Cinco de Ruthie Month 11-late of course

Oh this girl makes my life so much better! She is cute, fun, funny, my sidekick, and at times what seems like an additional appendage! We're definitely going through a bit of separation anxiety this month, we had a break for about a week, then it was back with full force.

This Month She Loves:
-Chloe, of course
-Gigi! Big time, even in the heat of the separation anxiety she would leave me to go to Gigi (I of course forgot my camera the few days we were there)
-Of course, riding on the lawn mower with Papa
-Laughing. I have got to get this on camera, she has a hilarious laugh! Its sort of a cackle/squeal/laugh. It is so funny
-playing with her friends
-Waving-still loves it
-Balloons-as long as I have Chloe and a balloon we're pretty happy.
-Her Daddy-Joel unfortunately was traveling 2 weeks of this month and each time he came home, she was beside herself. It was so cute. She would fall apart if he left the room and quickly switched to a Daddy's girl.
-She is still a Dance Machine. The hot dog dance gets her Every. Single. Time.
-brushing her teeth, she is so proud
-Playing with Grandma while she was in town
-An empty 2 liter bottle, seriously her favorite toy right now. What a deal!

Size:
My best estimate is that she is about 17 1/2 pounds.

Sleep:
Nighttime sleep she is still doing great. She goes to bed around 7pm and usually wakes up between 7am-7:30am.

Naps:
-Some days she takes 2 naps about 1 to 2 hours each, other days she take one nap between 2-3 hours. It is great. I prefer the two nap days!

Eating:
-She is a great eater, there are only a few things she doesn't love which are: cut up bananas (although she will eat off on a banana if I'm holding it), yogurt with fruit in it (this is a change, she only will eat vanilla yogurt), avocados/sweet potatoes (I think I overdid it and she wanted a break). Other than that, she eats pretty much everything we've given her. She did love spaghetti, we had to have her in a diaper for that one! Her other favs are applesauce, vanilla yogurt, fiddlesticks, any type of bread (my girl), beans, peas, and cheese.

Mobility:
Ruthie has taken her first steps! On April 1 (no joke here), she took 3 steps at our playgroup! She didn't mean to, but did easily. When we all cheered for her, she promptly fell apart (this girl does NOT like to be the center of attention). Hopefully we didn't scar her and she will do it again! She hasn't done it for her Daddy, but she easily could. I think right now, she prefers her lightning crawl to get to where she wants as fast as possible.-She goes up the stairs like she's always been doing it. Maybe all babies just know how to go up the stairs, but as soon as we put her on the bottom stair, up she went. She is a definitely climber!

Nicknames:
-Ruthie Lou

Words:
-Praise the Lord, she finally said Mama! She won't say it on command, only when she wants (of course ;-)! Still DaDa, turtle (sort of), Chlo Chlo (sounds like Ko Ko). She only says things she wants to say, and hasn't really been on board repeating things (other than DaDa).

Other:
-She loves to be thrown, upside down, bounced up and down, she is a definite thrill seeker. I can't wait until it is warm enough to get in the water! I think she's going to love it, and love the boat!
-She has started constantly trying to get up, esp. when I'm changing her diaper, not so fun!
-She still loves the fan
-Pointing!
-She does not care about clapping one bit! I keep clapping and clapping and she looks at me like why on earth are you doing that? Maybe one day she'll show interest in it!
-Like I mentioned earlier, she does not like to be the center of attention, she doesn't like it when you laugh at her loudly(even if it is with her), but she is getting less sensitive. It is very possible she could absolutely hate getting happy birthday sang to her. I'm debating even doing it.
-She also has a full-blown mullet. Its driving me crazy but her Daddy is absolutely insistent we do not cut one hair (he says its taken her 11+ months to grow any hair, we can't cut them now). I'm giving it another week or two, then we're really going to have to talk about it. The back (or actual mullet part) is about 2 1/2 inches long and hangs over her clothes!!! The top is about 1/4 of an inch. I could braid the back into a rat tail. Totally unacceptable for such a cutie in my opinion!

Teeth: Still four on the top and four on the bottom. I keep thinking more are coming because she is constantly chewing on her tongue, but none so far that I can see!

She is really getting happy and funny! I think is like her Daddy, and reserves humor for a few select people. I absolutely love it! She is so much fun!