20 months

Ruth has been able to get both feet off the ground when attempting to jump. She is not consistent at all and has only accomplished this feat a couple times, but it's still so much fun to watch her try to jump! She tries so hard. It's fun to watch her try to learn a gross motor skill again...like crawling or walking.

I started singing "BINGO" with Ruth recently, and now it's one of her new favorite songs! She asks me to sing it in the van especially. She now knows how to sing part of it herself...she can say, "B-I-N-G-O"....it's so cute!

When we're around someone Ruth doesn't know too well or if we're Skyping or on the phone, and she's just being a little timid (like if I ask her to show them something or they ask to give her a five, she'll do her "Hi, Mommy" thing), I'll sometimes comment that she's being a little shy at the moment. She has now started to say herself that she's feeling "shy" in such situations. Seeing this as both a good and a not-so-good thing, but either way, it's interesting that she's starting to understand feelings/emotions/moods and make connections.

For some reason, Ruth has been finding pigs funny. She has recently been enjoying looking through her farm-themed scrapbook from Grandpa Cully, and when she gets to a certain pig picture, she just points and "fake" laughs. She has done this multiple times. She also did the same point and "fake" laugh when she spotted a pig on the front of one of her books. Not sure why she is finding pigs so comical, but it's funny!

Ruth has really enjoyed saying "everywhere" now...she'll use is often to describe certain things. She even has a game we call "everywhere". She'll put a couch pillow on the floor and step on it and then over to the other side while saying "everywhere"...not a clue where this came from, but she likes it! She enjoys when we play it with her, too.

Ruth has really been enjoying playing on our love seat. She usually plays on it when I'm in the kitchen doing dishes. She'll get out her stuffed animals and dolls and blankets and play pretend while she's on the couch. I love listening to her.

Ruth randomly started saying "no eat me" to certain things...mainly animals such as dogs. Not sure why she has started thinking animals are going to eat her...it's interesting. In some ways, I hope she keeps saying it so that I can figure out more of where it's coming from.

Ruth is getting better and better at singing songs...every time I hear her singing them on her own, she'll say more and more words...especially "Allelujia" in the van.

In church today, as the music started playing, and we were about to sing our first worship song, Ruth bellowed out "allelujia". A lot of people afterward said they heard it, wondered who was the culprit, and chuckled to themselves. It was quite precious!

Ruth randomly started saying, "Oh, my word" in the van on our way to "the city" today...I mean...she has probably heard it from someone...and that someone is probably me. She would be like, "Mommy, oh, my word, boo boo" (pointing out her boo boo on her knee). I think she also said something about there being applesauce on her carseat...not sure as I don't think there's any applesauce on her car seat!

We had to take our van into the shop this month, and Ruth made a new friend while we were in the waiting area....Andrea. Ruth sat by her and talked to her and remembered her name after we left.

When we were "checking in" the van, the lady at the front desk took our keys to go get some info on the van. I must have told Ruth that she was going to come back or something because when she came back, Ruth said "came back" (or maybe I said it first, and then she started saying it). So then she continued to say "came back" about this lady...even when we saw her on the flip side of our visit. It was cute and interesting...love how those little brains work!

She's not as in to jumping the last half of this month.

At supper one night, she started putting her vegetables up her nose. Tom and I were also having a conversation, so after I got a pea out of her nose and took care of explaining we don't do that, etc. she did it again. Since we were talking, we didn't catch that she did it again...(should have removed her from the situation or put the conversation on hold for a bit probably:)). Once I did catch it, we repeated the scenario over again. She kept blowing her nose though like she had more up there. I tilted her head back, and sure enough, there was a piece of carrot stuck up there. I was able to get it out. She kept blowing. Tilted her head back further and there was something else up there (I think another carrot)...I told Tom he could take over:). He held a nostril shut and told her to blow. At first she tried blowing with her mouth, so he said like you blow your nose. It took a couple of tries, but she did it, and it came out...we cleaned her up and got her out of her high chair...playing with food, throwing food on the floor, etc. becomes an issue when she's done and being less unsupervised...wasn't expecting food in the nose to be added to that list of things!

One of Casey's friends had her 7th birthday party this month. Ruth and I went. It was a bowling party with a western theme. Ruth dressed up western! One of Ruth's other friends had her help him bowl a few times. She also enjoyed the snacks and cupcake that were offered at the party!

