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.

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.