Rubyisms

Ruby Dawn is everything wonderful about six year olds. She’s losing teeth all the time, she is “livin’ the first grade life” as she says, she has been getting more confident as a reader, loves science, writes her ideas and thoughts in a journal and loves people. I want to keep her little, but she keeps saying things like, “I totally don’t like princesses mom, I’m not a baby.” and “Oh mom, not pigtail braids! Those are for babies!” Then the other day she made this face with a peace sign in our picture and I realized she’s pretty much all grown up.

Since time is flying so fast, the best thing I could think of to do was get some new Rubyisms on the blog.

• “I’m starting a new lifetime right now. From now on, wherever I go I will wear the perfect thing. If I go to a bike race, I’ll wear my shirt that has a bike on it. On the 4th of July, my shirt with fireworks on it. Tomorrow to church, my beautiful church dress.”
• “They didn’t have the words on the screen at church because they were having traffical difficulties.”
• Ruby chose to be a “Ballerina/Ninja/Cat” for Halloween this year.
• We were eating lunch and I was saying how much I love Costco pizza, she responded, “But Costco pizza doesn’t matter more than families.”
• I heard a big sigh from the backseat, “It’s the first grade life.”
• While I was explaining to the girls why it’s important to let your pee out regularly, “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but Dad knows more about bladders than you because he’s a doctor.”
• On the playground after school, “I think I’m ok. Whew! The good news is that now I know what it feels like to fall off the monkey bars!”
• We had quite a time getting her first front tooth out – she didn’t want to pull it so it dangled like this for way too many days in a row before she finally pulled it out herself during writing center time at school. Thanks to all the friends and family who prayed for me during those days when I couldn’t look my own daughter in the face without feeling queazy.
• Wile driving home from school, “I reeeeealy want to retire.”
• “No one can come in my room except me and Clara …and Charlie, mom and dad, grammy and papa, nana and papa, all our family, some of our friends …actually anyone who’s our friend mom. But that’s only who can come in my room.”
• About her “I love God” sign, “I wrote it in Sharpie so it can’t change.”
• “Do we have to get consequences every time we want to do something fun??”
• “Clara! If our mom and dad got related then we would grow up to be sisters!!”
• “Dear mom, Are you tired of me being bored before dinner? I have the perfect solution, a hot tub. I could relax. I could warm up. I could get in whenever. I could flip underwater. I could have alone time in it. Love, Your Poor Daughter, Ruby”

Rubyisms

Ruby turned 6 in June and will be starting first grade in just a few short weeks. She had her 6-year old birthday party at Chuck E Cheese with all the girls in her Kindergarten class. They’re terrible at SkeeBall, but they sure are cute!

These Rubyisms will give you a glimpse into the mind of my Ruby girl, and writing them down will help me remember her and all of her sweet idiosyncrasies at this age. The older she gets, the more reasonable/logical/smart she becomes… I am starting to realize how fleeting these years are with my littles! 

Give me just a minute to have a good cry.

…ok, I’m back.

