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!