Moving on up

For the third time in 18 months, we are T-2 days to Moving Day.  I'm sorry to say that we have developed a "moving routine" by now.  My mom always arrives a few days before to help entertain Ruby while we pack.  The day of the move, I bring Ruby over to share care buddy Ian's house.  I'm also responsible for buying lunch for the movers and for shuttling some of the more fragile boxes and things in the refrigerator to the new place.  Steve "supervises" the move and is also responsible for breaking down and setting back up furniture.  Number one priority when we get into the new place is setting up Ruby's room so that it is usable for sleeping.  Then we typically ride the adrenaline high over a few days of intensive unpacking until the house is about 90% set-up.  The remaining 10% then lingers on indefinitely.

We hope that after this move, we will not be relocating again for a very long time, if ever.  This Friday represents the end of a 6-month long remodel project where our house was essentially gutted and rebuilt.  The transformation is enormous, and when it's all done, I'm sure it will be so beautiful that it will make my eyes hurt. I wish I could say it was already finished and sparkling clean, but in reality finishing touches will still be in process as the movers are driving up on Friday and most likely for a couple of weeks thereafter.  That being said, Friday is the date we planned to move back into the house from the very beginning, so the project has gone as close to schedule and with as little issues as could be hoped for.  I had hoped to post pictures of the construction as it progressed, but that is another thing that got away from me, so now you will get to see the complete transformation from demolition to finished product just like on TV.

It's hard to believe that this remodel, which was the largest and most daunting project Steve and I have ever undertaken, is coming to an end.  As thrilled as I am to be moving back home, it's also a little sad to be leaving our temporary home of the last 6 months.  Ruby and I have had a wonderful time exploring the neighborhood, going to classes at the local rec centers, and meeting new friends.  In fact, as I've spend the majority of my time as a SAHM in our temporary apartment, we now have more friends in this neighborhood than we did in our old neighborhood.  Ruby has also loved living here.  She runs to the elevator every morning and knows how to hold the doors for people.  She's made friends with the staff in the front office and loves to go collect packages.    However, she still remembers our house well.  When I ask her about her old playroom, she says, "Remember Ruby and Ian play in there together?"  (Because that's where they used to play when she was in the share care every day.)  She also remembers the backyard with her play structure ("Remember two red slides and the red tunnel?") and the lemon tree.  It will be wonderful to once again be able to walk everywhere so that I might be able to get some more exercise.  And I'm sure we won't even be able to appreciate how wonderful our house is until we are living in it and enjoying it every day.

As soon as we get the house into a presentable state, I will post pictures.  Right now I have to tackle a stack of still-empty moving boxes before the movers arrive in less than 36 hours!

Please describe your child

Even though there is lots to share about major things going on in our lives right now, I have been sidetracked from updating the blog as of late in favor of writing Ruby's preschool application essays.  I had thought when I was writing my essays for graduate school that I would be safe from writing admissions essays for the rest of my life, but little did I know of the preschool admissions process in San Francisco.  Most of the essay questions were reminiscent of college applications, i.e. What attracted you to our school?  Why do you feel our school is a good fit for your child?  How do you see yourself contributing to the community?  Many of you may find this level or rigor in preschool admissions ridonculous, as I certainly did when I first heard of such things.  However, these are all schools that are really wonderful and convenient to our home, and they are all VERY difficult to get into (admissions rates lower than the schools Steve and I attended for undergrad and grad school).  We have no feet in the door at any of these places, we don't know anybody on the board, and we don't have any money to donate.  Therefore, I felt the best thing we had going for us were these darn essays.

So that my efforts are not lost to everyone except the members of the admissions committee for these schools, I thought I'd share one of the essays here.  It's the one that asked us to describe our child.  What I wanted to write was that if you could come to our house and spend some time with Ruby and really get to know her, you'd be paying us to spend more time with her.  But instead I just hope I was able to capture at least a fraction of her spirit and the light she brings into my world every day.

Ruby is the type of kid who makes people who swear they never want kids reconsider.  Usually it's after they've had a meal with her in a restaurant and witnessed her sit quietly for 2 hours, slowly and meticulously eating her food, occasionally offering to share with me or her dad, and spontaneously breaking into dance along with the background music.  If she gets really comfortable with them, she may even sing a song or offer a tentative one-finger high five.

When I think of Ruby, I think of happiness.  Almost every day, she is a bundle of giggles and cheerful chatter from the moment she wakes to the moment we say goodnight.  She loves music, and she loves to dance.  Throughout the day she will break out into song, sometimes surprising me with a song I had no idea she knew.  The other day, she started singing a song from last season's Music Together class while strumming on a guitar that she fashioned herself using a piece of wooden train track and a rubber band.  She breaks into dance at the sound of music or any kind of beat, one time dancing to the ticking of the timer on our toaster oven.  She loves playing with her friends, and at the end of each day excitedly recounts everyone she saw and what they did to her dad.  Even though she often cannot catch up with a little friend who is running circles around the playground, she will trot along after him, sometimes with an outstretched hand full of Cheerios, asking in a voice not quite loud enough for him to hear, "Here, want a Cheerio?"

Ruby has always been a very cautious child who is somewhat reluctant to venture into new situations.  This combined with a low frustration tolerance is most likely what contributed to her not crawling until she was 14.5 months old and not walking until she was almost a year and a half.  When she finally did walk, she rarely fell down.  It was as if she had to be sure she could walk safely before she would walk at all.  Ruby is meticulous and thoughtful in everything she does.  All of her toys and books are in Like New condition.  She points out specks of dirt around the house and asks, "Can you wipe it, Mommy?"  Her activity level has always been low relative to her peers.  Oftentimes when we go to the playground she will ask to just sit on the bench and have a snack.  She enjoys observing the other children and excitedly points out interesting things that they are doing.  She has always had a very long attention span.  Even when we were taking our baby sign language classes when she was only 7 months old, she was the only baby who sat for the entire hour, listening intently to the teacher.  Today, whether it be reading books, making Chinese dumplings out of play dough, or eating her meals, Ruby is able to engage in a single activity for an impressively long period of time.

Ruby has a very mature soul, and sometimes I wonder if I am hearing the wisdom of a 60-year-old woman coming out of her mouth.  When I was nauseous with morning sickness a couple months ago, Ruby looked at me earnestly and said, "Eat something, Mommy.  You feel better."  Sometimes it seems like in her mind, she is the adult in our family.  At dinner when she saw that I did not have a glass of water, she directed, "Daddy, please get Mommy a cup!"  And later, "Mommy, you forgot to say 'Thank you very much, Daddy'!"  She is a natural nurturer.  Much of her play involves pretending to buy and prepare food for me and her dollies.  She loves to and often insists upon sharing her food, running to bring me or her dad the first bite of even her most favorite snack.  When I was sick in bed one time, she brought me toy after toy until I was buried, and nowadays if ever I look tired, she tells me, "Go lie on the bed, Mommy.  I bring you a toy."  When I'm with her, it sometimes feels like I'm with a good friend and other times feels like I'm with little baby, but she never fails to at least once a day stop me in my tracks with amazement.

P.S.  Here is the video of Ruby singing the Music Together song:  (The lyrics are supposed to be "Walking down my street, feeling good in my feet.  Boom chicka chicka chicka boom chicka chicka chicka boom boom boom!")

Addendum 2/13/12:  Today Ruby was accepted to our first choice preschool, Peter's Place!