Ruby-isms

Before these days are gone from my feeble memory, I though I better write down a few of Ruby's funnier quirks!

One of my favorites that has been going on for a few weeks now is the classic..."Wha's dat... noiiize?" Quickly followed by her analysis of what the sound must be (usually her own feet!). It's the silliest thing, but always makes us laugh.

Ruby has always been a very conscientious "mini-mommy"--busily changing her babies diapers, giving them bottles, feeding them from her snack cups, and throwing tea parties for them. This last week took the cake though, when while I was nursing Max she plopped down on the sofa with her baby, yanked up her shirt and proceeded to let the baby nurse! She says, "Baby... milk... tummy... huh." I really had to control myself from laughing outloud the first time I saw it. Now, she feeds her babies whenever Max eats!

Another amusing things is this whole "huh" thing! She really loves to end sentances with it. It's hard to really explain without letting you hear it, but it's kind of a super-abreviated chuckle. Like, "I am so clever, don't you just want to laugh... a little bit?". Of course... we usually do!

A phrase that EVERY parent of a two year old hears (a bit too much) is, "Ruby do it!". And we are not spared. She's teaching me to let go though...

On Tuesday, Ruby, Max, and I set out to the neighborhood park once again since all of our Moms'N'Tots buddies are either sick or busy with visitors this week. When we arrived, Ruby instantly spotted the 15 or so 3-4 year olds eating lunch (it was a day-care class). She was checking them out, they were checking her out. Eventually, she cautiously started to play in the sand...until, one by one they left the table to play. For a good 5 minutes she just stared at everyone, but then eventually she started to venture out and went down the slide, walked around by the play houses, and just "checked everyone out". Then, all of a sudden, kind of like in "Forrest Gump", she decided to start running! She just ran and ran and ran all over the place. Then, suddenly, one little boy decided to follow her. After a few laps, a few more joined. Then, before I knew it, there were about eight kids following Ruby saying, "Hej, lille pige!" (which means, "Hi, little girl!"). I called to Ruby to use the phrase we had just been practicing, "Jeg hedder Ruby" (My name is Ruby), but she was too shy and decided that enough was enough and she stopped running. The group quickly dispersed, but it seemed to loosen her up enough to play peek-a-boo with some of the boys in the playhouses and even went down the slide with the "herd" a few times. It was hard for me to just let her go and do her own thing becuase I know that we both get a bit intimidated when we can't understand what the kids are saying, but I'm so glad I let her go. She figured it out, all by herself!

These little things happen every day... I hope I don't forget all the laughter sprinkled throughout these days, even as the battle of wills and war of testing of limits rages on. She's a sweet angel and we couldn't love her more.