• From the backseat I heard her say, “Mom! I found the perfect place to keep my lucky penny handy!”
• While watching squirrels in the back yard I told Ruby she should never get too close to a wild squirrel. She replied, “He’s not wild. He’s neighborhoodish.”
• Even though she’s 6, she was thrilled and amazed to realize she still fits in a bucket.
• She loves her sister and brother and every night she prays, “Thank you Jesus for the butterflies and the rainbows and my mom and dad and brother and sister…”
• This was the first time I ever saw all three of them holding hands. 
• Continuing the sibling love theme, Ruby often talks about how she is choosing to do nice things for Clara and Charlie because they’re littler than she is. “Charlie is just a baby, so I’ll let him have my pony because he just doesn’t know how to share yet.”
• A friend of all animals – “Mom, these goats just love when I pet them.”
• Signs that she’s feeling settled in our new groove in Grand Rapids, I asked her what she was thinking about, “My name is official and daddy’s hospital is official and our family is just official!”
• She thinks we live on “Leaning Tree Lane” because of the trees near our house. Hopefully she never gets lost because that’s not the name of our street.
• Hey girls! “Hey mom, We’re just having a beach out!”
• At the beginning of summer we took the kids to the cottage. The water looks really cold, but it was warmer than the air and the kids never wanted to get back into the boat. Pure Michigan.
• As much as Ruby and Clara love each other they’ve been bickering, tattling and squabbling more than I’d like to admit. Ruby makes bold statements about what Clara may or may not be doing. “What she’s trying to do is put me to work and never make me stop!” or, “Clara told me she never wants to be my sister or ever talk to me or ever look at me or be my sister ever again!”  – d.r.a.m.a.
• While driving around running errands one morning, “Mommy, when I see Krispy Kreme I’ll yell, ‘KRISPY KREME’ and you stop at it.”
• I couple of weeks ago our church hosted SpringHill Day Camp so I let Ruby go all week, when I picked her up the first day she had lost her water bottle, her swimming suit and her underwear. How does someone lose their underwear? One of life’s greatest mysteries.
• At the pediatrician for their 4 and 6-year-old checkup Clara and Ruby were discussing whether or not they’d get any shots.
• At the zoo the other day we were looking at some wallaby’s and Ruby asked, “are these real or are these robotic?”
• “Mom, at six five central there’s a new movie on just for kids! It’s at six five central!”
• “Mommy, I truly truly love you.” I truly love you too Ruby Dawn.
• While passing a classic car show, “Woah! Look at those crazy locomotives!”
• “Mom, your hands are probably the size of a baby gorilla’s.”
• I found the girls working hard in their notebooks and when I asked them what they were working on Ruby responded, “We are just doing some observating mommy.”
• I’ve been reading the Little House books to the girls this summer at bedtime. Ruby loves to listen to the stories – She’s been reading “Bob Books” this summer and is so proud of herself when she sounds out words and reads “really long ones!”
• Ruby is an adventurer. She is fearless and brave and loves exploring. This photo of Ruby exploring the shores of Lake Michigan is one of my all-time favorite pictures I’ve taken of her.
• Ruby and Clara have been taking swimming lessons all summer. Ruby’s instructor said she has very good breath control. She loves being in the water and seriously believes she can do the backstroke. She can’t. This is a picture she drew of Mr. Zach teaching her how to swim. I’m sure he’s got it hanging in his dorm room.
• Ruby is the most optimistic person I know (other than my Aunt Becky.) While writing a note to her friend Mason she spelled his name Masin. I told her to change the ‘i’ to ‘o’ so she did, and then noticed there was a leftover ‘i’ dot on top of the ‘o’. She proclaimed, “It’s a beautiful oops mom, Dot’s on top! Ill put dots on top of all the letters!”

Ruby Dawn, I’m so thankful God made me your mommy. Your love for people and your joyful demeanor inspire me to not become jaded and old. I want to live lighthearted – like you do. We have quite a bit in common – I usually know why you do the things you do and exactly how you feel about things that happen, but you’re certainly your own person – striving to be the biggest and growing up too fast for my liking. Here’s to a new season – FIRST GRADE!! I’m thanking God in advance for all you will learn and grow this year. You’re gonna change the world my sweet.

Daddy and I love you so much.
Heart, Mama

Rubyisms

Ruby Dawn will be 6 years old in June. She is growing and changing so fast but still saying all sorts of hilarious things. I love the way her mind works – the connections she makes and observations she has about the world around her. Here are some of her recent Rubyisms:

