Like mother, like daughter.
Author: Ed
Ruby’s First Show
As Carrie and I always strive to keep Ruby’s life musically rich, we took her to her first show, a daytime concert put on by her awesome music teacher Miss Suzi and her band, the Boomerang Gang. She was joined by her buddy Berlin. As you can see, the show was a big hit!
Palm Springs for Carrie’s Birthday!
Many of you know that Palm Springs is a place dear to our hearts. Iconic mid-century architecture, fun and stylin’ places to hang out and get pampered, and on top of that, it’s just a good place to chill. As such, coming here for Carrie’s birthday has become something of a tradition for us.
And so for Carrie’s birthday this year, where are we? Naturally! This time around, we’re staying at Hope Springs, a place we’ve wanted to check out for many years. Very cool, if slightly bare bones. Carrie’s birthday this year happened to fall on a Friday…the beginning of all the festivities for Modernism Week Palm Springs!
We’ve got lots more fun coming tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Oktoberfest 2011! Ein Prosit…
My love of Germany and all things German is legendary, so it was with great excitement that we took Ruby to her very first Oktoberfest! We’d been to other Oktoberfests throughout Southern California before, but they had always come off as pretty cheesy and not very authentic.
As it turns out, having a real German friend to find a good Oktoberfest is very valuable. Our friend Malte, who lived in Munich for some time, found out that the Phoenix Club, a German cultural center in Anaheim, CA, held a pretty large one, and much more authentic as it was staffed mainly by Germans. Perfect!
So off we went to this quasi-Munich celebration that originated with Crown Prince Ludwig’s wedding in 1810 with friends (Malte and Amy, and Daniel and Amber) and babies in tow, ready to drink some fine Bavarian beers and eat some hearty food.
As it turned out, the Phoenix Club’s Oktoberfest really was the best local Oktoberfest I’d been to, by a long shot. It certainly helps when Germans are running the show. The food selection was great (far beyond the bratwursts that most local Oktoberfests serve), as was the beer selection.
Even the giant tent looked pretty legit!
And how did Ruby and her baby buddies Paloma and Nora do?
Well for starters, Ruby LOVED the pretzel. But wait…sauerkraut too? Yes, Ruby DEVOURED the sauerkraut. She even cried when we’d stop feeding it to her. Who knew?
Me, Ruby, Daniel, and Nora…kickin’ it Bavarian style.
And the German Tiger and her Cub.
Excellent times. Bis zum nächsten Jahr!
9 Months
We can’t believe Ruby is 10 months old today! Yes, Ruby is now in the double digits. Can’t believe how fast it’s all gone by…but at the same time thinking back on her first days really does seem like a long time ago at the same time.
So, let’s recap her ninth month. We gotta say, the ninth month was filled with numerous and very eventful milestones.
*The word-of-the-month is MOBILITY. Ruby is now crawling with ease, on her hands and knees. That’s right, no more “soldier crawling” for her anymore! Of course, though she can crawl effortlessly, she would much rather be up on her feet. She is standing whenever and wherever she can, pulling herself up with ease. When she’s up, she also effortlessly “walks” with support from whatever she’s holding onto. Oh yeah, and get this: the other day, she climbed up onto the coffee table by herself.
And what does this mean for us? We have officially entered a new stage of parenthood! We can no longer take our eyes off her for even a second. She’s poking around and exploring everywhere she can and occasionally getting herself into mischief. Just ask Ricki the cat!
*Ruby likes art and music. We took Ruby to the Tim Burton exhibit at LACMA this past week. She loved it. Granted, Tim Burton’s aesthetic hits all the hot buttons for baby tastes like bright colors and exaggerated shapes, but Ruby squealed with delight throughout the exhibit. It warmed our hearts.
She also is truly starting to respond to music. She’s always enjoyed having music on as a backdrop, but she clearly is far more engaged with music now. Her favorites right now seem to include Raffi (a Canadian children’s singer – thanks, Wonil!), Patsy Cline, 70s soul music (she was groovin’ in the car, moving her head side to side), and just today, she was moving up and down in her stroller to the music that was playing inside the frozen yogurt shop!
But she would be the daughter of Carrie if she didn’t also embrace the rock. As you can see by the picture of her at the top of this entry, banging on her friend Indy’s drums (perhaps my favorite pics of her ever!), she’s got the rock in her blood. Don’t believe us? See this earlier blog entry!
*Ruby is a daredevil. That’s right, Ruby has little fear. She loves the swings, and the higher you push her (within reason, of course), the bigger her smile gets! Actually, she loves the playground in general. The last time I took her there, she even started laughing and kicking as the swings and jungle gym came into view.
She loves the slide too. We set her at the top of the littlest slide and slide her down (we’re holding her firmly of course), and a grin spreads from ear to ear. Once, she even pushed herself off before I had a firm grip on her, and she made it all the way to the bottom of the (admittedly short) slide in the sitting position!
Current Likes:
*Ricki the cat (maybe a little too much)
*Standing up 24/7
*Feeding herself
*Rock and 70s Soul
*Peek-a-boo
*The phrase, “I got your man!!!”
Current Dislikes:
*Diaper changes
*Being in the car seat (STILL!!!)
*Bathtime (that’s a new dislike)
*Sprouting teeth (OUCH!)
Notable Events:
*Going to the Aquarium of the Pacific
*Playing at the beach, in the water!
*Going to LACMA to see the Tim Burton exhibit
*Crawling, and standing and walking while holding onto objects
