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!

What a difference a week makes!

From the cold and gusting winds last weekend at the zoo when we had to wrap up in layer after layer to larking about in the outdoor pool blowing bubbles and having fun. What a difference a week makes - we're now well and truly into summer in San Francisco although that wind is never too far away.

We took Leah for her first swimming lesson today at our local pool. Leah and I joined Natalie and Ruby in the water, Paul and Erika took on the role of photographers for Leah & Ruby's latest adventure.

I had anticipated needing to be brave in case Leah either decided she didn't want any of it or some chlorine-inhalation accident occurred but nothing could've prepared me for joining 8 other adults in the pool at 9.30 on a Saturday morning and having to loudly (and of course enthusiastically) sing 'Ring a Ring a Roses', 'Itsy Bitsy Spider', 'Oh the hokey cokey' and 'One little speckled frog' with gusto.

Here are the Leah & Ruby speckled frogs just before they jumped off the log:
Dear lord I was mortified. The only thing that saved me was the realisation that there were far more dads in the pool than mums, a fact I wasted no time at all in articulating to Paul who was hovering on the side lines. It is definitely his turn next week!

Leah remained slightly cautious (or confused) throughout but bless her she coped with everything I threw at her, she watched me blow bubbles in the water and tried to copy - mainly just sticking her tongue out and licking the water:
she kicked her legs and splashed with her hands and then the instructor cheerily announced the immortal line that stopped my heart: 'And now it's time to try their faces all the way in the water'. She saw the absolute disbelief in my face but after checking that she came equipped with CPR accreditation and not just a 35m badge sewn onto her trunks we gave it a whirl. Well actually I handed Leah over to her and let her give it a whirl (having been bitten by the 'you hold your baby while something terrifying happens' once too often). The instructor said 1.....2.......3 and blew firmly in Leah's face causing her to suck in her breath and purse her lips then immediately she pulled Leah face first through the water popping her out after a second to lots of applause and huge, albeit fake, smiles from me. Leah handled it like a champ and after a split second of uncertainty smiled back bravely. I plucked up the courage to give it a go myself and we did fine, although after the third attempt I could tell the novelty was wearing thin for Leah as she spluttered and rubbed her eyes. So we called it quits and went back to general swimming and jumping off the edge of the pool.

In amongst all this frivolity Natale and Ruby weren't faring quite so well, Ruby started by looking a little confused, then shocked then put on her bravest 'I will persevere with this' face for most of the class before totally capitulating at having to get her face wet.
It was definitely not her idea of a fun Saturday morning and she told her mums exactly what she thought of them by peeing all over Erika at the first opportunity. A substantial bottle and some warm clothing later and all was forgiven. Who knows whether we'll all be back for more of the same next weekend?

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo - how about you?

Ever since father Xmas brought me My Big Animal Book my mum and dad have been forcing me to look at pictures of animals whilst making the most ridiculous noises at me. They've even tried to force their friends to make noises at me in the hope that I'll magically copy them (I'm still working on Mama and Dada - what more do they want????). By the way this is probably a good time to mention that JB is still winning the best animal noise award.

Anyway, after 3 months of this stupid game they decided to take a different approach and take me to San Francisco Zoo so that I could hear the noises first hand rather than their abismal impressions. So on the windiest, coldest day of the year so far they decided to take me out to a huge outdoor place right next to the sea (I'm starting to wonder if I can ask for another placement). I know Mum was a bit worried about going because she tends to feel very sorry for the animals but she put on a brave face and off we went.

We started out in Africa and I saw ostriches and giraffes. I listened very very carefully for the ostrich sound and the giraffe sound that they'd been making for me but I heard absolutely nothing:
Just in case the giraffe was just too far away I decided to get a little closer:
Not a sausage. So we moved on..