• Ruby loves helping me put Charlie to bed. She pats his head in his crib and with a lullaby tune sings, “Go to sleeeeeeeeep, go to sleeeeep, go to sleep little buuuuuddy.” then whispers, “Goodnight little buddy” and tiptoes out of his room.
• “God can do whatever he wants because he’s God. God can buy whatever he wants without money. God can eat Hermit Crabs whenever he wants. God can eat vitamins whenever he wants because he’s God.”
• Ruby looks forward to Tuesday nights because that’s the night she and Clara get to go to gymnastics. After the first class she asked, “So mom, have you started digging a pit in the basement yet? I really need a pit to practice all my new moves.”
• Ruby has a 5th grade reading buddy at school. This sweet 5th grade girl works with Ruby one day each week to help teach her to read – They’ve been meeting for the entire year but Ruby still doesn’t know what her name is.
• Not a day goes by that Ruby doesn’t try to make a new friend. Any kid playing within 10 houses of our house gets invited over for a playdate. She will yell out “Hello Katherine!!” to any woman with brown hair who jogs past our house. I’ll say, that’s not Katherine and she will hold her hands together and say “Oh, I guess I need more practice”
• We took the kids out on frozen Lake Michigan to check out the ice waves – Ruby was a fearless explorer, venturing over, under and through all the caverns.
• She is usually “A hundred quadruple ninety eight percent sure” about things.
• One snowy morning, “What are we gonna do with all these snowflakes? Maybe ‘Super Why’ can help us!”
• Exasperated, “I had a really rough day today! The girls wouldn’t scooter with me, my straw had a hole in it, I got chased by a baby…”
• We celebrated my Papaw (Ruby’s Great Grandfather’s) 90th birthday. Can you tell how excited she was to give him the letter she wrote him? In it she told him he’s the best Papaw she’s ever had.
• Clara was telling Ruby about a new dace she learned. Ruby interrupted, “Did ya do the Conga? I’m really good at that!”
• From the backseat of the van, “God loves us just the way we are – even if you have a tattoo. God loves us even if you have a beard!”
• I chaperoned the Kindergarten class field trip to the circus. Whew! I tell you what, kindergarten teachers are AMAZING! I barely survived the day. The kids had fun though. This is the part where a carnie grabbed my child by the head and sprinkled glitter all over her face.
• I fix Ruby’s hair all nice each morning before school, braids and pigtails and pony tails and clips and everything… without fail she comes home each day with her hair down, all in her face and windblown. I’m not ready to give up the good fight just yet. I should buy stock in “Goody” hair supplies because I always need more clips to replace the 14 I lose each day.
• Ruby loves holidays and loves when there are dress-up days at school, “It’s Safe Patricks Day!”
• She always has stories to tell me after school each day. “Today was the best day of my life because some fifth graders came and they met me and they gave me underdogs on the swing and I loved it so much! They’re SO GOOD at doing underdogs!!”
• Some of her after school stories help me remember to teach her to always tell the truth. “These boys were being so mean to me. They were trying to scrape my knee and cheating on me and breaking my promises, and poking my eye with pine needles and biting me. But my teacher saw them and just threw them in jail, lickety split.” 
• “Allison Wonderland” is Alice’s full name.
• We had a detailed discussion yesterday about hazmat suits and how they keep the germs out. She was asking a bunch of questions about how hazmat suits work and what they look like and was very interested in knowing whether her daddy wears a hazmat suit at the hospital since he might be around some germs. I assured her that he does not, but if he ever had to they would provide him with one at work. Then we watched you tube videos about deadly viruses for a while…
• Ruby loves science. Lucky for her, there are quite a few super smart scientists in her family. This was the face she made at Chipotle when Uncle Kyle told her about the Moons of Jupiter.
• After her art class at school I asked how it went. She said, “I saw a picture of Mother Lisa!” Do yo mean the Mona Lisa? “No… she was Mother Lisa.”
• While playing with Charlie, “Mom, this little baby of ours has so many tales. Tales to tell!”
• She loves to “Pinky Promise” about everything.
• At breakfast the other day Ruby ran down the stairs and happily proclaimed, “Mommy Mommy! I’m pretending it’s Friday! FRIDAY!! FRIDAY!!”
• We were at Meijer Gardens the day the butterflies started to hatch. Ruby was enthralled by the whole experience. This butterfly had just come out of his cocoon about 10 minutes earlier!
• Ruby asks Clara leading questions then tattles on her. “Clara, do you want to share with me anymore?” “NO” “Maaaahhhhmmy!! Clara said she is never going to share anything with me, ever, for the rest of her life!!!”
• Ignore vs Annoy: “Sis! Stop! You’re just doing that to ignore me!”
• Bored vs Embarrassed: “I’m so embarrassed! I just don’t have anything to do!!”
• When I asked about her new friends she met on the playground, “They call me Rosie but that’s not my real mane but Rosie is kinda close to Ruby so I don’t mind.”
• She recently told one of our babysitters, “Next time you come can you bring some donuts and some surprises? …Some really good surprises?”
• During her prayers the other night (which she sings every night) she sang, “I love my mom and my daaaaaad, but not as much as youuuuu God, I don’t love anyone as much as youuuuuuuuuu, I love you the most, more than my mommy and daddy and sister and broooooootherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,” I’ll try to get a video of night time prayers soon. It’s so precious and genuine and also I have to try really hard to not laugh. Ruby and Clara’s night time prayers might be my most favorite thing in the world.

