Recent Twitters about Ruby

Steve and I both Twitter, and although we’ve decided not to set up a separate Twitter account for Ruby, we tweet about her a lot. Tweets are generally considered disposable, but some are worth remembering. I went through our recent tweets about Ruby, and pulled out some I’d like to highlight and save here. Click through to read them if you’re not already following us on Twitter.

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Conversation

Ruby is really starting to understand the art of conversation. She will even explicitly ask, “have a conversation?” sometimes. Her favorite topics are: her big girl bed, things we did recently, and things we’ll be doing soon. She also has a very caring (and optimistic) way of inquiring about how Steve and I are doing, asking about our moods and injuries. Some recent questions:

  • “How was your day?”
  • “How your working?” [How was work?]
  • “Your back is all better?”
  • “You are feeling happy?”
  • “Your arm doesn’t hurt?”
  • “Your watermelon juicy? You like it so much?”

Operation Big Girl Bed is a success!

This week while watching the napcam, we noticed Ruby doing something new:

Uh oh. Time to accelerate plans for a big girl bed! We had been thinking of upgrading her in a couple of months, but now it was urgent. Yesterday, I talked it up to Ruby all day (she’s very interested in becoming a big girl). We went on a special shopping trip where I bought a vinyl mattress cover, and she selected a quilt and sheets. I gave her a couple of options in each case so as not to overwhelm her (and so we didn’t hate it).

Because of the short notice, we decided to give Ruby the futon in our guest room. This is a temporary hack to give us time to buy her a real bed, but it’s also a good transition bed, since it’s low to the ground. Last night, Steve disassembled the crib and the futon and we set up the futon in Ruby’s room. She was very eager to test out her new bed:

As part of the furniture rearrangement, we were able to create a little reading nook for Ruby in the corner of her room:

After taking a photo of the new bedding, we tucked Ruby in for her first night in a big bed:

 

Ruby was very happy about the big girl bed and didn’t show a moment of fear, hesitation, or crib nostalgia. We told her that she must stay in her room until we came to get her in the morning, and that if she didn’t, we would put up a baby gate. This morning, as asked, she stayed in her bed after awakening and played quietly until we came up.

The real test of the open doorway will be naptime. Today she’s at my parents’ house, so the first naptime in the big bed will be tomorrow.

Reading update

This morning, I did the alphabet puzzle with Ruby and she named all the letters, no problem. For most of the letters, she asked me what it was “for” (meaning, what words start with that letter). She’s starting to remember these as well. The first one she remembered and repeated later was T for Tripping (from her hockey alphabet book). The second was D for Doughnuts (from the doughnuts we had in Hawaii).

“Friend” No More

Ruby and “Friend”

For Christmas, we gave Ruby a doll. We didn’t give the doll a name, but instead decided to wait and let Ruby choose the name.

Ruby didn’t quite understand what we were asking for when we said, “What’s your friend’s name?”. She’d usually say “hmm?” or “name-o” (as in “bingo was his”). So for the past few months her doll’s name has been “friend” or “your friend”. Every few weeks we’d ask again and we’d get the same response.

Last week while we were in Hawaii, the mother of one of our PEPS friends did some babysitting while Ruby and I went snorkeling. She took Ruby to see a fire station and later, when we were all driving home, she asked Ruby if she remembered the name of the station.

“Manoa!” was Ruby’s response. She seemed to enjoy the word and repeated it a few times.

Sensing an opportunity, I said, “Ruby, what’s your friend’s name?”

“Manoa!” she replied!

We’ve asked a few more times since then, and the name has stuck. I’m not sure why, but I get a little choked at the thought of her finally giving her friend her name.

Great toy: Lauri Primer Pak

We’re currently in Hawaii with Ruby, and in preparation for the long plane ride, I bought some toys and activities to keep her occupied. So far, the best in terms of time spent and value has been the Lauri Primer Pak:

It is packed full of absorbing activities and only cost me about $15. I haven’t even given all of these things to Ruby yet! So far, we’ve gotten the most use out of the alphabet puzzle. It’s really helping her learn all the letters, and as of today I think there are only 3 or 4 letters whose names she forgets. We play a game where I remove all the letters and put them in a bag, then pull one out randomly. She names it (if she can), and then puts it in the puzzle. It’s fun to watch her learn and get faster.

I should mention that this is a game that she enjoys and asks to play. We play a game where I take all the letters out of the puzzle and put them in a bag, then randomly pull one out. She names it (if she can), and then puts it in the puzzle. It’s been fun to watch her get better and faster at it each time. Afterwards, she usually asks me to spell words for her, so I show her short words with no duplicate letters such as RUBY, CAT, RUN, and MAP (which she remembered from before).