Next up were the pretty flamingoes. We got pretty close to them and I flapped my arms and shouted 'Uuggghh' but got nothing back. They just tucked in their heads away from the wind and totally ignored me. I told Mum that I didn't think much of the trip so far and that she needed to buck her ideas up PDQ. She reckoned she had the answer so we went over to where the big guys were. Now after 6 months of reading 'that's not my lion' I was certain that this would be where the action was and of course I know the lion noise so I was very excited to see this guy:
But even this guy was totally silent. I was beginning to get deeply suspicious, had they been making all this up the whole time? Surely my parents wouldn't lie to me? I decided to show them exactly what I thought of this whole experience by falling asleep, give them time to figure out what to do next:
When I woke up I was in a much more interesting part of the zoo. There were these really cool little guys who weren't in my book so I didn't expect any noises from them but they kept popping up all over the place:
Dad said they were called Prairie Dogs and they were so cool we decided to sit down in the sun away from the wind and have my lunch there so that I could check them out. After this they took me to the best place of all, the Children's Zoo. We had to go through a couple of gates and over a little pond that was filled with lots and lots of ducks - finally an animal noise and one I could (kind of) recognise!! When we got through the gates look what I found:
He was lovely, just sat there quietly and let me come up all the way and say hello. He didn't say too much but luckily all his mates who were running around outside butting people had a few things to say, here's one of them:
I had a great time chatting away to them all and doing my best arm flaps so that they could see how excited I was to see them. Unfortunately because of the all the wind there was a lot of dust flying around there and Mum was getting very worried that I'd get sore eyes so after chatting with the goats, pigs, horses and the weirdest scariest looking sheep they decided that it was probably time to go home. They've promised me that I can go back very soon though and this time I'm going to take my pal Ruby with me so that she can meet the guys.

Oh yes and on the way out Mum and Dad spotted a 'Leah photo opportunity':
As you can see, I wasn't too impressed! For more photos of the day please check out our photo gallery.

Here's to the next big adventure!
xxx

Move over Scorsese Leah and Ruby are here

This is what happens when you leave two 8 month olds in charge of a very small video recorder.

Wowee Coyote!

I wanted to tell you all about this cool place Mum and Dad took me to last weekend. It's called Coyote Point Park, it's only about 20 minutes away from my house but for some reason it took us over 40 minutes to get there. For some reason Mum and Dad kept driving up and down the same bit of road shouting at each other and the woman in the car computer kept telling them to turn around - I don't know what all that was about so after a while I joined in with the shouting which made them get their act together and we finally arrived and I was able to get out of the car.

Mum and Dad took me into this little museum looking place that was quite dark with lots of glass panels in the walls. Every time we looked through one of the glass panels there was a funny little fellow on the other side. At first most of them were either hiding or sleeping like this guy:
but because we went round and round and round about 15 times we managed to catch a few of the guys awake and shuffling around. This is me checking out a badger, he came right up to the window to say hello to me he was all shuffly and sniffy so I gave him one of my very special hellos which involves flapping my arms up and down while kicking my legs at the same time and shrieking 'CCcckkkkkkkxxxxxx' - it's much easier to do when I'm being carried in the Bjorn than in my stroller so I really let this guy have it!
I saw a Coyote, 2 eagles, a very cute little fox and a porcupine as well as a few snakes and toads and the very tips of a bobcat's ears. I didn't think it could get much better and then we went outside and I saw this little guy.
He's called a Shriek owl, he was very little and his friend said he had bad eyes which is why he had to stay in the museum place. He was smashing, he sat there quietly blinking and turning his head really far around. Because he was called a Shriek owl I figured he was just being shy so I did my best flapping/kicking squeal to see if I could encourage him but he kept completely quiet and just blinked and blinked. Mum whispered in my ear that I might like to try and copy him sometimes but she's joking of course!

Once we finished at the coyote place we passed a little park on the way out, I gave Mum one of my best stares and she made Dad pull over so that I could go and try out the swings. Mum says that there are way too many photos of me in swings and as it wasn't often that Dad was with us at a park that he and I should try out some of the many slides that were there. So here's me and my dad on a bumpy slide:
It was great fun, I went on a couple of slides with my dad and some with Mum. I also got to crawl around lots on the funny rubber floor that they always have at playgrounds here. It was a lovely day, I'm very much looking forward to our next family day - apparently we're going to try and do something like this every Sunday :).

Later dudes!

She finally did it!

After more than a month of scooting backwards on her bum and some time since her pal Ruby first took off Leah waited until I was at Safeway to show off to her dad what she can do:
It was definitely worth the wait. A hastily planned trip to BabiesRUs for baby-proofing materials is now on the cards for this weekend.

Well done Leah!!!
Your very proud & soppy parents
xxx