Month 19

She has been doing this for awhile, but when Ruth gets shy or nervous around people, she'll say, "Hi, Mommy". If they ask her questions, she'll say, "Hi, Mommy". If they hold their hands out for her to come to them, she'll say, "Hi, Mommy". She's not always shy or nervous, and she warms up to people pretty fast, but when she does get like that, that is her "go to" phrase.

Tom had a vet student with him this week, so we had him over for supper (yes, I say supper now!) one night. At first, Ruth was pretty shy...we probably had to really work with her to even say "hi", but after supper, she started warming up and then all she wanted to do was play with him. He read her books, played instruments with her, and she just loved it all! He was so good with her, and it's always fun to see her really enjoy other people. It's fun watching her!

A sweet older couple from church (who raised 5 daughters!) sent us a "certificate" in the mail for a free date night sometime...SO SWEET OF THEM! So we were finally able to line something up this month! Ruth spent a few hours over at their house (and had a grand time), and Tom and I went out for a nice dinner (he even had a gift card I didn't know about, so we did an appetizer and dessert, too:)!). It was a nice treat (the dinner and the date in general:)). They said Ruth didn't even ask for us until about 30 minutes before we got there (always good to know they haven't forgotten you're their parents:)). We're so grateful for this opportunity! Thank you to our new friends here!!

Ruth loves when Daddy is here to get her out of bed in the morning or at nap time. She perks up and gets excited right away!

We went over to get to know the people from church who watched Ruth for us for a date night. We were playing "Ring Around the Rosy" together, and Ruth fell down (all the way!) right on cue all on her own. I had never seen her do that before. Before, I would have to help her fall down. When I told Tom this, he said she had fallen down before on her own...so maybe I just never caught it or something?! It was so cute, though! Although...I just realized I had the following originally written down for month 18 "Ruth fell on her own during ring around the rosy for the 1st time", so maybe I'm just losing it! Anyway...Ruth can fall down on her own, and that started somewhat recently:).

During one of our visits to the above friends' house, Ruth said something that completely caught me off guard...and now, I'm trying to think of how it went...
I don't remember if I said "Jordan" or if I said something that triggered Ruth to say "Jordan", and then I asked who Jordan is, and all on her own, she said "Payge boyfriend". I had no idea she had connected the dots here and was not expecting her to say that at all. I excitedly confirmed her answer!

Ruth now has her 3rd 2nd year molar coming through!

Ruth had her 18 month doctor visit...
24 lb. 2 oz.
33 and something inches long (I think they forgot to record it, and I forget what it is)
She is healthy and doing well!
She despised being there. It all started when they asked her to step up on the scale; then the tears started, and it was downhill from there. That's ok. It's something we still have to do. They are great; she just didn't like being touched and having to do everything they asked...it must be scaring once you start to understand everything and once you can remember things from visit to visit. We were all patient with her and just tried to help her along. She got a glove balloon and a sticker out of the deal...I think if they started giving out ice cream or cookies that might help a bit:). She currently has no desire to go to see "Nurse Scott" ever again

I discovered her 4th 2nd year molar...the right top one.

We started doing the following to make sharing snacks or a drink more fun; we've also used it to get her to eat something at supper time...
"Mommy's turn...Ruth's turn...Daddy's turn"....repeat.
She likes doing this! It makes sharing things fun...even for us!
(This may have started at 18 months...at least the snack/drink sharing part...not sure.)

Ruth has been enjoying pretending to be a baby. I think it all started when she pointed out to me awhile ago that she was crawling, so I started saying something like, "Oh, hi, Baby Ruth. Good job crawling, Baby Ruth". So now she'll periodically crawl around and say, "Mommy, Baby Ruth". The other night, I had the idea to replay how we used to have her practice walking between us. I use to say, "balance, balance". So, we replayed the scenario, and Ruth pretended like she was walking like a little baby...all on her own. It was so funny! Where did she come up with this imagination on her own?! It's too cute! Pictures just don't capture how cute it really is!

Ruth has also been pretending to be a cat and a dog. It's cute. I'll tell her to sit, lay down, and roll over, and she'll do all of them:). She'll "woof" and "meow" (depending on which animal she is).

I discovered the other day, while doing laundry downstairs, that Ruth can sing "Ring Around the Rosie" by herself. She doesn't do it word for word, but she gets all the parts in there!

Ruth made a friend at basketball (Tom's open gym basketball)...a female college player. She was willing to play with Ruth, and Ruth loved it. Ruth would take the ball, stand under the basket, and "shoot" it (which basically means releasing the ball). She did this again and again.

