met up at our local Indian food restaurant where Dustin and I have been having Christmas Eve dinner since we moved to this house in 2003. It was delicious, Ruby and Hank were hilarious and the company was great. We went home, put on our new pajamas (a tradition I started this year) and went to bed. Well, after "Santa" did some work on Ruby's present while watching "A Very Brady Christmas" (another tradition of ours). In the morning, Ruby opened her stocking and was amazed at all of the things inside: She very much enjoyed ripping the wrapping paper off. She would rip off a little piece, wad it up and throw it in the wastepaper basket. Unwrapping took a while. Later, Ruby enjoyed some reading time with Uncle Harlan: Christmas was fun! Here's our happy girl!