6/27/2010

Ruthie is 18 months


On May 15th, Ruthie was officially 18 months old. This little girl seriously AMAZES me. When you ask her, "How old are you?" She quickly responds, "Two." Most days, I believe it. I tell people she is 18 months going on 3 years. Here are a few of the amazing things Ruthie can do:

(I wish I had pictures of everything. Perhaps I'll take some and retroactively add them).



  • At the park, she can climb from the ground to the top of the big slides and go down in a sitting positions - all by herself.
  • She can run - and she and brother love to play chase every day.
  • Every morning, she feeds herself a bowl of cereal and get 80% of it in her mouth. (I've gotten accustomed to the daily clean up of the other 20% ).
  • When we put on the "Oo and Ah" song in the car, Ruthie sings along. "Oo Oo, Oo Oo, Oo Oo, Ah Ah." It is so stinkin' cute.
  • To this day she's still not really a night-time cuddle-bug. If she'd let me, I'd hold her and sing to her for much longer stretches, but when reading time is done, she starts to cry and wriggle. Maybe I just haven't mastered the bed-time routine the way Anthony super-dad has.
  • That said, Ruthie is (and has always been) the easiest kid to put to bed. She actually asks for naps. No joke!
  • She has her routine. Every morning she greets me with, "I cererereal now." Immediately following breakfast she announces, "T B" (for tv). She and Austin watch one or two PBS kids shows while I get some things done. Then we're out of the house and playing. We come home in time for lunch about noon, at which point she announces, "nap." It's a tough life.
  • Ruthie is a very happy, pleasant girl. She's super easy and often does her own thing quite happily. The things that upset her, though, are 1) brother trying to bend her to his will with pushing, pulling, or sitting on her; 2) her morning routine thrown off; 3) waking up from naps early; 4) diaper changes.



  • She is definitely a girly-girl. When I let the kids wander through the toy aisles at the store, Austin heads toward the Toy Story, Batman, Leggos kind of stuff, while Ruthie heads for the babies, strollers and purses. I have not pushed this at all and her supply of girl toys is still severely under par. But it's amazing to me to see the natural gender differences in these two.

  • Ruthie definitely talks like a 2-year-old. She uses over a hundred words (I can't count them all) and frequently uses 2-word, sometimes 3-word sentences! Nursery leaders, the gym daycare workers and many other adults often comment on how well and how much she speaks. We never bothered teaching this little girl sign language because she's been communicating her needs since she was 1.
  • Some of my favorite funny words are:
    • "bank-bank" = blanket
    • "cuppy" = drink
    • "bop-bop" = grandpa
    • "ma-ma" = grandma (and I'm "mommy")
    • "cerleerreeal" = cereal
    • "weee" = swing
    • "tank oo" = thank you
  • Some of her clearest words are:
    • "Debbie"
    • "Tyce"
    • "shoes"
    • "socks"
    • "nap"
    • "car"
    • "hungry"
    • "ta-da"
    • "doggie"
    • "alright" (this was one of her earliest words too and it cracked us up every time!)
  • Some of her best word combinations are:
    • "play car"
    • "stop it"
    • "I did it"
    • "No, I do"
    • "Daddy, are you?" (where are you?)
    • "Daddy work"
    • "I oo oo mommy" (I love you mommy)



My precious daughter is a blond-haired, deep-brown-eyed, cherub. I'm so so glad she's in my family. What would life be without having both a boy and a girl to enjoy? Ruthie, your mommy and daddy love you fiercely - never forget that.

3 comments:

Michelle M said...

I love the portraits. Austin looks amazingly like his mommy in these pictures! Daphne was naturally girly on her own as well, without any encouragement.

Rachel B. said...

Oh, she is so cute. Love her little outfit. And yes, I remember commenting on how well she could talk when I last saw her. You have smarties. What do you expect with two computer scientists as parents?! :)

Unknown said...

Austin and Ruth are SO cute! And they're getting so big!