Month 15

If Ruth sees one of our laptops, she asks to watch "Id" (Sid the Sloth Shuffle on YouTube). Needless to say, I have been trying to limit her to watching it once a day (it's a catchy little dance...you should watch it) and have been trying to avoid having the computer out even more so than before.

At the end of "Sid the Sloth Shuffle", it goes "everybody, jump, jump, jump, etc.", and then Sid says "Oh, yeah". Ruth can now say all this, too. She likes saying the "jump, jump, jump," part and now can say the "Oh, yeah" part, too. She also tries to "jump" with the "jump, jump, jump" part.

Ruth has recently been into towels. She likes pointing out the towels in the bathroom, especially hers, and she also likes opening the cabinet where the towels are kept. She also started saying it. Not sure if that's why she's suddenly "into" them because she is saying the word now, and it has meaning?!

When Ruth wants Tom and/or I to "play kitchen" with her, she'll now say "Mama/Dada kitchen". If I say, "Oh, you want me to play kitchen with you?", she gets all excited, shakes her head, and runs over to her kitchen. It's cute!

One of Ruth's Christmas presents from Tom's parents was a "Sit'n'Spin". She wasn't able to do it on her own at first, but today (12/30/14), she was able to do it on her own!! As she does it, she says, "around, around, around":).

Ruth has said "Mommy" and "Daddy" on more than one occasion! Wasn't expecting that!
Is now saying "Mommy" more consistently.

Ruth loves saying "Hi, Mama" or "Hi, Dada" a lot and repetitively.

Some of our friends came over so that the mom and I could discuss plans for an upcoming work party. Ruth and her friend (6 years old:)) had so much fun playing together. They were in their own little world. They hardly interrupted us moms at all...basically when they needed food:).

During the above play date, the girls almost took everything out of one of Ruth's play bins. Ruth bent over the side of it to get something out and the weight of her top half was too much to pull herself back up. All of a sudden, I heard "Momma, Momma, Momma", and I look over, and her legs are dangling out of the bin, and she's trying to pull herself up with no success. It was too cute and funny!

We have a book called "Body". It's a science book that talks about our muscular system, skeletal system, brain, ear, eye, heart, etc. Ruth has really taken a liking to this book recently. She calls it "Body", and want to "read" (it's way too long/not entertaining enough to "read" to Ruth; we just talk about it and open/pull the interactive pieces) it over and over again. It's a pop-up/pull-the-tab/interactive type book. It's now ripped in multiple places...those sorts of things are hard for 1-year-olds, but it still serves its purpose. When my desire to read it any more starts to wane, I try to think to myself that maybe she'll want to be a doctor or something some day...just keep reading, Mama...just keep reading. Or I try to distract her to something else, but that usually doesn't work as well as just trying to change my attitude:).

Ruth loves oranges. She's really been enjoying eating them recently!

Ruth has really been into eating a banana with the peel still half on and holding it at the peel and taking a bite off the top...I guess, like we adults eat bananas! If you try to break some off or offer her a bite while you hold it, she shows little interest in consuming it that way.

We're working on teaching Ruth to say "sorry" when she does something she is not supposed to and "excuse me" when we are talking to someone, and she wants our attention. She doesn't do these on her own yet, but she will say them if prompted.

At the start of this month, Ruth was able to count to 10 on her own without me.
Ruth can now count to 13. She likes to go from 1-13 and then say 13 a lot!!
She can also say 14 but cannot count to it yet.

Ruth can go up the "rock wall" of her new slide (from Tom's parents) on her own now!

I started a new game where I'll shoot a ball into a basket or something (like her shopping cart). I'll say "she shoots...she scores!". Ruth loves this and will say it herself...especially the "scores!!!" part:).

Ruth has been bouncing on balls a lot...she really enjoys this activity (a result of time at one of our friend's houses who bounces her little ones on a stability ball).

We got our Ruth's new wagon from my parents and went for a wagon ride. Ruth LOVES it. She kept saying "more, more" when I would stop or tried putting it away.

If I sing "Oooo, baba, baba, oooo, baba, baba"...Ruth will repeat it! She'll say something like "ooo, baby, baby". It's cute! (I don't listen to this song; this part just occasionally comes to mind:)).

