How to brainwash your toddler

In late December, we took Ruby sledding. Although she liked being out in the snow, she hated the sledding. Seeing anyone sliding down the hill upset her, and of course she didn’t want a turn.

Beginning on the car ride home, though, we engaged in some revisionism and began talking about how much FUN it was. Didn’t you have a really great time sledding, Ruby? Remember when we went sledding down the hill and it was so much fun? We kept this up for a few days until she firmly remembered it differently than it had actually happened.

It was another month and a half before we went sledding again (not counting a failed attempt where I forgot our gear). This time, Ruby was excited and not at all apprehensive. Even so, we were surprised by how brave she was. Not only would she ride down the hill with us, but by the end she was happily sledding all by herself! Even falling off at the bottom didn’t deter her. See for yourself:

Due to her small size, she went faster and farther than we did on the sled, and it also made walking back up the hill much easier (since she could walk on top of the snow crust, while we sunk deeply in). All in all, it really WAS fun the second time around.

Sledding

February and March photos

I’ve added some photos from February and March to Ruby’s online album. Apologies for the bad quality of some of the March ones: I included some fuzzy pictures just to show some of the things she was doing. Steve’s parents have also added an album of Ruby’s Canadian birthday celebration.

Finally, I’ve added two new ways for you to keep up with newly posted pictures, if you want to be the first to know about new ones:

Write to Ruby

Now that Ruby is old enough to understand communication methods like snail mail and the telephone, I thought I’d try explaining email next. I’ve set up an email address for her that goes into a separate folder (in my email program). If you’re interested, I invite you to send Ruby an email whenever you have something to say, and I will read it to her. As soon as she’s able to understand replying, I’ll try to transcribe and send her response. I’ll also save all the messages so she can re-read them when she’s older.

I don’t want to post the address here publicly (to avoid spam). Send me an email or comment on this entry if you’d like the address and I’ll give it to you.

Surprising things from Ruby

We often have idle and fun chitchat during dinner with Ruby. She tends to respond with one-word answers (if at all) when I ask her about her day so we often stick to silly topics and making faces at each other.

We sometimes play a game where we make happy, sad, angry, cold, or surprised faces at each other. Today, I asked her to show me “mystified” — a word she doesn’t know. Instead of staring blankly at me, she put on a big smile and cheerily said, “I’m mystified!” Kate laughed until tears streamed from her eyes.

Also, today I asked her what day it was and she said, “Tuesday!” Which it is. And we have no idea how she knows that.

Brief Accomplishments Post II

Ruby’s favorite thing to do with blocks is no longer dumping out the whole box! Now she is intent on building towers and tunnels (and enjoying their inevitable collapses, and laughing at the word “collapse”).

A few new photos

I’ve posted some new pictures from the end of January.

You may notice that Ruby’s online photo album looks different. Our previous album was hacked (by lazy hackers that didn’t cause any real damage and just put spammy links everywhere), so we switched to a newer and hopefully more secure program. If you’re a member of the family who wants to post pictures in this album, please contact me for new login information.

Ruby read her first word!

Ruby can identify roughly half of the letters in the alphabet and is currently very interested in letters. We have this book in our bedroom:

One day a week or two ago, we were hanging out in the bedroom and Ruby pointed to it and said “M – A – P”.  I told her the word was “map”, and it was easy for her to remember when looking at the book because the letters are made of maps.  It got me wondering if she could identify the word in a different context.

Today, I showed her the word MAP written in crayon on a piece of paper, and asked her what word it was, and she said “map!” We all did a happy literacy dance.

Birthday Gifts

Ruby’s birthday is coming up in about a month. She sort of understands birthdays (and what one does to celebrate), but is too young to go so far as to request or even expect gifts. I’m sure this is the last year she’ll be so naive, and we’d like to take advantage of it.

So, if you are family or a close friend who is already planning to give her a gift, please read on. You may be wondering what kind of toy, book, or clothing item would be appropriate to get for Ruby. The truth is that she has plenty of all of those things. She received several great toys for Christmas that have not even been brought out yet (because she got so many). Instead, we ask you to consider a gift in any amount to her college fund. This is a gift she will appreciate for the rest of her life, and she’s too young to find it disappointing to get that instead of a toy. In 15 years, your contribution will about double, so even a small amount will make a difference.

If you already have a great gift in mind for her, something you’re excited to give, by all means go ahead! This is just a suggestion for those who are still searching for an idea. Ruby will, of course, be perfectly happy to receive birthday wishes from people instead of presents.

There are several ways you can contribute to her college fund. The easiest is to give us cash or a check written to us (which we will deposit). If you’d prefer to be more discreet, let me know and I can provide you with the necessary details to send your gift directly to the college fund. We appreciate your consideration of this idea (even if you decide to get Ruby something else).