Let me tell you about someone very special

Most of you will by now have spotted this person dotted around my blog but I wanted to tell you a bit about my very BFF (best friend forever for our grandparents!) - Ruby.

Ruby and I first met back when we were only 2 months old. Our mums tried to form a playgroup but week after week it was just the four of us which looking back I think we're all very glad about. Me because I've been able to spend some great times with my pal Ruby and my mum because she was very happy to meet Erika the sassy, hip and irony-loving chick who also didn't fit in with the rest of the mums round here. Not long after we all met Ruby and I started our adventures. Our very first big adventure was our first swim together.
It was October and a beautiful day, we hadn't learned to roll over yet so we were very easy to get in and out of our diapers and swimming costumes (not like now) and our first swim was a great success. Look there we are over there - aren't we tiny? I think this was one of the first times I heard my mum say how glad she was to have met Erika because she might've been a bit nervous taking me swimming on her own but Erika just got on with it and led the way and it gave my mum the confidence to get in that pool and I'm very glad that she did.


This is me and Ruby just a few weeks ago back at the same pool being speckled frogs sitting on a speckled log. You can see how much we've grown can't you?





Once we'd hung out locally a few times and our mums had realised that neither of us girls were going to nap in our cribs at home we began to go a little further afield as our mums started walking the length and breadth of the city in the hope that we'd get some good naps. On the left there's me and Ruby in the Marina in November testing out swings for my first time (another thing Erika taught my mum to do).



I loved the swings and me and Ruby would travel near and far to run our extensive swing tests to see which ones were the best.




It was round about this time that Ruby discovered her roar and I discovered my laugh. She made the best roaring sound I ever heard, and believe me with my mum and dad reading me 'That's not my Lion' every night for 8 months I've heard a lot of roaring that's for sure. She doesn't do it quite so much anymore but I reckon that's because she now has a cool chuckle noise that she makes all the time which makes my mum and dad laugh a lot.

The new year brought some new tricks for me and my pal Ruby. We both quickly mastered the art of sitting up which meant that Mum and Erika could take us out and not have to hold us the whole time to stop us from falling over. This brought a whole new set of adventures for us including tea at the Queen's place on Erika's birthday:
I think Ruby was asking me the correct way to drink tea, which hand to use and how to hold the cup. I'm not sure why she was asking me though, I was born in the USA same as her. You can tell we're great pals because I'd lent her my t-shirt to wear that day, my Mamgu had given it to me but my mum tells me that because I started solids a bit earlier than Ruby I filled the t-shirt out a bit more quickly so I couldn't fit in it anymore. I reckon Ruby looks much cooler in purple anyway! Mind you she always looks cool - she has some great shoes including a couple of sets of cowboy boots and some very hip t-shirts.

Over the last few months we've hung out together pretty much every Friday. We usually find a good playground to go to and our mums test us out on the equipment:

We've been on swings, on see-saws, on strange wobbly horses. We've surfed a giant wave and talked to a giant turtle. We've slid down slides (sometimes even get told off). We've played in the sand and we've paddled in the sea. Sometimes we just hang out at my place and play with my toys. I think my mum worries that we might fall out at some point because I always try and grab whatever it is that Ruby is playing with:

but it's only because I think she's so fab so whatever she's playing with must be the best thing in the room. Ruby's never got cross for me for doing this and that's yet another reason why I love her. She's smart, she's funny, she's cool, she's kooky and she's my very very BFF.

Goodnight!

An Alternative Easter Sunday in SF

I thought I'd show you some of the new friends I made today on Easter Sunday down at Mission Dolores Park. Mum told that these two ladies were a very special order of nuns called The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence who were holding this big Easter Party to celebrate their 30th birthday. Here's me and Ruby with Sister Sharin Dippity Reveal and I'm with Sister Mary Timothy Simplicity - aren't they beautiful ladies?

Ruby and her mums had managed to get there on time to take part in the Easter Egg Hunt but as usual my parents were a little bit late so we didn't get there in time to get a spot but luckily Ruby grabbed me an egg just before the bigger girls and boys grabbed every other egg in the park. Our mums said we can go back next year when we're bigger and stronger and can stand up all on our own.

After the egg thing we all went and sat on the grass in the sunshine:
I'm doing my current most favourite thing which is to walk around and around a stroller, it doesn't really matter which one but Ruby's stroller is particularly good for this. It's great exercise and I can do it for about an hour now. Ruby and I compared notes on our night-time sleep sabotage program. I've been going for the shock and awe tactics with repeated attacks within the first hour with last night succeeding in my spending most of the night cuddled up with my mum. Ruby has been trying the more subversive and ultimately more effective tactic by waking her mums up at random times over the last few nights and keeping them awake for a couple of hours each time. We're both doing very well although my nanny comes back on Monday so I probably won't be able to keep it up until next weekend.

Anyway, I thought you might want to see some more of the beautiful ladies that were at the park. I didn't get so close to these two so I'm not sure what they're names are:
They're being very sensible sheltering from the sun aren't they?

Here's me and my mum in the sunshine with the stupid hat they make me wear all the time:
We only stayed for an hour and a bit, the sun was very strong and some ladies started singing some rather interesting cabaret songs - one was about a woman who manages to turn every boyfriend gay and another was an ode to a husband that is too rude to mention. It was very very loud and Ruby had been holding out on her nap since 8 so her mum's took her off so that she could sleep. I stayed with mum and dad for a bit longer just checking out all the sights and sounds.
Can you see that panda just over my left shoulder? And here's me and my dad in front of the mission checking out all the wonderful San Franciscans:
If you want to see some more photos of today as well as the photos of Ruby and me with the scariest Easter bunny in the world you can go to my mum's photo website: http://gallery.mac.com/ruthweatherall

Happy Easter everyone!