Month 14

Notes from month 14:

Falling backward is funny to Ruth. At one point, I started saying, "Ruth, no, no, no, no. Ruth, Ruth, Ruth. Don't fall backward" when she was sitting on the floor, and she just thought it was hilarious and now loves to purposefully fall backward so that I'll say it. When she starts this little game, she'll usually look at me and smile and say "no, no, no, no" or just look at me with a big grin egging me on to say my usual spiel. We both initiate it.
Something else to note about this activity...she doesn't really pay attention to where she is sitting. She'll just randomly want to start falling backward if there's a chair behind her or another piece of furniture. Sometimes, I have to redirect her "falling" so that it's a better experience (the falling back part doesn't bother her or hurt her; sometimes, she really stalls the falling back process)...it's all just fun to watch and to play!

Another game we play: Ruth picks something up, says "thank you", and gives it to me (a toy when we're cleaning up, a sock if we're doing laundry), and I snatch it and say "thank you". She cracks up and keeps going. It's a great way to get her to clean up (because otherwise, it can be tedious and a lot of work on Tom and I's parts [just a normal part of parenting, I know]:)) or just a fun way for us to "play" and laugh!

I spoke of our new "shadows on the ceiling" bedtime routine activity in last month's post. Well, Ruth has started moving her hand and looking up at the ceiling herself when we get to the point of getting ready to sing or soon after we start singing. It's so cute!

We went to our neighbors' place before a grocery store run. That morning, when I got Ruth up from sleeping, I asked, "Who are we going to see today?". She proceeded to tell me all three of their names (well, actually, for the dog, she still makes a "whistling" sound:)).

As we were walking into our apartment from being out and about one time, we heard our landlord's truck (which has a distinct loud sound). She said "Todd" (his name) on her own:).We will sometimes identify his truck if he hear him driving down the road from our apartment. I'm not sure if she could tell the sound, or if she just heard a loud truck and associated it with his name?!? Either way, it was cute, and it surprised me.

Ruth can now count to six!

Ruth is still saying "I wuv woo" on her own without being prompted. We like to play the "I love you" game in which one of us will say it, and then the other one will, and then we just keep going back and forth. It's fun and precious!

I hurt my back this month and was paying many visits to the chiropractor. On more than one occasion, Ruth was loving on me while I was on the table. She was laying her head on me and giving me kisses. She also seemed to be trying to mimic the doctor. He would hold my shoes level to check something, so Ruth would go down and touch my shoes like him. She also wanted the table to go up and down again after I was done. It's one of her favorite parts of our visits!

This month, Ruth started carrying around her computer keyboard (play version) and kitchen tote (with all her kitchen items) all around the house. I have no idea why, but she just loves to carry things around..."big" things for her. She's a strong little thing!

Ruth had her first bleeding "owey" this month:(. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I think she hit her mouth/jaw on a chair and something in her mouth was bleeding. Tom wasn't home. I remained calm and tried seeing what was actually wrong. She would hardly let me in her mouth. I did a few things to help calm her, clean up the blood (wasn't pouring...don't worry) and soon realized the bleeding wasn't bad and was subsiding. I think I eventually saw a cut or something in her mouth. I think I offered her some chocolate to help calm her, and she ate it with no problem, so I realized her mouth must not be hurting that bad. She got over it pretty fast:).

Ruth is now saying "thank you" on her own (I think both with her words or the sign)...meaning she doesn't have to be told or prompted to say "thank you" for something. I love it! She's not doing it for everything, but for some things. It's so cool to see as a parent. It's like knowing your kid is making good choices once they've left your home on a much smaller and earlier scale:).

Ruth can count to seven!

When you hold up the camera to take a picture, sometimes or rather I think it's safe to say frequently, she'll say "cheese":).

Ruth says "go?" if she wants to know where something went:).

Ruth still enjoys wearing bras around the house...hopefully, that's not "too much information" to be putting on a blog. I just think it's a interesting part of her development and don't want to forget it.

Ruth saying "no" has really picked up. Wasn't expecting that this soon...I though that was at 2?!

When Ruth has on or puts something on that is "pretty", I'll say "woo woo, Ruth", so she has started doing the same. When she thinks it's something that deems a "woo woo", she'll say "Mama, woo woo". It's super cute:) and a fun thing between us.

