Best friends

Asha is fortunate to have several sweet little friends (and parents!) but she seems to have an extra special connection with her friend Serena.  Hope you enjoy this little compilation of their recent antics…

Two year treat

Things are pretty busy these days, but we managed to put together a short video of some of Asha’s latest antics.  Enjoy!

Books and Backhoes

Since the last installment on Morriscope, our little A.R.M. has been doing some major bulking up in the language department. She has become quite the talker, and her vocabulary seems to increase every day. It now seems like she knows the name of most of the objects we encounter on a regular basis, and the words she uses to name them are sounding more and more like actual English words. She has also been putting two or more words together, and especially fond of the expressions “no mama,” “oh yeah!”, “fall down,” “no way,” “drinking mocha” (mocha being her new word for mama’s milk), “up or down” (a general expression when she wants to be picked up or needs help getting down), and “many backhoes” (more on that later). She also spoke her first official multi-word sentence the other morning: “OK read the book!” She loves reading books these days, so she uses this sentence a lot.
She also has started to use the possessive, and began by calling herself Adi (which actually means “jewel” in Hebrew), then switched to Asha, but now seems pretty intent on calling herself Ruby or occasionally Asha Ruby. Despite her love of her red-jewel name, however, our little gem seems to be favoring colors of the non-red variety. Asha seems to be gravitating towards blue and pink, and she points out blue and pink everywhere (even for things that she thinks would look better if they were blue and pink instead of boring green, yellow or brown). She also seems to prefer wearing blue and pink whenever possible, despite her prevalence of red clothing.

Speaking of pointing things out everywhere, our little Ruby is now a backhoe spotter extraordinaire. We have a backhoe that has been working next door the past month, and watching the backhoe from an upstairs window has become Roo’s favorite hobby. Mama and Baba had no idea how many backhoes there were out there until we took a few drives with our chatty backhoe-spotter. Now every urban, suburban or rural adventure includes a running commentary from the backseat that sounds a something like this: “Backhoe! Backhoe-ah! Two backhoe! Hiiiii! Many backhoe! Reer-reeer (backhoe sounds)... Blue backhoe! Pink! Byeee! Backhoe-ah! Many backhoe! Kiss!” To celebrate Asha Ruby’s adoration of all things backhoe, we have pieced together a little video depicting her backhoe affection (with a special guest appearance at the end). We hope you enjoy!

18 month old Maa-Iss

Since our last post, our little Asha-Roo passed the big 18 month milestone.  Our munchkin had her 18-month well check and was deemed healthy and strong.  She measured 33" tall and 20 lbs 12 oz heavy.  While her head circumference was in the 75th percentile, her weight was in the 5th.  It looks like our little lollipop is following in the footsteps of her big-headed skinny parents!

Passing the 18-month mark has accelerated the pace of the Ruby-mobile to a frantic pace.  Her default speed is now a light jog and she seems to understand more every day.  Surprisingly, two of her favorite places are her stroller (which she cutely refers to as "doe-doe?") and her high chair (which she will now freely climb into herself).  If she starts patting on the laundry room door and saying "buh-bye... doe-doe?", we usually take the hint that she wants to go for a ride in the stroller.  Sometimes all her activity leaves her a little exhausted though:

Our sweet Roo-Roo has also continued to show an ever expanding vocabulary... to the point that we can no longer make lists of all the new words she says.  Among her favorites are the words "Maa" (whenever she wants more of anything) and "Iss"  (whenever she wants to know what something is.. usually said with a question "Iss?").    We couldn't think of two more suitable words to be the favorite of a little Morris. 

Not just satisfied to rename her Papa to Baba, Asha has also decided to rename several other relatives.  Uncle Mark is now known as "Mata", G'pers is now known as "Poppy", and last but not least, Gama is now known as "Madi". 

And now, we'll leave you with a short video showing our little toddler's newfound mastery of her body and the force of gravity:

Fin, snow, no’s and splashes!