Ruby, you are growing up so fast! You’re reading and writing and creating and becoming such an amazing little girl. You would harrumph and tell me you’re not a little girl, but you are… so little. I love your spunk. I love the lens you see this world though. You make daddy and I so proud, you make us smile everyday and we are so happy God chose us to be your parents.

Rubyisms

Five and a half suits Ruby Dawn well. There is no end to her exuberance. She wins the “most excitable” award as well as the “most dramatic” award on a daily basis. She’s been learning to read at school and loves “reading” books she has memorized to Charlie and Clara. She put on my glasses and proclaimed, “Uhhhhhhhhh Mommy? I’m just blind in your glasses!”

Here are some more “Rubyisms” for your enjoyment.

• As we dropped change into the girls piggy banks, “The coins in Clara’s piggy bank are just making friends with each other!”
• While driving down the road I hear from the backseat a dreamy, “What’s that smell? It smells like buttercups in love!”
• “Mom, can we go somewhere today? I want to go to a National Park today.” I do too hun. I do too.
• When I asked her to repeat the instructions I had just given her, “uhhhhh, I guess I was just talking too much.”
• She was so excited to “help” Uncle Chris hold his candle during the Christmas Eve service at our church. 
• As I dropped her off for school one morning before turning the corner down the steps, she looked back at me and yelled out, “Better get crackin’!” then lifted one knee and quickly made her way down the stairs like a cartoon character.
• When I asked her to put her boots on, “You got it sweet cakes!”
• She loves to sing… Frozen. If she’s not singing Frozen she is making up her own songs which use all the notes you’d find in Gregorian Chants. I don’t know why her natural inclination is to be a monk – but she’d be great at writing music for those guys.
• Her joke-telling is getting a little better – “Where do ants go to eat? A restaur’ant’.”
• The second half of any “why did the ____ cross the road” joke is “Because he didn’t have the guts to do it!” followed by uncontrollable laughter.
• While reading one of her library books, “Did you know a lobster has great armor like a knight?” All library books she chooses are about spiders, deep-sea creatures, poisonous snakes and other things I’d rather not be thinking about at bedtime.
• Ryan asked her how her day was and she replied, “I can’t read independently yet.”
• “I’m gonna get fashioned up.” as she runs up to her room to change clothes for the 16th time each day.
• During a spaghetti dinner, “Let’s pretend we are rats eating worms… Mama Rat?!?!”
• “I’ll be Snow White and mom, you can be the queen and Clara can be the one dwarfs because we don’t have seven dwarfs.”
• I signed the girls up for Gymnastics. Ruby thinks she’s been in Gymnastics already because she jumps on the couch in the basement. “I can do backflips but not independently.”
• Since gymnastics began she’s been asking me to buy her a tard to wear. “I just need a tard mom! All the other kids wear tards at gymnastics!” (leotard)
• Ruby has been making plans to get together with her friends after school. These plans include talking to her friends parents and asking them to call me to talk about “the plans”.

Ruby asks me everyday if it’s summer yet, but still loves playing outside in the snow. She takes her boots, snow pants, hat and gloves to school everyday so her teachers will let her play outside during recess. They get to go out as long as the windchill stays above zero… hashtag PureMichigan

Rubyisms

It’s been too long since my last Rubyisms post. Now that school is in session I don’t get to see her 24/7 but that doesn’t mean I’m missing all the hilarious things coming out of her mouth. I’m sure her teachers could add to this list…

• “Mommy! Call all your friends because I’m having a coloring party so they can all buy whatever they want but they won’t cost a price!! So, you wanna buy one?!?!”
• During bedtime prayers a few weeks ago, “…and God, you made the fireflies glow and put wings on their bottoms and I just love what you have made.”
• “The way kids drink pop is you freeze it and it tastes good for them, it’s a freeze pop.”
• “God is perfect but he made us not perfect. But God can see us! He sees everything! I bet he has a loooong neck!”
• She rides her scooter everyday and calls her kneepads “knee patches” and elbow pads “elbow patches.”
• Charlie was laughing at Ryan during dinner the other night, Ruby exclaimed, “I guess Charlie likes being in our family.”
• Kindergarten in Ruby’s favorite thing. She often talks about the principal because he’s out on the playground with the kids at recess. She tells me, “He’s the ruler of the entire school.”

