Talbot's Toyland!

We stopped by Talbot's Toyland during an outing to the peninsula to see friends. Daddy hadn't been there before and Ruby didn't remember it since our last visit was so long ago.

They have fantastic things. This time we saw a giant remote controlled fish balloon! The guy with the control box made it move its fins and tail so it could navigate through the store! There was a shark too. Ruby was a bit scared of the fish blimp.

Ruby played with the train table and got down to some serious cooking in the play house.

We also saw a family of toy Giraffes that were tall enough to reach the ceiling, an elaborate rubberband machine gun (on display only) and a marionette stage where the top sticks for three marionettes were hooked up together to the same machine which made them all dance!

Ruby especially liked making the remote controlled race cars go and stop on the track. She was very nice about taking turns and sharing with mommy and daddy and other kids. At one point she even got to control both cars at the same time!

Marvin's 75th!

We gathered for dinner with Grandma Linda, Papa Marvin and a friend Robin, at Uncles Ken and Eugene's house. Ruby got to stay up late with the grown ups and impress everyone with her charm, conversational skills and jumping.

Check out the video of "Super Ruby!"

Shana Tovah!

Ruby saw the Yom Kippur children's service at Temple Sinai in Oakland. There was such a crowd of children she became a little afraid. So we went upstairs to the balcony. We saw them unroll the Torah down the center aisle on children's laps. It went all the way out the door!

Then we put band-aids on each other and said "I'm sorry if I hurt you". And then we saw about 30 children walk up onto the bema to blow their own shofars.

Ruby loved being up on the balcony. She said she wanted to be the temple life guard. She also said that she wants to bring her own shofar next time.

Happy New Year!

Ruby and Brobee

Ruby's Brobee doll continues to be her best friend. He watches her brush her teeth every night and also lays down with her for stories before bed. She frequently makes up stories about Brobee getting hurt and going to the doctor to fix broken bones, and tummy aches. Here is a video of them dancing together when she first got him for her birthday.

Ruby's tooth is Fixed!!! Hooray!

Ruby was so brave with Dr. Bob the dentist. We are very proud of her.

She has been waiting to ask Dr. Bob if he can make her teeth purple. So he said he would try to paint them. He worked and worked and Ruby was so patient keeping her mouth open for all the work. Then finally he was done! They weren't purple but he fixed the chip! We were so excited she forgot about the purple part. She chose a slinky and a water pistol from the toy chest (two prizes for being so good) and then showed everyone her new tooth.

Its been a long road trying to get that chip fixed. We are very happy.

Ava's birthday

At Ava's Fairyland birthday party Ruby really chatted up the grown ups about how she is a big girl in a big hurry. (I guess maybe mommy has been rushing around too much.)

She decided the puppet show was too scary so we looked at the rabbits and goats until the group convened for lunch and cake. Most of the kids are scared of the puppet show, actually. But some choose to watch it in horror. Ruby wisely decided she didn't need that kind of stress today.

We found out that today's show was Beauty and the Beast. Ruby asked a lot of questions trying to get information about it from the other kids. But they don't talk as much as she does yet so we didn't get much.

Ruby is very interested in animals. She loves to pet the goats at Fairyland and visit the ones down the street. She always asks to go on nighttime walks to see if she can see the cats coming home to get their dinner. Last night at Bites on Broadway (a Friday night gourmet food truck event) she met a baby cat in his owner's sweater and she was really focused on petting him and talking about him for a long time.

Ruby told the owner all about cats, "They don't like to get wet, dogs chase them away and they really like to be scratched gently behind the ears."