This message brings joyful news of the birth of Asha’s sweet cousin Fin! He was born on January 15th with a head full of red hair and a sweet 6 lb 1 oz body. Fin is already growing like a champ and the whole family seems peaceful, happy and relaxed. We look forward to watching Fin grow up and all the future fun shared by Asha and her little cousin. Welcome to the world sweet Finley!



The family Morris recently joined our other six playgroup families on a two night trip into the winter wonderland of Eastern Washington. We had a great time singing, sleigh riding, eating and relaxing with our family friends. Asha loved spending so much time with all her baby (and mama and papa) friends, and although she was not a huge fan of Mama’s overzealous bundle-job, she loved her some sled riding:



As our little Valentine rounds in on 1 ½ years old, her communication skills continue to increase at warp speed. She is especially fascinated with learning (and repeating) the names of body parts and functions – we now have conversations and jokes about noses, eyes, knees, elbows, nipples, toes and toots. She has also recently picked up the expression “Nice!” used frequently by Mama and Baba Morris (Baba says: “Apple pie. Nice!” Mama says: “You vacuumed the stairs. Nice!”) Asha-ru now utilizes “Nice” to respond to a range of pleasant experiences from nursing to getting a small piece of Baba’s taboo potato chips ("yum yum!")

Asha is also becoming well-versed in the complexities of the simple expression “no.” Although Mama and Baba try to keep our no’s for use only in situations of possible injury or significant damage, Asha has picked up on the power of this little two-letter word. Our little toddler’s new favorite game involves asking for music and then saying “no” to all of the selections picked by Mama and Baba. The music is always changing in our house these days, but in the process our little one is developing a healthy sense of will as well as a refined taste in music. In addition to the frequent no’s, Mama and Baba are also fortunate to hear and even more frequent use of the expressions “yeah” and “yup,” as in, “do you want to take a nap?” “yup.” “do you want to eat?” “yeah.” Despite the increase in affirmatives and negatives, Roob’s favorite and most utilized expression continues to be “more” (still pronounced “ma”). Sometimes she can barely wait until the enjoyable experience (song, snack, toss in the air) is finished before she begins her chorus of “ma!” Our little Rooberry knows what she likes!

In addition to increasing her vocabulary, Asha is enjoying looking at and listening to books being read. She has many of her books and music memorized to the point that she can anticipate what is coming next and say it first. She especially enjoys the book that says “No no!” and the one that has an apple (she seems especially proud of the way she can say “apple.”)

Asha-ru also likes to play with water (or “wa-wa” as she calls it). She also likes to say “wash” and wash her hands. She spends a little while each day in her learning tower playing in the sink, which usually requires a change of clothes afterwards despite her new nearly full-body bib. Baba pieced together this video of a few of her recent water games. Grab some refreshments and enjoy!


Video: Whoa H2O

Expanding vocabulary & fun at the park

In the past couple of weeks, the family has been getting back into routine.  Baba headed back to work while Mama and Baby Ruby started a new term of classes at Music Together (on Monday mornings) and the Seattle Waldorf Parent & Tot class (on Friday mornings). 

In the meantime, the list of words that we posted last time is quickly becoming obsolete!  Our little Toastmaster has been adding a word (or more) to her vocabulary seemingly every day now.  Here is another sampling of the words (and translations if needed) she has been saying in the past couple of weeks:

• ma...?  (more - often said many times if she really wants more)
• da (sock - we don't know why)
• help
• broom
• ride
• home
• ree (raisin)
• ca-ca (cracker or cookie)
• tofu
• poo-poo
• coat
• boot
• Asha/Uncle/Opa/Gama/Ama/Ya-Ya
• tea
• fish
• car
• out

Here she is, practicing her newfound oratory skills on the "phone":

The gray Seattle skies parted this Sunday afternoon to reveal a balmy and bright day, so we decided to pack up and go to the park.  Since it wasn't actually very balmy, so Mama decided it would be best to get the little Roobs bundled into her waterproof pants (that she'll be growing into for years to come) and her equally waterproof Stonz over-boots.  It turned out to be a good decision, as you'll see at the end of the video... enjoy!

