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Apparently, mice are just as fond of ice cream as they are of cheese.

Not really living in a very residential neighborhood, we weren’t sure what we were going to do with our little squeaker for Halloween. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that a bunch of the shops and restaurants on Centre St. in JP open their doors up to little trick or treaters. Ruby was a big hit and started filling her candy bag before she even got off of the bus! Mom and Dad were excited to take a peek into all the local businesses and talk a bit with the owners.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Here is a link to the full size images.

4 days, no accidents

As you may recall, Ruby had some potty training success earlier in the year. However, any progress was disrupted by the sale of our house and the move to Boston. We dropped it, and upon advice from various experts, decided to let her decide when to begin potty training again. On Saturday, Ruby surprised us by asking if she could wear underpants in lieu of diapers. We had a talk of new responsibilities (telling us when she needed to go), consequences (wet pants), rewards (stickers) and other potty training facts. She was up for it, so we started preparing ourselves for potty training life in the outside world. Ruby met with success Saturday, Sunday and Monday (all days she spends with her parents) despite a pretty active weekend including parties, shopping, playgrounds and play dates. We were a little hesitant to send her off to daycare in underpants but we decided to go for it. So far so good!

Rollin’ in the dough

Ruby is loving the play dough. Despite repeated failures, Dad tries to keep the colors separate (yes, I have a touch of the OCD). Ruby just wants to make giant multi-colored blobs of dough. She’s not completely free from Dad’s compulsions though. I noticed her placing magnets on the staircase in a very orderly fashion the other day, making minute adjustments to their positions in relation to each other. A very proud moment for Dad, indeed.

Daddy, go hide

Ruby has been playing a lot of hide and go seek lately. It goes a little something like this: She counts, I hide. If she gets stuck in a 7->8 loop, I have to help her out of it and the sound of my voice usually gives away my location. If she can’t find me in less than 5 seconds, she gets a little freaked out and panics a little. As if I left the building or was beamed out of the house somewhere. If the tables are turned and she hides while I count, the anticipation is just too much for her and she reveals herself as soon as I come looking. On this particular day in the bathtub, Ruby covered her eyes with these two rubber balls and told me to go hide.

Counting cows

One of Dad’s favorite things to do before taking Ruby to the Tot Lot is to stop by JP Licks for a caffeinated beverage. Ruby loves all the cows that decorate the place. She has also recently taken to counting everything and anything. She often forgets the number 4 and can also get stuck in a 7 -> 8 loop (hilarious… once one of those starts, she often can’t stop.) but for the most part she can count pretty well.

I wish she felt this way about broccoli

Apple picking with the Howell’s

Dinner @ ruby’s place

We recently created two distinct playzones for Ruby at home. Upstairs, is where Ruby does dramatic play. This includes preparing food in her “kitchen,” caring for her “babies”, dress up and other such imaginary activities. Upstairs affords her more privacy and lends itself well to this type of play. Downstairs we setup a little ruby size table for more structured activities. Her building blocks, puzzles, play dough, books and magazines are available to her here. On the first night we setup the table, Ruby asked if she could eat her dinner there and insisted we join her..

Airplane!

Ruby knows the drill. Whenever we dismount the bike she has to “look up” so that Dad can unbuckle her helmet strap. Well, on this particular day, she took this as an opportunity to scan the skies for airplanes!