Wednesday, October 29, 2008

"Me, too"

I'm taking a linguistics class this semester and we recently watched a film over language and gender, and the difference in conversational styles and rituals among boys and girls. Girls, for instance, seek for connections and similarities in conversation, while boys seem to be in competition with each other. To demonstrate this, the video showed pairs of boys and girls at different ages just talking to each other. The five year old boys on the play ground were very animated about how high each one could throw a ball, and each one would "one-up" the previous speaker. The five year old girls at daycare sat very close to each other at a table, constantly looking at each others' eyes, and touching hands, etc. One of the girls told her friend that her daddy wore contact lenses. Her friend replied that her babysitter also wore contact lenses. The first girl took a moment to process the statement, and then very happily replied, "The same?".

It's a wonderful thing to be around an almost two year old and witness first hand the development of speech, and the acquisition of language. It is even more exciting for me, when my almost two year old provides validation for what I am learning in class, and I am able to perceive language in an entirely new fashion. So, the story is this:

Ruby and I were outside on the patio playing the other day when some birds started singing. She looks at me, taps her ear, and says, "I hear a bird?". I reply, "You hear a bird? I hear a bird, too." She looks at me and smiles, and says, "me, too."

How precious is that?

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Texas Renaissance Festival

The pictures say it all!














"Look Mama, a sailbut"



Ruby's language and imagination skills are really taking off these days! One of my favorite words at the moment is 'boat', because she pronounces it 'but', and it just sounds so adorable! I sound like Beevis and Butthead, "huh huh, she said butt, huh huh huh." All kidding aside, I was very impressed when Ruby ran up to me with her legos exclaiming she had made a sailboat!

proud of her work

"Cheese!"

Weekends are for barbecues

I have wanted to do a poolside barbecue for sometime now, but it just had not worked out... until last weekend! It was very last minute, but we had a very nice little gathering of friends and neighbors to enjoy the weather, eat, and be merry! Just a few pics of the fun:






Another Wedding

I was not going to post this so late, but the pics were so cute I thought I would go ahead! Back in July?, we headed up to Dallas for Aaron's cousin Marcus' wedding. There was also a wedding shower for Marcus' brother Michael, who was getting married in August (Ruby and I missed that one). It was a whirlwind weekend that went from Waxahachie, to Duncanville, to Denton, to Crumb, and finally back home to Austin. It was a bit trying at times, but we had a blast! Just look at everything Ruby got to do!

Bathing her animals

Charlie Dog

Aaron, Courtney, Taylor, Braden, Luke and Cathy

My family

Pretty fruit

Pretty girls in pretty dresses

Mmmmmm

Sweet Catherine

feeding the horses- she wasn't scared at all!



Always gotta end with a sleepy baby!

Friday, October 3, 2008

"Moh yuga?"

Ruby has been chanting "om" for a while. We mostly use it as a cool down technique when she's feeling especially fiery. :-)

So it was no surprise (though still utterly adorable) today when Ruby and I were snuggling on the couch and she looked over at the yoga mat folded up against the wall, then asked to do some yoga. Well, yoga for Ruby starts out with a pretty darn good dog pose, which then becomes a series of somersaults. Hence, "moh yuga?" She signs 'more' vigorously while saying it, then assumes the somersault position, and waits for me to push her over.

I can't count how many times my heart melts these days- the sweet innocence, constant curiosity and hilarious display of humor and imagination from our little Ruby is never ending. It's almost too much to process. Almost.