• Within the first week of kindergarten Ruby was already telling me she didn’t need me walking her all the way to her class. “I just know just where I’m going mommy. I know just the way! I can do it by myself!” Amazingly, she actually does know how to get to her class, hang up her coat and backpack and give her folder to her teacher each morning. I’m amazed.
  
• She’s been practicing her joke-telling, “Why is the Letter C blue? Because it’s some kind of nut! HA! I told you I’m a good joker!”
• We’ve been talking about how when she prays she can just talk to Jesus like she’s talking to a friend. Now during her prayers at bedtime she throws in things like, “…and you know what God?…”
• We’ve yet to take her to Chuck E Cheese, which she calls, “Chuck’s Cheese-Its”
• This summer she went to VBS at Ryan’s parent’s church. She came home and announced, “Mommy! At VBS I got to see a REAL Christian!”
• 
• Ruby loves wearing dresses all the time, but in the mornings when she wakes up early for school she is always “freezing” and chooses  to wear her sweatpants and matching zip-up sweatshirt to school. Purple velour from head-to-toe is a good look on her.
• “I love Charlie a hundred gallons! That’s a lot!”
• Ruby’s friend Genevieve made her a loom friendship bracelet which broke. She told Genevieve, “We don’t need a bracelet for friendship, we just ARE friendship.”
• She loves playing in the dirt behind our garage. “I’m digging!” “I’m soiling my garden!”
• “Mommy, Are there any mommy long-legs or kiddie long-legs?” In reference to all the daddy long-leg spiders she was finding on our swing set.
• She fell off her scooter and scraped her knee, when she looked down she screamed, “MY BLOOD IS JUST FALLING OUT OF MY BODY!!”
• “MOM! I heard from my teacher that our school is a BUILDING!!”
• As she walked out from behind the garage I asked, Where were you? “I was making a worm die for God’s sins.”
• Did you make any new friends at school today? “Oh yes! So many!” Do you know any of their names? “Not really.”
• And now, I present to you the most enthusiastic picture of Ruby anyone has ever taken: her Kindergarten school picture. I love these hilarious memories and I love my hilarious Ruby girl.

Rubyisms | HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY!

Ruby Dawn (aka RubyDoo, The Rubester, Rubykins, Snicklefritz) is 5 years old. She loves sparkles and princess dresses as much as digging in the dirt or collecting bugs. She’s never met a person who she didn’t want to be friends with and will talk to anyone with a pair of ears. I love seeing her interests develop and especially enjoy her growing appreciation for true artists like Shel Silverstein and Jimmy Fallon. 

To celebrate her birthday Ryan and I told her she could have a “yes” day at the zoo. Basically that meant she could ride the carousel, get her face painted, and eat Dippin’ Dots, which are all things we typically say “no” to. She absolutely LOVED her “yes” day. She took full advantage of the situation and added a $7 Camel Ride to her requests. ha!

Clara LOVED getting her face painted too.

Ruby spends time each afternoon being “quiet and alone” while Charlie and Clara take their naps. Her “quiet and alone” time took a turn for the worst a few weeks ago when I found her in the bathroom trying to wash hot pink marker off of her arms. She thought she could get it off before I knew what had happened… but she was wrong. One thing is for sure, she is very thorough… and very right-handed.

The night before Ruby’s last day of preschool she asked me to make her a checklist so she wouldn’t forget to say goodbye to anyone in her class. She loved preschool and is ridiculously excited to be a kindergartener in the fall! 

I can’t post this update without mentioning that Ruby is friends with all the monkeys at our zoo. They seem to think she is one of them. Most days we are there at least one monkey will come sit by her or look at her or interact with her in some way. Its hilarious. Here are a few examples from recent weeks: And of course, the most recent Rubyisms for your (and my) enjoyment.

