Visiting the Grandparents

We flew down to Grandma Gloria's house at Ruby's insistence. She also got to see Grandma Linda and Grandpa Marvin plus Aunt Eve, Cousin Elliot, Uncle Amos and Aunt Thuy. Ruby had a great time playing with everyone. Thanks, Everybody!

Playing at Maya's house

Maya (almost 3 years old) is about to become a big sister! We had a lunchtime play date today which Ruby really enjoyed. She begged to "stay at Maya's house". But we lured her away to tickle daddy at home.

Maya has appeared on this blog before, a long time ago, showing Ruby some sign language before Ruby could do it.

Jack in the box!?!

Ruby's friend Maya (almost 3 yrs) had lots of toys Ruby hasn't seen before.

Do you recognize this little girl in glasses?

Merry-go-round

Lately Ruby has been afraid of the merry go round while its turning, but she really wants to go on it to touch the animals. This time we asked and got special permission to step onto it after the last ride, while they were cleaning up. She really really wanted to give the animals, especially the frog and the cat, a "big, big hug".

She asked if it would start turning so she could ride, but she had been refusing to get on it up until then. I've heard of other toddlers going through a phase of being afraid of the merry-go-round too.

Its a good thing there were trains nearby... She likes those a lot lately.

Just more playing

Here is Ruby doing her joke responsive squealing with the squeeze cat. Mommy squeals in response too, which makes it extra funny.

Here is Ruby at the zoo, insisting on eating an ice cream sandwich with a spoon.

And here she is making trains go "down the slide" at our favorite toy store which has lots of displays to play with.

Crawling Game

Ruby is getting bolder about crawling and trying out a little walking. We are very happy to see her progress, especially since some of our floors are not exactly soft for hands and knees. And we are very glad she is having fun with the practice.

Happy Mother's Day!

After pancakes at home, we went to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco to see the aquarium. Its worth the drive.

Ruby's favorite thing was the tunnel into a little spot in the aquarium that had tiny garden eels sticking up out of the sand and swaying. They retracted fast whenever a fish came by. We play garden eel with our fingers now all the time.

Pee Pee in the Potty!

We were just trying out sitting on the potty this morning and reviewing some possible rewards. Then after some playing around the house Ruby, knowing that she would get a chocolate chip and a cat sticker for putting pee pee IN the potty, insisted on going back. She did it!

She actually got 5 chocolate chips, 3 cat stickers and lots of naked jumping on the bed in celebration. I'm so impressed that she knew her bladder was filling and that she held it in time to get back to the bathroom! Its time to implement a more systematic reward system now. How many chocolate chips is a poop worth these days?

ANYTHING to Entertain Her While I Finish Cooking

Paul came home, saw what we were doing and made a video. It was a messy evening but I DID get dinner on the table!