We all went to our first quinceañera. One of the family members of a guy that Tom works with was turning 15 (a big deal for girls in Mexican culture), and we got invited. We thought it would be a neat experience and a fun way to learn more about Mexican culture. We had a great time and got to see/meet others from Tom's work. Ruth had SO SO much fun! There was a big open space for dancing that all the kids were using as a play space before the dancing started. She had fun running around and made one friend in particular who played with balloons with Ruth, ran around with her, and helped her up when she fell down. She also had fun dancing on her own to the music, dancing with me:) (we just danced a little), and trying to climb up the stairs that lead up to the band's stage, as well as, checking out what was behind the big curtain behind the stage as well. She also enjoyed a cupcake:)...she kept seeing kids/people with them and really wanted theirs:). She also found an older lady that she took a fancy to. She kept going up to her and holding up her hands to be held. The lady would sing and bounce her around to the music in her arms (I think she was related to one of the guys from Tom's farm; we were close by:)...meaning, she wasn't just off on her own going up to strangers:)).

Ruth and I are continuing to make friends! We now have people to have play dates with, have been connecting with other stay-at-home moms, and have a family to exchange date night childcare with! It's been cool to see our relationships with others develop and form over the last 7 months. We're grateful!

Ruth had a play date with one of her friends this month. Although, the little girl is a few years older than Ruth, they have a lot of fun together. Ruth can say her name and almost immediately after we got to their house, Ruth started running around with her. It's so special to see your child playing with other children as a parent!

Our local coffee shop hosted cookie decorating this month. Ruth and I went and met some of our friends there. Ruth decorated one, but was way more interested in eating:) A few of her pictures got posted on their Facebook page...for as you can tell from the pictures in the post below, she was great advertisement as she made the cookies look so scrumptious!

Tom and I got to go out on a date that night. Some of our friends watched Ruth (aka Ruth got to have another play date) so that we could try out a new restaurant that I had been wanting to try (Tom had been already). There was a group of carolers singing Christmas music while we ate. It was a nice atmosphere and nice to have a date!

Ruth now bounces in bed while standing up and holding onto the sides of her crib; she's into saying "bouncing bouncing" randomly while sitting or standing while simultaneously bouncing herself.

If you sneeze, Ruth will start saying "choo" "choo" "choo" like a sneeze. She likes to do this as a game....go back and forth "sneezing".

If Ruth gets hurt on something, she'll turn back to it and say, "don't, don't, don't, don't" and point at it.

If the Christmas tree lights aren't on, sometimes (frequently) Ruth will say "tree on" or "Mama, tree" or something to that effect. She's a great reminder"er".

When Tom's parents were here for Ruth's birthday, his mom had brought us a fall cake/frosting mix kit along with a cupcake decorating kit for Ruth and I to do together. So after we got back from our travels and after family left after Thanksgiving, we made and decorated them together! We had fun (and didn't make too much of a mess...the most vulnerable mess moment is when I let her "stir" on her own...the spoon or whisk usually ends up out of the bowl and flings batter...gotta learn somehow, though...right?:)).

Ruth and I visited our local nursing home a few times this month. The first time we took the above cupcakes we made...and of course, Ruth really wanted to eat one. Not the best idea to take food to pass out because that's mostly what she focused on (and fussed about) was asking to have a cupcake.

The second time, we took some candy canes to pass around (you think I would've learned "no food" from the first time, but this time, I took a bag of snacks for her to eat while we walked around to distract her from wanting a candy cane). Santa happened to be there for a Christmas party, so Ruth sat on his lap (didn't really enjoy that and wanted down immediately), gave him a fist pound, and took a candy cane from  him (that he offered to her). She wasn't quite sure about him (her first time seeing Santa in person) but liked his jingle bells that he had in his hand (but wouldn't take them from him).
Before we visited with the candy canes, I thought we could hang them on our tree until we were able to visit. I thought I would teach Ruth how to hang them. She did "hang" some on the tree! It was so cute. We had a "cluster" of candy canes on the bottom part of our tree, most of them laying on top of branches. I think she was able to actually "hang" a couple, though! BUT, she broke one and tried it (I think maybe I had stepped away for just a minute), and once she figured out she could do that, she wanted to take them all off the tree, break them, and eat them:). Needless to say, I had to move the candy canes higher on the tree, and we had a pile of broken candy canes that were no longer deliverable to the nursing home:). She definitely learned to like candy canes from the experience, though...even though she just got a few tastes....that's all it seems to take sometimes!