• “Ugh! All of this noise is destroying me!”
• Proof that commercials work: “Mom, we should get Clorox. It really really really works! Even for muddy socks! It just gets out the stains! Isn’t that awesome?!?”
• “I just won’t forget because I’ll use my brain as a thinking cap and it will just pop into my head but I can’t feel it when it pops into my head.”
• Driving distances are typically measured by how many “Dora The Explorer” shows it will take to get where we are going. “But how much looooonger until we get there?!?!?” “Only 2 and a half more Dora the Explorers, Ruby.”
• “I love you mom, I love you so bad!!”
• When Ryan gets home from work Ruby often asks him, “Did you have any good cases today daddy?”
• “Mom, I’m going over here if you please.”
• “I have a hundred and forty five two germs. How much is that?”
• When we go to new places where Ruby hasn’t been before she often wonders who will be there, specifically teenagers. “But mom, will there be teens there?”
• “Thanks mom! You’re such a good cooker.” (I defrost Chicken Nuggets like a pro!)
• “Mom, when we move to our new house are we gonna love it …or list it?” (I obviously watch too much HGTV during the kids nap times. ha!)
• “Can horses have spots? Stripes? Pentagons? Squaragons?”
• Ryan loves teaching her specific things that specific organs do. If you ask her what the liver does she responds, “It metabolizes drugs, makes clotting factors and makes bile.”
• This afternoon she said to me, “Mommy, you look sooooo nice with your dress on. Isn’t that a nice thing to say?” Yes Ruby. That’s a nice thing to say.
  
• “This is God’s Holy Marble. It’s what makes Gods Holy Wind. It makes Gods wind cold and snow cold.”
• “Mom, lets talk about something.”
• “I love pink and every single body who loves me.”
• “Mommy, you’re just destroying my fun!”
• “I’m drawing a blue-horned cat.”
• “That’s the town of Potbelly’s!!” (sometimes we go to Potbelly’s after church on Sunday’s and the girls always dance and talk to Darby, the girl who plays her guitar and sings.)
• “I think my brother is sad because he doesn’t really have any friends.”
• “I can’t go hiking today because it makes me so homesick!”
• What started as “I’m blazin’ hot!” has been applied in many other circumstances including “It’s blazin’ rain!”
• “I was like losing my mind when daddy took me to the Disney Store. I like lost my mind.” Ryan verified that yes, she did indeed nearly lose her mind in the Disney Store.
• “Daddy, is Charlie old enough to eat Salmon?”
• “Don’t worry Clara, tooth fairys are like soooo quiet. They’re like quieter than ever. You don’t even notice when they get your tooth.”

If you’d like to read more “Rubyisms” just type “Rubyisms” into the search box in the top right corner of my blog and all the past Rubyism posts will show up.

Happy Birthday Ruby Dawn. Clara, Charlie, Daddy and I love you so much and are so excited to have a front row seat to all the happenings in your life. Your smile makes everyone around you want to smile too and your enthusiasm for EVERYTHING brings so much joy to our family everyday. We love all the hilarious questions you ask and hope you’ll always continue talking to us about everything running through that active mind of yours. If “sparkly” could be used to describe a person, I’d say you’re the most sparkly person I know.

Happy Happy Happy 5th Birthday Sweet Girl.
Love, Mama.

Rubyisms

Ruby is four and a half, loves her preschool teachers and is under the unfortunate assumption that if she squeezes cottage cheese, ranch dressing comes out. She could play in the bitter cold and snow for hours after everyone else has perished from frostbite on their internal organs. I think she’ll do just fine growing up in Michigan.

Here are a few funny things she’s said lately. I keep a list going on my phone because I want to have a word-for-word record of exactly how she says things. Hope you smile as much as I did as I was transferring my list into this post.

• “When I’m a mom, can you give me directions to Toys R Us? Because I don’t know how to get there.”
• At dinner one night, “Clara just nails ranch.” Yes Ruby, yes she does.
• As soon as we get home from wherever we go each morning, she immediately strips off her clothes and puts on her princess dress. And “princesses do NOT wear socks mom!” no matter how cold the Polar Vortex is making our house.
• “Penny Penny” has been her horse for years. A couple of weeks ago she renamed him “Torlight Sparkle” and only rides him side-saddle now.
  
