Ruthie is 2...ish!

I have terribly neglected this post! Ruthie is almost 2 1/2 and I haven't yet written about her 2-year-old antics. This little gal is so full of personality there's almost too much to say. Maybe that's why I haven't tried to write it all down yet!

So Ruthie turned 2 when we were at Disneyland. The big milestone of her birthday was graduating to a big girl bed. This actually happened at Disneyland thanks to grandma. Ruthie and her were sharing a room and Ruthie was supposed to be in her pack-n-play. But grandma couldn't handle the cries, so Ruthie slept in bed with her all week. Ruthie did so well with it that when we got home we converted her crib into a bed. She does a pretty decent job of staying in her room, but with her new freedom to move she will often stay up late (10pm) "reading" books to herself. And she insists of falling asleep with the lights on.

Here are a couple of cute movie clips from the big birthday day.

As for her little personality.... here goes:

• She's a great talker. She is so good at communicating what she wants, how she feels, etc. She's also a skilled little parrot, which gives the illusion that she understands a lot, when in reality she's just repeating things. Being 2 she also comes up with a lot of humorous insights on the world that continuously entertain us.
• She asks for naps. You heard me right. She knows when nap time is (after lunch) and has often sleepily said, "Can I take a nap now?" Now that she's actually approaching 2 1/2 she rarely asks for naps anymore and we are occasionally foregoing naps these days. She'll still takes them if I put her down, but then she's usually up until 10pm on those days. Oh well - what's a tired pregnant mommy to do? She usually gets a nap.
• Now that she's in a big girl bed, for nap time and bed time she insists on having daddy or (more often) mommy lay down by her. Since she completely resisted cuddles for the first 2 years of her life I am only all too happy to indulge her now!
• She wakes up happy in the morning and greets us with big hugs. On mornings when Anthony gets her she sometimes shrieks "Daddy! You're home!"
• She's good at singing songs. I found it funny when I read an article that said by age 2 many kids can say 2 to 3 word sentences. And little Ruthie had the words to "I am a Child of God" completely memorized! Her repertoire continues to expand. Current song favorites are - "I Will" (aka "The Mommy and Daddy Song"), "ABC's", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Happy Monkey Song", and others.
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• She mostly calls Austin "broder" and despite the daily sibling fights, they are definitely best friends. Their standard morning game is "doggie and owner" wherein doggie Austin wakes up owner Ruthie and then they play in her room till mom or dad wake up. She also gets into his role playing games with him. She plays Martin to Austin's Chris Kratt, she plays Robin to Austin's Batman, she plays Gnocchi to Austin's Curious George. With all that practice, she's pretty socially advanced and actually plays better with Austin's 4-year-old girl peers than she does with her 2-year-old peers.
• About a month ago Ruthie learned how to use a computer mouse and can now play PBS Kids games independently. These days it is common to see Austin playing "Wild Kratts" on his computer while Ruthie plays "Curious George" on my computer while I'm making dinner.
• She doesn't like diaper changes and often cries or kicks trying to get out of them (grrr).
• She had a bald spot on the top of her head for the past 6 months. We think it was probably caused by Austin pulling her hair out. About a month ago it finally grew in!
• She adores her Opa even though she's only seen him 3 times.
• Her favorite color is usually purple (though she still gets her colors mixed up).
• She loves going to nursery and is very cooperative when we tell her it's time for church.
• She eats all day. Every 30 minutes or so she raids the pantry for a "nack" - nutrigrain bars, crackers, protein bars, apples, fruit snacks.
• She makes the funniest faces which elicit many cries of "you're so cute!" from her parents.
• She's so polite. She's quick to offer words like, "Thank you for my cereal", or "I sorry I screamed", or if you compliment her clothes she'll say, "You're Welcome."
• When she's hurt or upset her comfort is to hold her blanket, suck her thumb and watch TV.

This girl is soooo adorable. If I could clone her I'm sure I could make millions selling copies of my cute little girl. I love my Ruthie.

Ruthie is 1!

My little baby turned 1 on Nov 15th! How did she get so old so fast? I swear the year has flown by. We celebrated her birthday in style with the whole family and her very own cake to destroy. Everyone commented that Ruthie was the most bold of all the kiddies - digging in almost right away. Her big bday gift from mom and dad was a stroller and baby doll that she instantly loved.


Here is the video montage of the cake destruction. Can she get any more cake in those little hands?



A few fun memories of my little one-year-old, as recorded on her first birthday:

• She has the funniest head shake when she's "talking". For any Johnsons out there it's rather reminiscent of her Opa.
• She picked up a little phrase from cousin Tyce who frequently calls out "Heidi" whenever I'm around. Now Ruthie walks around saying "Ei-Eee", "Ei-Eee". I get called Heidi before I even get called Mom!
• She plays "duck duck goose". Seriously. Somehow Anthony taught her this. She pats his head saying "du. du." and then runs around with him. It's pretty much their favorite game.
• She climbs onto the kitchen table. So not my favorite thing. That would be quite a fall!
• She loves containers. Loves to move items from one container to another.
• She can say "bye", "hi", "da" (dad), "ma" (mom) and "ei-ee" (Heidi)
• She can sign the words for "bye", "more" and "dad". Actually, when she says "da" she waves her little hand bye. She's associated her dad with waving bye to him when he leaves for work.
• She has yet to refuse to eat anything - except ground turkey.
• She has recently been going through a mommy-hold-me phase. For a long time she has been content to just wander around doing her own thing, but lately she wants to be in my arms, so I'm having to relearn my one-handed skills.
• She's learned to cry whenever Austin gets near her. It gets mommy to come running before Austin can even pummel her.
• She goes down the kiddie slide all by herself, feet first on her tummy. No fear.
• She feeds herself almost exclusively. She accepts it if we feed her sometimes, but she's had to learn early to feed herself since I'm only too happy to have my hands free for other things.
• She currently takes 1 90 minute nap each day. Very consistent. Very easy to put to bed. Definitely the easiest kid to put to bed I've ever heard of. Often she doesn't even want a wind down time - no stories or songs. Once you get her in her PJs she starts to cry until you lay her in her bed. Then she's instantly happy, sucks her thumb and is ready for sleep.
• She still wakes up in the middle of the night. We're working on that.
  
• She is a forager, constantly ready for food. If you are eating anything, she will come up to you, hold out her hand and make begging noises until you share.
• She has just started to watch TV. This is important to me because this how I sneak in my extra naps.
• She loves bath time.
• She smiles every morning.
• She has a funny fake-sounding laugh.
• She has fine blond hair and deep brown eyes.
• She loves her cousins, aunts, grandparents and all.