the heart of a child.

 Having a child is completely awe-inspiring on so many different levels.

Watching her thumb through the archives in her imagination as she ponders various scenarios that she can act out makes me giddy.

She's the best little nearly three foot mama I have ever laid eyes on; her babies get served a variety of food, she positions them in various poses and says, "Look at the camera.  Say cheese!"  They get to sleep like royalty with books, stuffed animals, stories read, and plenty of kisses.  Plentiful Shhhhs are thrown out as a dramatic mama tiptoes around the room.


Among the cuteness are kitty, lion, and dog impersonations where she kindly requests to be pet when she crawls up to the nearest human.

Her cousin Cecelia opened a gifted doctor kit at our family Christmas which has sparked an obsession with playing "Gocker" for Ruby.

A little improvisation is needed when you don't have a doctor kit of your own, so her stand-in stethoscope and cure-all, fix-all tool is a cell phone charger meant for the car.

Gocker Ruby specializes in belly button inspections which involve a lot of poking and stymied expressions.

There are so many days where I wish I had the power to enter her little head.  She came into this world knowing nothing, minus that whole eating thing.  She figured that out pretty quickly.

She has learned to move, talk, describe what she wants, and she soaks up the world around her with such an intense passion, I can't help but wish I had the same desire to learn and discover.

Oh, to be a child again.

It should be noted that I am questioning my status of maternity on this particular offspring.  The kid goes bananas if there is any chance that she can work out with Daddy and do "jacks" and "ups" (jumping jacks and sit ups).  Um, thank you Jillian Michaels?

We have prayed with Ruby every night for the last few months.  It fills me with so much joy to hear her recite her own list of things she gives God thanks for.  An added sense of precious?  Her little but sure "Dear God" and "Amen."

Rubyisms:

I asked Ruby to come to her room so that I could change her.  After much stubborn refusal on her part, I went in, picked her up and took her from her toys.  The whole way to her room she said, "Put Ruby back!"

(note the stubborn trend.  NO idea where she got that...)

When Ruby couldn't pick up her toys after several requests, I said, "Okay, lets pack up your toys and give them to kids that need toys."  She said, "OKAY!"  Pure excitement at the prospect.  Clearly, that didn't go as planned.

Being caught doing a known uh uh results in Ruby covering her eyes with just enough peeking space between her fingers as she wills herself to disappear from my view.

Requesting "High five!" anytime she completes something that she deems recognizable and noteworthy.