A special voice mail & help with sweeping

We thought we'd hit the ground running in 2008 with a special treat on the blog.  Hopefully we still have some readers out there!

One of the developments that our little Asha Ruby has been working on over the past few months has been her verbal communication.   Yes, the little Roobs is turning into quite the little talker on top of her expanding sign language vocabulary. That said, she often either needs some translation or is not completely understandable by us limited English-speakers.

Some of her favorites words that we can recognize are:

• Mama / mommy  (often said with a question mark at the end)
• hi!
• bye!
• baby  (refers to actual babies in addition to anything cute and cuddly such as furry animals or sock lint)
• uh-oh!  (said in a sing-song way)
• whoa-whoa-whoa!  (something exciting)
• ow  (sometimes before she whacks you!)
• no  (we're so glad she knows this one!)
• yup
• hot-tah  (hot)
• hat-tah  (hat)
• up-puh  (up)
• ap-puh  (apple)
• ba  (book, Buddha, or ball)
• nye-nye  (night-night)
• da-da / arf-arf-arf!  (dog)

Along the way, Rubykins has even renamed some of her family.  For example, Papa is now known as "Baba" and Grandpa Colin has also been affectionately renamed "Yaya".

Asha Roobs recently managed to even record her own Roo-babble when she "accidentally" called Papa's cell phone (oops, make that "Baba's") and left a very special voice mail.  As a special treat, we managed to make a recording for everyone's enjoyment.  If you listen carefully, you can hear a few of her cute "uh-oh's" strung together...

Asha Ruby's Special Voice Mail (.mp3)

Another one of our sweet toddler's favorite activities has been sweeping.  Yes, you read that right... sweeping!  We even have a little broom for her to push around the house.  We are not sure if or when this enthusiasm will spread to other forms of cleaning, but we can always hope.  Here is a short little video of her outside helping Mama to sweep the patio with a broom that may be a touch big for her...

Video: Sweet Sweeper

New photos from Corinne

Well the blog has been severely neglected lately as Mama and Papa Morris have been desperately trying to catch up with their energetic and curious (and running) toddler.  We hope to get the blog updates rolling more regularly very soon.

In the meantime, there is just time to sneak in one last post for 2007 to add a link to a bunch of new photos of Asha taken by our friend Corinne.  They span a number of months over 2007 and are a nice recap of how the little one has changed over the year.  She is a very talented photographer so you definitely need to check them out! 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/solwerks/archives/date-posted/2007/12/29/detail/

Here's a little teaser in case you are not yet convinced...

Thanks Corinne!  And Happy New Year everyone!

First tooth, first trip, first steps, first birthday!

I know it has been a ghost town here on the blogosphere for a few months, but that does not mean that things have been dull here in the Roobosphere! Quite the contrary -- Mama and Papa Morris have had a hard time finding an extra minute now that the Roobs is quickly rounding in on toddlerhood. The days have found Roobs more active and entertaining than ever, with many new tricks and talents, as well as a few stamps in her passport and a new tooth in her mouth.



That's right, our little Asha Sweet joins the ranks of the dentally-endowed and can flash her own pearly-white for cameras and grandmas everywhere. After months of drool and predictions, the tooth finally emerged sans tears or trauma while we were in England. Hopefully the fact that her first tooth was bestowed by a English Tooth Fairy is not an indication that Asha will one day sport a mouth of famous British chompers (crooked ones, that is). But then again, we can just take a look at Mama Morris' old photos to know that Roobs probably has a tin-grin in her future...

England, you say old chap? That's right -- Asha Ruby is now a world traveler, and a world-class traveler at that! Asha joined Mama, Papa, Gama and G-Pers for a trip to England for her first Summer Festival. Asha loved all of the social interaction of our trip, and she spent a lot of time telling us stories in her baby language ("yaya dido dadi mama") and pointing at all of the exciting objects and people she spotted of interest. Asha was a joy to travel with, and loved spending so much time with the Creepers.