One of our friends at church gave Ruth a stuffed cat. Ruth loves her kitty! She also received a stuffed dog from some friends for Christmas. She also really likes this dog!!

Ruth's hair is getting longer (I mean, naturally, right? I guess it's just noticeably different!).

I put together a little photo book for Ruth of pictures with family and a few friends in it (so we can practice and "know" family members even though we're states away)...Ruth likes her photo book and looking at the pictures of our family!

Ruth's attention span for sitting through the entirety of a book is waning (I am referring to her short board books even). She still likes books but just isn't wanting to sit still long enough to read one through all the way.

Ruth figured out how to open the plastic wrapper on the bags of popcorn in our pantry. She loves popcorn and especially loves watching it pop in the microwave. She'll go "pop, pop, pop" as it's doing so.

We made homemade pizzas this month, and Ruth made her own personal pan one (she got some mini pans for Christmas, so we used one to make her own little pizza).

We had Tom's work party to attend this month. It was held at a local bowling alley. It was great to be able to see some of the staff I already know and to meet new ones, too! It was a great family-oriented party...food, bowling, photo booth, music and dancing, kids to play with!:) Ruth and I watched others bowl. Ruth kept saying "Go, Casey" when one of her friends bowled, so then we started saying "Go, Daddy", "Go, ____" for some of the people. To this day, if bowling is mentioned, Ruth will still go "Go, Casey" "Go, Daddy", etc. It's cute.

We had a game night with some of our new friends this month. We each made a dip and did an appetizer type meal. We ate and then played Settlers of Catan (my favorite)!! It was fun, and the kids did well considering it was past bedtime (they have 2 little ones). We were also glad to make it work while kids were around...playing games is different once children are in the picture, but we made it work!

I had a "work day" this month. Tom watched work for the day (except for when he got called out on an emergency:)), and I got caught up on a few projects!! It was nice!

Ruth loves drinking out of bowls...like her cereal milk or soup broth or something.

Ruth can fill in/finish words of songs and books. For example, I might read "God gave me a...", and she'll say "bed".

Ruth can move forward on her little tractor that she rides around the house.

I showed Ruth how to give a bottle to her baby doll, so now she is able to do it, too.

Ruth has been playing in the living room while I work in the kitchen....this is great! She doesn't have to be in the same room as me. Sometimes, I really want to see what she's doing, but I don't want to bother or distract her because I want her to keep exploring on her own and entertaining herself.

Ruth enjoys trying to catch balls while sitting on top of her slide.
She actually caught her larger ball while sitting up there...woohoo!

Ruth can get herself to standing without using something to help her up. Before, she would crawl over to something to use to get up. Now she can just use her hands.

We still do cloth diapers, so when Ruth poops, we have to flush it down the toilet. When we do this, she'll say "poo poo, go?" (aka "where'd you go?") :)

Ruth has been asking Daddy to give her fish and frog more food...she's not satisfied with just a little pinch:).

We had a funeral to attend this month. Some of our dear friends lost their grandmother. We were grateful for the opportunity to support our new friends in this way.

We've decided we are going to build our own bookshelf...:). We bought the stuff and just have to start working on it now. It will be a fun family project.

Ruth and I went to family yoga at the library this month. She did pretty well. She played with a friend, tried talking to people (while it was going on), and was trying to get things out of people's bags (don't worry, I stopped her), but I at least got most of the poses/stretches in:).

I took a training this month to become a certified Zumba instructor! Woohoo! Ruth and Daddy had a fun day together. It was a fun day, and although my body was tired at the end of it, my mind was full of info! I also enjoyed a Reese's Fast Break (my favorite candy bar) that I had gotten from Christmas as I thought a whole day of burning calories was the perfect day for a treat!

We met up with some friends and some new friends for an informal play group:). One of my friends is a pastor's wife and the church has an unused old school building on its property that they allowed us to use. It has a great gym with lots of toys. It was nice to use it since it's been so cold and windy!

My sister taught Ruth how to do this weird movement with her lips/teeth, so, recently, whenever I just mention someone in my family especially either of my sisters, Ruth will start doing that on her own. It's really cute!

Toward the end of this month, Ruth's sleeping and eating were off.