There Were No Drugs Involved.

It's Flying By...

Work is sucking up a really huge amount of bandwidth in my life. I can't remember the last time I even thought about updating my blog, never mind actually doing it. In a world that turns on money, it's just necessary.

Blinky Blinky!

Best Baby Ever!

The Iceman Cometh

Mike, if you're reading this ... welcome, and make sure you watch the Cat Herding Video.

Spoon Crazy!

Ruby loves using her spoon, and eats an applesauce with it every single night.

Sikhi Buddha

Ruby was just starting to get sick around Christmas. The cold she had developed into a raging illness: ear infections, 104º fever, bronchiolitis, hacking cough, wheezing, nebulizer treatments, alternating Tylenol and Motrin, into the emergency room once, countless doctor's visits. She's better now, but it was a rough ride.

Got My Dolly!

The dolly was finally opened. I think it was more of a thrill for Mommy than Ruby. She didn't immediately "get" the dolly, but she's figuring it out. Now she likes to take her clothes off, try to put them back on, and give her a baba (frequently in her eye or ear).

Why we have unbreakable ornaments.

We put up the tree today. We weren't entirely sure we were going to have a tree, given the presence of a very active toddler who climbs. The horrors of broken glass, the heartbreak of lost heirlooms. We finally decided to get a tree, and decorate it with unbreakable plastic ornaments from Wal-Mart. You can't really tell they're plastic at first glance. Seemed like a good compromise. You can see from the picture that it would have been folly to attempt anything else.

Watch These! (Pee First.)

Ruby Plays With Kitties!

Milestones

Ruby has learned to kiss! She loves to kiss her teddies (and Mommy, of course). The awww!-ing of stuffed animals continues unabated, and there is now much awww!-ing of Mommy and Gramma. It is so totally adorable. In fact, I hear her awww!-ing something with Gramma downstairs as I type ...

Finished Shopping for Ruby!

Thanks to The Parent Trap, I've finished shopping for Ruby. She is going to have a great Christmas this year!

This is her "big present" this year, the Corolle Tidoo doll, which is waterproof and can go in the bath! I love the outfit, and although she's a small baby doll, her body has a baby-like heft because it's filled with polystyrene beads! Worth the $35, I think.

New Word! (Kinda.)

Okay, Ruby has a new word! It is "open!" Although what she says is SSSSSSS!!! She will come up to me with a closed bag of popcorn, or a closed calculator, or a closed-up dollhouse and say, "SSSSS!!!!!" I can't really put it in her word list yet, because it's not really a word, it's a sound. On the other hand, what is a word other than a sound that means something specific? SSSSSSS!!! is a word, just not in English.

Ruby reads!

Intense sunset!

Pretend ...

... sneezing, nose-blowing, phone-talking and more! Also, hugging a stuffed animal and saying "Awwww!", then passing it to others, who should then hug and "Awww!" the animal. Mommy gets passed fewer animals than Gramma or Bill. Flatteringly, Gramma says this is because Ruby is jealous, and doesn't really want Mommy hugging and Awww!-ing the teddy. Only hugging Woobwer. How adorable.

More Dishwashing!

Milestones

Ruby has learned to drink from a straw! A small achievement, you think. But it really lessens Mommy's dependence on a juice cup when we're out of the house. Before, no juice cup meant buying a new one at CVS. Now we can just drive through Burger King and get Hi-C! Granted, she can't hold the cup by herself yet, but at least we can get the little person hydrated!

Neezy morgamor, earthling.

I have been trying to write down some of Ruby's "words." They are so weird, so totally alien, that I can't remember them for more than about 30 seconds. Many of them use sounds that can't be rendered using our 26-letter alphabet. We need that crazy phonetic alphabet that linguists use. However, I've saved four today:

• Neezy morgamor.


• Thoot-thoot ooway!


• Di butcha-putcha-wutcha-putcha.


• Wazimba!