Ruth has been walking around with one of her cell phone's (a family member's old one) this week (she has a few different phone "options", but she has found her favorite) and pretending to talk to her Grandma and Grandpa Cully on it. She picks up the phone, says "hello" and then their names, says, "fine thank you" and then will proceed to repeat that all over again or talk to them about tea parties or other stuff. She'll just walk around the house with the phone up to her ear and her head cocked a little. It's really cute. Sometimes, she'll give the phone to me and tell me to talk to them. The other day, I mentioned to them that Ruth hadn't done a good job listening to Mommy at the library and "asked" them (remember...still pretending here) to tell Ruth she needs to listen to Mommy. So I handed the phone to her, and she started saying something like, "hello, G&G. listen mommy. pick up library book."....Wow! Wasn't expecting that...this was on her own in her own little world. She repeated this a few times. It was cute!

Ruth has some favorite things/places she likes to drive by when we're in the van. She likes to watch for motorcycles. She likes to drive by the place where they have school buses sitting out. She likes to drive by farms with horses, and she likes to drive by the "ice cream place" (our local place in town). So now, when we get in the van, she'll ask me if we're going to go by those places, and I proceed to tell her which ones we'll be going by and try to remember to point them out. She knows, depending on where we are at, what we are close to, and will point them out on her own, as well, if I don't. It's becoming our new norm in the van.

She also has been singing along to the song we call "alleluia" in the van (mentioned the history of this song in the 18 month post). It has to be one of the most precious things the Lord has ever heard (just little ones singing songs of praise in general). It almost makes me want to cry every time she sings it...so innocent...and she actually sings! It's just so precious!

Ruth has been taking more showers recently. She seems to get excited when taking a shower. She'll squeal and act all giddy?! She also has been "blowing" her nose in the shower. She loves to do it over and over again and make lots of noise and play with the spit/snot that comes out...TMI?!? It entertains her!

We went for a walk one night this week, and an old couple turned their car around, drove over to us, and handed us a dollar. The lady said it was for Ruth's piggy bank and that she likes to do that for little ones. Aw! So sweet! Thank you! Ruth was excited to have money! She wasn't as excited when we actually put it in her piggy bank. I think she liked it better in her hands:).

Ruth can now blow her nose pretty well! She doesn't exactly wipe it all off when she's done, but she can blow with a tissue up to her nose!

Ruth can pick out the sound of a motorcycle. She'll say "motorcycle" and run to the window when we're at home:).

Just a few days ago, Ruth started saying "be right back" and "see you in the morning". So now, when we say good-bye to people, sometimes she'll say, "see you in the morning". Or if she goes to do something in the other room or something like that, she'll tell me "be right back"...I think I've said both of these phrases to her over her 1.5 years of living but definitely wasn't expecting her to use them when she did. It's cute!

When Ruth starts to get a little cranky or emotional, she has recently started to say "nap"...signifying she wants to go take a nap...it's never actually worked, but it's very interesting to me that she's starting to connect certain "feelings" with going to take a nap...

Ruth enjoys somersaulting. She can't do it on her own, but she likes to practice. She knows to squat and put her hands down, and then Tom or I have to do the rest of actually rolling her over. She'll usually ask to do it again!

Ruth is really into "jumping". She tries so hard to jump, and she wants to be able to so bad...in fact, she thinks she is...it's hard to get both feet off the ground at the same time. It's super cute to watch her. She just giggles and has the best time "jumping".

Ruth and I spent some time in the kitchen one day, and while I was at the counter working on something, she would come up to me and say "be right back", then she'd head over to another part of the room, then come back to me and say "back now". This kept her entertained for quite some time.

Ruth loves pickles...she's eaten a few in her lifetime, but just recently I realized she really likes them, so I bought a jar. With her dinner tonight, she ate 4 dill pickles!

She's been doing this for awhile, but Ruth enjoys watching herself/talking to herself through the reflection of the oven door:). She'll dance, talk, etc. It's cute!

Ruth was really into her "whale" pj shirt this month...so much so that she wanted Tom to put it randomly on her in the middle of the day when she came across it in the laundry. She got emotional when we told her we'd wait til bedtime to put her whale pj shirt on.
I also finally was able to find some more summer pj sets (thanks, Target!!), and she's excited about those, too....particularly the ones with ice cream cones on them:).

We had some family come to visit this month! Grandma and Grandpa Cully, Uncle Ben, his girlfriend, and her two kids all came to visit for a weekend. We had a great time!
Ruth loved having everyone here and soaked up all the attention she could get. We toured Tom's farms, went to a cheese store, played outside, made a Walmart run, swam at the hotel some of them were staying at and had a little pizza party after swimming, went to church, and went out for a nice dinner after church on Mothers' Day. We always love seeing and spending time with family!! It was a very special weekend, for sure!