Wild Kingdom

Momma Post: This week Ruby tried to convince us that she's outgrown her stroller, now she's a determined little walker. During the snow, Matt and Ruby toddled completely around a block, stopping for the occasional bite of snow. We want to encourage this freedom of movement, so Matt thought an afternoon at the Oregon Zoo was in order. As parents we're also finding that activities which tire her out, make our job a bit easier...what could be better than a safe place to wander and overstimulation by animal gazing. As our photos demonstrate, it is now much trickier to capture Ruby on film, due to her inability to stay still for the three seconds it takes for our digital camera to shoot.

Ruby has been to the zoo three other times, but on Saturday Ruby was noticeably interested in the animals, pointing, squealing and calling out all the birds by pinching her fingers together. The ASL sign for bird is pinching your pointer and thumb together near your mouth, imitating a beak. Ruby understands the pinching, but has modified the sign slightly by pinching and pointing. Ruby was thrilled with the penguins, calling them "ducks", which was a pretty good correlation I thought. The polar bears gave a good show with their frozen fish popsicles. Ruby also had her first taste of an Elephant Ear (fried dough covered in butter, cinnamon and sugar). I don't know if it's an Oregon thing, but I'm always amazing at how many people never have heard of Elephant Ears.

Other empowerment activities include Ruby discovering that she can take off both her shoes and socks. This new skill is repeated during every car ride. I understand how excited she must feel about having some control over her wardrobe, but personally I think she also likes to be barefoot. Tonight at Grandma Alice's she was a screaming banshee...yes, Ruby's found that her voice has several octaves. Maybe the Francois Monkeys (that slammed their bodies against the Plexiglas) at the Oregon zoo were behind the inspiration.