Clockwork

This girl.

Her brain is always working. Constantly taking in her surroundings and applying her skills, her knowledge, her experiences. I can see it in everything she does: every moment of play AND disobedience.

At the root of Ruby is such an intricate clockwork...it reminds me of her sister. When Maddux was little (and still!) she would say the most random things and they would often come out of left field, indicating she was thinking great amounts of things in her momentary silence. Ruby does the same thing, even though she doesn't have all of the words yet. She will sit down to eat with me and 'talk' as she acts out something she's remembering from our last meal together, or something she saw on our errands. Ruby will remember something specific about every place we visit, every person we meet, and she'll repeat or point out that something every time she's there, or mimic it when she sees that person again.

Here are a few examples of her inner clockwork:

• When I do flashcards with her, not only does she tell me what the word is most of the time, she hops out of her chair to go find or point it out to me in the house too.
• Every time we pull into the neighborhood, EVERY time, Ruby says, 'hooohhm'. 
• When we tried on our snow gear this year, the kids put a pair of ski goggles on Ruby. They told her they were goggles, so she immediately lay down on the floor and pretended to swim.
• She will tell me ("sahhhh") if she sees someone (in person or in a book) that is sad, and she'll make a sad face.
• While Ruby was in chemo, there were occasional eye drops we had to administer. I would lie Ruby on the floor and 'hold' her arms by her side with my knees, though she didn't mind too much. The other day I had to give her some drops, which I told her about at the end of lunch. As soon as I got her out of her high chair, she ran over to the carpet and got on the ground, pointed to her eye as she squinted and said, "eye". That girl still remembered.
• She watches those around her with intense absorption: Maddux wore a button-down shirt today and wanted me to cuff her sleeves. Ruby watched me quickly unbutton the sleeves at the wrist and fold them over twice. As Maddux walked away. Ruby pinched her wrists (she had on a long sleeved t-shirt) and held out her wrist to me to fold.
• When walking upstairs with one of her baby dolls this week, she started by holding the doll's hand. Then she asked, "shoo shoo?", and put the doll on her shoulders and she said, "sssshoooo!". Guess what I do when we go up or down the stairs? I give her the option of walking, holding hands, or "choo choo", on my back.