We took a little day trip to the DeYoung Family Zoo in MI with 3 other families from church this month! We had a great time getting to know our new friends even better, being together as a family, and getting to check out the unique zoo. Ruth had a lot of fun with her friends and was Miss Independent that day...wanting to walk around everywhere on her own. Thankfully, it was not packed and laid out in such a way that allowed for her to explore/be independent. It was a fun trip!

We also went with some of our friends to a children's museum in one of closer bigger cities. It was a very hands-on play/explore/pretend/learn type of museum. Ruth really enjoyed the water room...of course...the water room! She also liked the giant globe! We stopped at a pizza place (yum!) before heading home.

One of Tom's vet school classmates (who was working in Madison, WI this year) came to visit us this month. It was great seeing her again, catching up, and showing her more of the rural side of WI! Ruth loved having her here (she still just loves people!) and soaked up having someone new to show all of her toys and such to. We took her to Tom's farm and to our local ice cream shop (she loves ice cream:))! We're grateful that she got to come!

My mom and sister came to visit this month. We went shopping up in the "city". We went to a couple cheese stores. We watched a few online episodes of Cupcake Wars:). We made LOTS of freezer meals! We checked out a couple of bakeries and got some ice cream at the local ice cream shop, too...lots of sweet treats this week!

Ruth got her first picnic table as an early birthday gift from one of her great aunts! My mom and sister brought it when they came to visit. She helped Tom put it together...handing him the nuts and bolts as he asked for them. She had fun sitting (and just playing with/on it) at it for about a week inside...for meals or snack time, and then we took it outside so that we could enjoy it out there, too...especially while it's still nice outside! THANK YOU!

Ruth started sticking her finger up her nose in front of other people because she knows it gets a response out of them. She hardly (if ever) just does it when she's around Tom and I, and specifically does it around others (especially certain people who have already given her a response/attention) because she knows she's being silly. Boy do they catch on quickly!

Ruth completed reading 1,000 books before Kindergarten (something our library was doing). She received a stuffed animal as a prize...a badger...apparently, the lady who gave it to her told her it was kind of like a kitty or looked like a kitty or something or maybe Ruth thought it was a kitty at first...so now, that stuffed badger's name is "Kitty Badger". She really likes her badger. It's become one of her favorite stuffed animals. For awhile...she would take it places with her. It's funny how stuffed animals play such an important role in their play/development.

Not sure why, but Ruth struggled with sleep this month...maybe a growth spurt...maybe just a phase?! I think it was more just not sleeping as much...and inconsistent waking up/napping.

Ruth can count to 20. I didn't know that she could, but on our way up the stairs to our apartment one day, she counted to 20 (we like to count as we go up the stairs). I helped a little...maybe around sixteen, but she definitely did it! I was surprised.

Ruth found a little frog board game on a shelf in her room and has enjoyed playing that this month. It involves rolling dice...her favorite part...I do everything else for the most part:). She just enjoys saying, "Mommy's turn/Ruth's turn" and "rolling" and then going to get the dice (they don't usually land near the board:)).

Ruth started jumping and then falling down on her backside...the first time, I said something like, "Ow!"...and she thought that was hilarious, so of course, she did it again and again and again. She loves doing it and getting a "reaction" out of Tom and/or I! (Typing this at 21.5 months, and she now associates jumping and falling on her backside with the frog board game...not remembering why...she must have started that activity when we were playing that game...funny!).

Ruth loves...mints (she'll dig them out of my purse), yogurt (she loves eating it with her Daddy), climbing stairs (getting more and more independent by the day...wanting "Ruth" to do it and getting better and better at doing so), and music (in the van, dancing to it).

Ruth started bouncing in her crib this month. She has also been bouncing on the couch (we had to figure out our thoughts on this activity/set up some rules/etc.). (Funny as she's 21.5 months as I type this and hardly ever gets on the couches/bounces any more...oh, how things change!).

Ruth is not quite sure yet what she thinks of thunder/lightening...it's kind of a love/hate relationship right now, but I think overall, she thinks it's cool. She'll say it's scary (I'll confirm it's a little scary but that we're safe inside, we need the rain, it's really neat, that type of thing), but we try to make it cool and fun, and we talk about God and Jesus bowling up in heaven when it thunders. She'll say, "Go Jesus!" when she hears thunder. We set up our camping tent one rainy/stormy day in the living room. She wasn't very interested in it....maybe especially because of the storm. She really didn't even want to go in it. While we were setting it up or doing something, it thundered so loud, that it caught me off guard, so I jumped and shrieked which made Ruth do so as well. I think she was crying a bit...I was laughing, comforting, explaining, and shaking a bit still, too. It was loud!
Needless to say...the tent came down pretty fast!