Gobble gobble

This was the best Thanksgiving I have ever had. Last year, Mommy didn't cook Thanksgiving dinner because we were going to Hawaii the next day, and besides, I couldn't eat food anyways. This year, Mommy cooked a BIG dinner. We had turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, asparagus, corn, corn bread, and pumpkin cheesecake pie! I tried a little of each.





I think the turkey was bigger than me.

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving was that my little buddy Zach came to have dinner with us!



The turkey was bigger than him too.

Zach was very excited to see me, and he asked if it would be ok to hold my hand.



I wasn't sure it was a good idea since I already have a boyfriend.



But in the end, I agreed to hold his hand for a minute, just as friends.



Zach and I were both eager to start eating, but we waited patiently while Mommy took our picture.



Finally, it was time to eat!



I asked Zach to please not tell my boyfriend Julien that we held hands because he might get jealous.



We all dug in and boy was it yummy!





I had a very happy Thanksgiving, and I hope you did too!

Walk the walk

Today, at 17.5 months old, in the African Hall of the Cal Academy of Sciences, on a rainy Friday afternoon, Ruby decided to start walking! It was very much as if a switch had been turned on. One minute I was telling people that she did not quite walk on her own yet, and the next minute she is strolling around the museum, stopping, turning, holding a conversation.



And another stage begins.

One two step

Ruby took her first consecutive steps today! (Sorry, not captured on video) For a long time, we have been trying to get Ruby to walk towards one of us, like the way I've seen babies do on TV. However, today I was behind Ruby with my hands just behind her back. I think since she knew I was there to catch her, she got the confidence to take a few steps. I should have known that for Ruby, it would not be about the incentive to get to something she wants, but the security of having someone to catch her if she falls.

Happy Halloween!

This year, we got our first real taste of the children's Halloween scene. Last year, Ruby was not quite 5 months old, so still far too young to partake in Halloween activities or even to realize that it was out of the ordinary for she and her little friends to be dressed up like animals.



This year, Ruby was able to enjoy the full Halloween experience, starting with a trip to the pumpkin patch.









The Tuesday before Halloween, we hosted a Halloween party for Ruby's playgroup. In recent months attendance at our weekly playgroups have dwindled due to moms having moved out of the city and conflicting nap times. Therefore, we were very excited that almost ALL of the moms in the group were able to make it to the Halloween party. With 10 toddlers running around, it looked like our house had been hit by a tornado.

One of the best parts of the party was to see the difference between this year and our playgroup Halloween party last year. Whereas last year, taking the group picture entailed nothing more than propping the babies up next to each other on the couch and snapping the shots before they slid down too far, this year having that many toddlers sit long enough for a picture was an impossibility, so we included the moms in the shot.





This year was also Ruby's first time trick or treating (and the first time for Steve and I since we ourselves were children). We walked along the nearby Lake Street, which is renowned for its abundance of candy and trick or treaters. Ruby was too shy to take candy from strangers. At the first house, after much hesitation, she chose a Smarties from the candy bowl, only to turn around and put it back a few moments later. Finally, she did accept one piece of candy, which she held onto tightly the rest of the evening.