Cinco de Ruthie Month 18

The past few months have been so much fun with Ruthie. We can't believe all the changes she's made and how many things she has learned so quickly. I'm posting this early (shocking), but won't publish it until the 5th. So as of right now, Lainey hasn't made her appearance.

Lately, Ruthie loves:

-Chloe, and any dog, cat or pretty much any animal. She really loves it when we put her blanket over Chloe, she thinks its absolutely hilarious.

-Her Tent and tunnel. Man is that the best $7 I've ever spent. I found that princess tent and tunnel on clearance and it was worth so much more than that based on the joy it brings Ruthie. She loves it. She also got another tent from Noni, that we keep in her room and get out almost every time we're in her room.

-Her chair. I found this chair at a yardsale, its a PBK chair and it was embroidered Julie ;-). I took out the Julie and while you can still see it, you have to look for it. It was $18 and also worth so much more because of how much she loves it. I also wish I had bought both chairs at the yardsale, but at that time I had no idea about them.

-Her baby stroller. She loves to be pushed around in it (like a sardine), and loves to put babies in it and run them all over the place.

-Her babies. She loves to swaddle them, hug them, feed them, tell then night night. Its so cute.

-Stuffed animals. Her most recent favorite stuffed animal is her Bunny. It stays in the crib and she loves it.

-Her blankies. I bought some additional blankets for Lainey and gave Ruthie one of them, and she is totally uninterested in it. Its crazy to me she can so quickly and easily tell the difference.

-Her friends. She's started holding hands (on her own) with her BFF Callie. I die a thousand deaths from the cuteness each time (and I'm pretty sure Chelsey does too).

-The park. She's gotten really good at the spiral slide and flies down it. It's a two person job now (since I'm too big to go down it with her). She also really likes the swing at the park.

-Her car and wagon. Whenever we're outside she either wants to be pulled around in the wagon, or ride in her car. Thanks Nana!

-She still loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse. It blows my mind what Elmo does to children. Why do they choose Elmo to love over the other monsters? I think Elmo is a universal thing and my girl is hooked!

-She loves bathtime. She didn't start out like this, so we're really glad she loves it. I got a set of letters/numbers that float and stick to the bathtub walls and she really loves those. I'm hopeful it will help her learn her letters/numbers.

Size:

-Not sure on this one. Her 18 month well baby check is sometime next week. I'm about 99% sure I won't be taking her to it (although I'm hopeful I can and Daddy can stay with Lainey), so I'll update her stats then.

Sleep:

-Again I thought we were cutting down to one afternoon nap, but these past few days she has cranked up the morning nap and has been sleeping from abotu 9:00am-10:30, and 1:30/2:00-3:30ish. She pretty much naps about 3ish hours a day and it varies from one long afternoon nap, to two naps.

-She's very consistent at night (praying this stays that way after Lainey arrives). We try and be ready for bed around 7pm, and she'll be down from 7:15pm/7:30pm-7/7:30am. We try and skype with her Grandma and Grandpa when they get home from work (which is about this time), and if we start to go too late, Ruthie will (unprompted), go get her blankie, turn on the noise maker, get in my lap and lay her head on my shoulder. It is so cute and sweet, she definitely puts herself to bed. We love it.

Eating:

-We're really thankful for how well she eats. I've tried to do a better job of switching it up more often so she doesn't get tired of things. I'd have to say her absolute favorite now is blueberries. I'm really thankful for the huge bag from Costco! She really likes grilled cheese, tomatoes, grapes, chicken, rice, veggies. She's very good at telling us when she wants more and is all done. She folds her hands to say the blessing which is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

-She still loves water and doesn't care about juice. She's upped her milk intake lately, which we're thankful for.

-The main thing she really isn't into now is yogurt. I keep waiting for her to get back interested in it, but no luck yet.

Mobility:

-She's fast. There is something about going to lowes that puts her into superspeed. She loves to run up and down the aisles. Its really only at lowes (I think thats the only place she knows she can get down), and since we seem to be at lowes at least once a week, I think she loves it.

Words:

-I can't believe all she's saying now. I'll try and type it out like she says it so I can remember.

-Moah, moah (more more, she sounds like the seagulls on finding nemo, its hilarious)

-Mih mow (mickey mouse)

-Go Go Go. If we say, ready, set, she'll yell Go. We think its the cutest!

-Hey (in a really cute, sweet voice)

-Cank cu (thank you)

-elmo, no problems there

-bock bock (chicken)

-yeah

-no

-pah (please)

-papa (paci, she says it with a very sweet high pitched sound on the first pa. so cute)

-ball

-neigh neigh

-baa baa

-maow, maow (meow meow)

-ruff ruff

-moo

-CoCo (Chlo Chlo)

-gu gu (good girl)

-nigh nigh

-bye (with her cute little drawl)

-Oh No (which I've realized I say all the time)

Signs:

She's still signing please, milk, all done, more. Since her vocabulary has increased so much she's started to say the words back, or at the least answer yes or no (with pretty agressive head nod or shaking) along with it. I was going to start working on other signs with her, but I think working on words is a better plan now.

Teeth:

-I think we've got a break from teeth (at least for now). She has 16 total, top/bottom canines, top/bottom four front teeth, and top/bottom molars.

Other:

One main thing she's started doing is cleaning! Its hilarious. If she spills anything, she runs over to it and yells Oh no until I bring her a washcloth so she can wipe it up with. She also loves to wipe her high chair tray after she eats. While I would love to say she gets this from me, its pretty doubtful.

She also really loves to clean up her toys.

-We've been really working on going down the stairs. We tried getting her to go down on her tummy, but she would just go back up, so we started getting her to sit on her hiney and bump down. She calls it bump bump. Recently she realized she can reach part of the handrail and she really wants to hold the handrail and walk down. It stressed me out.

-She loves to climb and sit in the kitchen chairs.

After watching her friends grow in leaps and bounds from 18-24 months I can't wait to see where Ruthie will be at 24 months, although I am in no way ready for her to be 2! I can't wait to see her as a big sister and am praying she absolutely loves it. She is such a joy and absolutely hilarious.

We love love love our girl!