Just when Mama and Papa were adjusting to life back at home after more than two weeks away, Asha Ruby decided that it was time to learn a few new tricks and started to take her first steps! Mama and Papa were so excited to see those first attempts at walking, and even more excited to see how tickled and delighted the Roobs was in her accomplishment. She has also been learning a few things about climbing, such as mastering getting off the bed safely (whew!), climbing the stairs as well as climbing on and off of her activity table at increasingly frequent intervals.



Last but not least, Asha Ruby celebrated her first birthday a few days early with a family birthday party. Asha appears to be a born party girl, and loved being the center of attention and love. Being the first in her new generation in the family, Asha was lavished with love and presents from all of her grandparents, aunts and uncles. Asha was in great spirits and greeted each guest with a smile and each gift with a squeal.



Mama and Papa can't believe that we have already known the sweet Roobs for a whole year! It has been a year full of joy and change, triumphs and challenges. Parenting has taught us more about love and life than anything we have encountered so far. We are constantly filled with gratitude and wonder that we are able to share our life with the sweet being that is Asha Ruby. We couldn't imagine a more delightful one year old!

Roobathon

As the Roobs marches towards double-digits (in months anyways), she has been amazing us with a variety of developmental leaps.  Luckily, she sometimes takes the time to take a break and just spend time with the family.

As far as those developmental leaps go, Asha has taken to practicing all of them on a regular basis, as if she is training for her own special Olympic event - the Roobathon.  Let's examine each of the events she is training for:

Eating
Little Asha Ruby's "interest" in swallowing food that we told you about last time has now grown into a full blown mini-appetite.   She now joins us in eating at all of our "sit down" meals.  The only caveat is that she eschews use of a spoon - the food must be close to "whole" and picked up with her pincer grip.  No purees for our princess!  Her usual menu includes fruit (blueberries, pears, apricot), vegetables (yams, carrots) or other foods (oatmeal, black beans).  She also likes to have many snacks throughout the day, especially her favorite treat: rice puffs!  Mama says they are such a hit because they taste just like paper...

 

"The Sign" & Flapping
In addition to eating, Ruby-rama as also started to be more communicative with more than just her face and voice.  For starters, she has started doing "the sign", which consists of holding her hand out and opening/clenching her fist repeatedly.  (You'll have to look real closely in the video later to spot it since it goes by quickly.)  This "sign" can mean (1) hello, (2) goodbye, (3) I want that, (4) I like that, or (5) come over here.  Or, so we think.

When in need of showing her general excitement, Ashasaurus Roobs has taken to just flapping her arms like nobody's business. Mama and Papa really think the world would be a lot more fun if everyone adopted this habit.  When it does, just remember it all began with the Roobs...

Sharing
We're also happy to say that Rubycakes has learned that it can be a lot of fun to share her toys (or other random objects) with those around her.  All we can ask is, if you are around her and she is holding an object in your direction and looking at you expectantly, do accept the gift and say "thank you"!  (And please don't forget to offer it back before she gets the idea that sharing means losing toys.)

Peek-A-Boo
The final Roobathon event is the most fun.  We have played peek-a-boo with her by placing the silks on top of her or us enough times that she has started to hold them up in front of herself for a few seconds before peeking out (usually laughing).  To take part, just be sure to say "Where's Asha Ruby?" whenever you see her under the silk:

 

In addition to those official Roobathon events, A.R. is also busy working on some unsanctioned extreme sports.   These include:

• Free-standing: standing for up to 10 seconds with no safety equipment (or other support).   Luckily most of the training for this event is happening on the bed!
• Baby sign language: Mama and Papa spotted a "more" sign the other day while we were eating, after Asha had run out of blueberries.
• Potty training: Let's just say that we've had regular "catches" in the potty.  (That sounds sporty doesn't it?)

We'll be working hard to capture those extreme events on video. (Well, maybe not the last one...)  In the meantime, enjoy our official Roobathon 2007 coverage:

Video: Roobathon 2007