• “A somersault takes you places you haven’t been before!”
• She saw a commercial and told me, “You need to get Charlie some headphones so he can rock too.”
• “Mom, let’s play a guessing game. What am I about to say?” I never win at this game.
• “Mommy, where do magicians sleep when its nighttime?”
• She counted to 188 this morning, but she skipped 31-99. I figured she’d do the same thing once she got to 130, but then she kept going 131, 132, 133 all the way to 188 and stopped. They must teach her things at preschool… or maybe it’s the iPad? It’s certainly not me.
• One of the things we are working on is doing whatever the preschool teachers have planned instead of telling the teachers what the class should do each day. It’s been difficult for her. “But mom, we just didn’t make bracelets today!”
• “I just can’t wait to grow up and read sentences!”
• “Mom! Clara thinks termites are good for your body! UGH!!!”
• “Mom, is Charlie a human?”
• One thing that has helped me discipline Ruby lately is simply asking her “who’s in charge?” and helping her listen to and obey whoever is in charge. This is great when Ryan and I go on dates and I tell her “Caitlin the babysitter is in charge tonight.” or “Your teachers are in charge so you need to do whatever they say.” The other day on the way to church she told me, “Mom, you can do whatever you want today. I’m putting you in charge.” This is her twisted way of feeling like she’s in charge of who’s in charge.
• “That good smell is just blocking my view.” From her car seat the new air freshener in the van was hanging in front of the Garmin. I had no idea she was looking at the map while we drive places. ha!
• At the mall play place one day she was perching herself on top of all the planets and crazily peering down at kids below. I couldn’t figure out what she was doing, but after a while she came over and told me, “Mom, I saw two boys and I was watching over them because I am an angel!”
• After preschool one day she said, “My friend Ryosei is Japanese. His family was made in Japan!”
• Ruby is very much aware of what her siblings shouldn’t be doing. “Clara! Stop rubbing your string cheese all over the table!”
• “You mean Heaven will be more beautiful than our house? But where will the mermaids be? What what will I wear in Heaven? Where can I swim? Can I bring some of my legos to Heaven? Mama, now lets talk about something else.
• “Mom, Clara thinks termites are good for your body!”
• “Look at me mommy! I look like a pickle!!”
• “Mom, I just can’t handle my sister! Things are just not going my way today.”
• The “Post Officer” is the person behind the desk at the post office.
• Every time we drive somewhere, “Put your seat buckles on. Daddy, are your lights on?”
• A “hanger” is anything you hold onto. The banister on the stairs, the handle on the stroller, my hair… etc.
• “But 4th grade is for big kids, like giants.”
• She has been praying out loud at night and it’s my favorite thing. “Thank you Jesus for all the things and everyone in the world and all the animals you have made and I just love what you have done. And I always will love what you have done here and I love you more than anything in the world. Thank you Jesus. I love you. Amen.
• “Mom! Charlie put his own food in his mouth! He’s such a big magician!”
• “I bet Charlie will know his name when he grows up!” She loves her Charlie Boy so much.

Speaking of Charlie, 9 times out of 10 when we drop Ruby off at school, she introduces Charlie to her teachers Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Jacobson, “Would you like to meet my brother Charlie? He’s right here!” She also introduces us to all the new friends she makes at the mall play place every time we go there. Every few minutes she brings a new kid over to where I am sitting and she says, “I made another new friend named _____. This is my brother Charlie and this is my mom. Okay! Bye!” she says as she runs back into the mayhem.

Ruby Dawn is genuine and friendly and delightful. I’m so thankful I get to be her mommy and pray everyday that she’ll keep those qualities as she grows up.

Rubyisms

It’s due time for a new batch of Rubyisms. She is almost 4 and a half, loves to learn, and loves to talk. Sometimes if there is a moment of silence, she’ll just say, “Mom, let’s talk about something. Hmmmm. What should we talk about?” Then I’ll ask her what she wants to talk about and she will say something like, “Let’s talk about our favorite planets” or, “Lets talk about what babies like to eat.”

• “Remember last year when we went to the Apple Portrait? I just love going to the apple portrait.”
• “Mommy! I’m not acting like a baby. I don’t even have a baby hat!”
• “When I go to Heaven I’m so excited for all the golden streets and magic beanstalks!”
• The other day during Ruby’s quiet and alone time she came out of her room and told me, “Mom, I saw an adult named John!” I was alarmed… she went on to tell me, “He told me his name.” I asked her where John was and she said he was working outside but “he could hear me out the window!” Yep, she was talking out her bedroom window to a lawn guy working at the neighbors house. Obviously alone time is not her favorite thing.
• “That one is Neptune. It’s the cold one. Brrrr. It’s cold because it’s filled with water. It’s no place for a picnic!”
• I’ve been talking to her about honesty, I said, “Don’t lie Ruby. We always want to be honest with one another. We always tell the truth, no lying.” to which she responded, “But mommy! When I’m lying down I’m just tired!”
• “I’m just going to go in this meadow to find a collection.”
• “Keep your eye out for Giant Eagle because that means we’re close to our house!” (that’s the name of our grocery store)
• I asked what she did at school today, “Well I learned about caterpillars and had a nice snack.”
• This weekend Ruby asked Ryan, “Daddy, what planet is Disneyland on?”
• We had some friends over for dinner Saturday night and Ruby asked my friend Liz what state she lives in. When Liz replied, “Ohio” Ruby was so excited, “I LIVE IN OHIO TOO! WE LIVE IN THE SAME STATE!!”
• “Mom, did you know that only daddy and papa can argue with snakes? Because snakes can be dangerous so only daddy and papa can argue with them.”

