Advance warning: this is a long 6min video! But I was drawn into documenting Ruby's busy self as she was eating. She eats best when on the move, simply because this babe cannot sit still for very long. And so while she was eating, I got to see so many other Ruby-isms:

• Like how proud she is that she can hold a bowl without spilling the contents within the first minute of receiving it.
  
  
• Or how much she loves peas--add peas to any meal and Ruby will eat it. She also says peas now and she uses the same word for beans and raisins too.
  
  
• Or how she loves playing on the bed, even while holding a bowl of food. She almost didn't spill the entire bowl of greasy pesto pasta on the bed when rolling over while holding it.
  
  
• Or how she is starting to have small temper tantrums. (This one on the video was nothing compared to the one she had at the Natural History Museum yesterday. We had a difference of opinion about what direction to walk in and she just arched her back and exploded. I sat her down in the spot, in the middle of some busy path, and let her--safely--express her displeasure while calmly telling her how sorry I was that we had a difference of opinion. I was surprised how quickly she calmed down and how many sympathetic looks I got from people passing by!)
  
  
• Or how challenging it is becoming to negotiate with her. She is clearly at one of those in-between ages, where she has opinions and wants, but not yet the language or emotional skills to deal with herself and us around those opinions and wants. Patience is my mantra these days (and for the next x years?!).
  
  
• Or how much she continues to obsess about our cats Two and Dreyfus. They are constantly on her mind. Almost as much as her Dada. When we're outside she'll suddenly ask about the "chats" or Dada, out of the blue. In the house she's thrilled, over and over again, when she sees a cat. When she goes to sleep she says "Bye bye chats. Bye bye Dada." And she'll feed them her pasta.
  
  
• Or how she's a teaser. She has a budding sense of humor, like offering me a pea and then quickly pulling it back and stuffing it in her mouth. At one of our regular stores, the cashier will give her the receipt and then Ruby will take it, offer it back to the cashier and do the same, "ha, tricked you" gimmick. Or when she's in the stroller she'll pull her hat completely down over her eyes, wait until I notice and then giggle like crazy when I say "hey, where did Ruby go?"