Ruth can now count to ten!

Ruth is still saying "woo, woo, choo, choo" when we talk about trains or Grandpa Cully. Or sometimes, she'll just mentioned him on her own...pointing to his picture or asking to see his picture or call him on our phones. When she mentions him herself, she'll sometimes say "woo, woo, choo, choo" and then sometimes "trains". It's so cute!

Ruth can now count to 12!

When Ruth climbs up stairs, she now likes to use her feet instead of knees (still uses her hands).

In a discipline scenario, sometimes I will ask Ruth, "Are you listening to Mommy? You need to listen to Mommy and obey. Show Mommy how you listen. Etc.". She will respond "listen" and put her hand up to her ear, and then I will confirm that listening is what we should do:).

Ruth isn't throwing food on floor that much any more when eating in her high chair...yay! It's great to know that some things are just stages...of course, it may come back around, but so many things are short-lived that sometimes, it takes me while to realize their gone or they've changed.

We went to our neighbors' for another house warming/Green Bay Packer game party. It was fun! Ruth learned how to feed "her dog" by leaning over the high chair and either dropping food or letting the dog eat out of her hand. She thought it was hilarious and kept doing it and laughing at herself. I left her to her own little world for awhile. It was fun to watch her process it all as she discovered a new "trick".

I think Ruth has all her teeth except her 2nd year molars...not sure when the final ones arrived (it's harder to get in her mouth now:)), but I think they are all there! (Side note about her teeth...I went to give Ruth a bite of something and my fingers ended up in her mouth when she clamped down...WOW...she has a strong jaw/teeth! I really don't think she meant to 'bite' me; it was just bad timing. I was so surprised how dangerous her mouth is, so much so, that I'm no longer as nervous when she eats certain things. It fascinates me how little ones are equipped with what they need and how they learn certain things even without really knowing what they are doing...like chewing!).

My sister taught Ruth a new little face/mouth trick. She puts her teeth over her bottom lip and moves her teeth up and down. It's a silly thing between the two of them, but Ruth loves it, and she loves watching Aunt Maddy do it. She grins and giggles when she does it.

Ruth loves lids.

Clothing is confusing right now...some 12 month clothing fits; some are too small. Some 18 month clothing fits; some are too big. Pants especially seem difficult in terms of length.

Ruth has been enjoying grapes and peas this month (both things she's had before, of course). She's just having a lot of them now!

Not sure when this started (I think in this month sometime), but if you ask Ruth to sing, she'll go "na na na na na". It's cute!

Not sure why, but my dad randomly asked Ruth to say "yak" when we were visiting one time. Ruth said it, so now it's a running fun thing in my family (especially with my dad) to ask Ruth to say "yak". In fact, now, sometimes when she sees my dad or we mention him, she'll start saying "yak". She also enjoys saying it in the van while driving somewhere, and then will say "Mama" which means she wants me to say it and/or "Dada" which means she wants Tom to say it. We do this SEVERAL times while driving places:). She also likes to say "Ta-da" on drives and will say "Mama/Dada" for us to do the same. They're fun little family car games:).

Ruth now says "all done" (she used to sign "all finished", and then for awhile she really didn't say much; it seemed like she was saying just "all" when we asked her multiple times if she was "all finished") when she is finished eating or to communicate that she is "done" or "finished" with anything (even if you don't want her to be:)).

When Ruth "falls down", she now says "fell down".

We traveled to Ohio for an early Christmas celebration with family. It was nice to travel as a family this time (we haven't done a long trip as a family since before we moved here). We got to see our nephew and our niece, got to spend a day of celebration with my family [we got to see some of my dad's side of the family, too, who we haven't seen in a long time/Tom and Ruth had never met], and just got to do a lot of relaxing. It was a wonderful time away as a family.

On my birthday, Tom brought home some flowers for me, and then after supper, he and Ruth made me a VERY delicious triple chocolate chip cookie cake with chocolate frosting and dark chocolate toffee pieces on top...wow! They spoiled me. The apartment smelled awesome!
The next weekend, our friends watched Ruth, and Tom took me to a bakery, on a little shopping spree, and out to dinner...it was WONDERFUL! I had a great time, and it was a special and thoughtful birthday celebration. He definitely spoiled me. We had a fun time on our little birthday date, and so did Ruth with our friends:)!