Rubyisms

• She called from the upstairs bathroom, “Mommy! This is the first time I peed in a cup at our house!” Horrified I ran upstairs and found that indeed, she had peed in a cup she found on the bathroom countertop. Apparently she remembered me trying to get a urine sample from her at the pediatricians office.
• While looking very closely into my eyes, “Mommy! I can see myself in your eyes! Your eyes are like a mirror!”
• “Do you know what kind of good we eat at Halloween? Macaroni and marshmallows and also watermelon! They’re good for you too!”

• “When it’s dark outside it’s ominous.”
• Ryan: “I’m gonna watch the Tour.” Ruby: “Well that’s unsettling.”
• “Hold on, hold on. Let’s see what’s going on here.”
• “Aaaarrrgggg! There’s corn everywhere!”
• “Mommy, we have eyes to see so we can see treasures.”
• After accidentally head-butting me in the face, “It’s ok mommy. God makes our bodies heal.”
• “Mommy, if I see a clue then I can totally pick it up!”
• On a long drive back to Michigan Ryan and I switched seats so I could drive for a while, Ruby told Ryan, “Daddy, thank you for sharing the steering wheel! That’s so nice when you share with Mommy.”
• I took her to the splash park and instead of playing in the fountains she spent an hour putting mud puddle water into sandwich baggies.

• “These apple slices are exquisite!”
• “Is tomorrow not a far day?” She has no concept of how long any length of time is. I’m hoping to figure out a way to help her understand this soon… which could be a long tome or a short time from now.
• “What’s the big holdup? It’s taking so so so so so looooong! It’s taking FOREVER!!”
• “Digestive juices help our bodies stay healthy. That’s why we have digestive juices. Every kind of kid and every kind of baby and every kind of mom and dad have digestive juices. Isn’t that great news mommy?!?”
• When I pulled off her band-aid I told her it wouldn’t hurt too bad. After it was over she said, “It felt good like a blanket!”
• She asks everyone, “What are you trying to prove??”
• On the drive home from church, “We learned about praying. We find a quiet place to pray… like how I always go in my closet to pray.” I had no idea she was praying in there. ha!
• “…and butterflies use their tongue as a straw!”
• During an intense moment after Ryan and I couldn’t get her to let us get the splinter out of her foot, Ryan told her if it gets infected her foot could fall off. She looked at him with sternly and replied, “But daddy, my foot has bones in it! God made our bodies not to fall apart!!!!”

I am so excited for Ruby to FINALLY start school again. She went 2 mornings a week last year, and starting Sept 9th she will be going to preschool 3 mornings a week. YAY! She went to the dentist and the eye doctor to get all ready for school. Both appointments were the highlight of the week. She loves going to the doctor. ha!

Ruby Dawn is 4 Years Old!

4 years ago, a tiny little girl named Ruby changed our lives forever! I can’t believe how quickly 4 years have passed and how much life she has lived already. I’m so thankful I get to be her mama and so excited for the joy, light and happiness she brings to everyone she encounters. We started the tradition of recoding a birthday interview last year when Ruby turned 3. Here’s Ruby’s 4-year old Birthday Interview

Here are a few recent Rubyisms:

• “Did you know this is enchanted dinosaur food, Mommy?”
• “Do you like that chicken daddy? Do you like it really much?”
• While looking VERY closely into my eyes, “Mommy! I can see myself in your eyes! Your eyes are like a mirror!”
• Ryan’s proudest moment as a gastroenterologist and a father was the other day when Ruby mentioned a symptom and 2 medications from the bathroom. “Mommy, my poop didn’t hurt! Did you put some miralax in my pediasure?
• “When we are in Heaven, we are going to be with Jesus ALL NIGHT!!!”
• “girls, girls, girls.” She said this to a group of my friends at SideBySide who were all laughing and talking together the same way I say it to Ruby and Clara when they’re acting too silly and need to calm down.”