21 months

Ruth has been communicating that she feels "shy" more often on her own (mainly around other people). She'll say "shy" when she's feeling that way.

My mom noticed that Ruth has started crossing her middle and pointer fingers this month. Not sure why?!

Ruth has been saying "that way" more to tell you where she wants to go.

When Ruth wakes up, she's been saying "no ni-night" now...I assume this means, she's all done sleeping:) and glad for it.

Ruth has been showing less and less interest in sitting in her highchair and wearing a bib. I've been letting her sit up at the table more and have now put her in her own chair in her Bumbo to eat at the "big girl table". Seems to be working well.

Ruth can now twist lids off of things...which means she loves all the items under the bathroom sink...body washes, aloe, etc. She is wanting to twist lids off of everything now. (as I type this a month or so later, she is over this excitement already for the most part...amazing how things change so quickly!).

Ruth was able to get the lid off of the frog food and spilled it all over (she found another jar the next morning and did the same thing again). I even have trouble opening it! We've crossed into new territory...."child-proof" now means very little in our household.

Ruth is able to climb up onto Tom's desk in the office to get to "Daddy's gum" (where I used to store his gum...gonna have to find a new spot now:)). She knows though that she can't have any until she's older.

Ruth has been saying, "Mommy/Daddy, watch this" before she shows one of us something. I love it! It's so cute!

Ruth can sing whole phrases of songs...every word...it's so cute!

Ruth's favorite new book: "Jingle Bugs"...her face lights up when she gets to the last page...it's an interactive book, and the last page plays music and lights up when you pull a tab.

Ruth and I spent about 6 days in Ohio visiting family and then about 6 days in Indiana visiting family this month. Tom was able to join us in Ohio for about 3 days. We had a great time...

In Ohio:
Ruth wanted her soon-to-be aunt's lemonade....we were out swinging together, and the drink was sitting in a drink holder to the side of the swing. When her soon-to-be aunt picked up the cup to drink it, Ruth started licking the drink cup holder...tried to at least...it was kind of hard to do so...it was hilarious...she must have been desperate (she basically only drinks water, milk, and orange juice, so anything else seems like gold or something to her...at least, that's what her actions seem to communicate).
Ruth had fun playing with her cousins, cousins-to-be, eating "cream" with Grandma Cully, playing trains with Grandpa Cully, watching for fish with Uncle B, and just being around family for the week.
Ruth for some reason didn't want to swing in Grandma and Grandpa Cully's swing that she has that is identical to ours...I realized that I think it's because that swing is suspended from longer ropes, and so it "feels" different to her when she swings...I swung her in it not realizing the situation, and she clenched her face and held on super tight...maybe this means she won't be a roller coaster rider when she's older.

In Indiana:
Ruth loved playing with the water hose and in the pool! She seems to have a healthy respect but not a lot of fear of the water. She did fall on the pool cover once...with 2 or 3 adults right there catching her as she did. It was right before we were getting ready to head back to WI....always an adventure!
She also loved swinging while there. She did this LOTS!
She also enjoyed feeding Moose (their dog) bacon treats. Moose probably gained a few pounds during our visit. We had to limit her sometimes as she probably would have fed him the whole bag if we would have let her.
We threw my sister a surprise Sweet 16 while there. It was lots of work but LOTS of fun! She was totally surprised and loved it!
Ruth took to one of the baby dolls that was at my parents. We ended up bringing it home for her...nothing like some good practice before Baby #2 arrives.
Ruth loved on little boy her age when we visited my parents' church; she also loved on one of my friend's little boys who is a year old. She wanted to "hold it" (him). She also wanted me to put him down when I was holding him...I don't think it was because she wanted to hold him but rather because she didn't want me holding another kid.
Not sure which family member taught her this song, but Ruth now can and likes to sing the song Hakuna Matata or as she says "Cuma a tata"...super cute!

Size 4 shoes are basically too small...on to size 5.

Ruth now moves her hair out of her eyes/face on her own. She seems to prefer NOT to have her hair up in a hair tie....but I still put it up (sometimes multiple times a day:)) to keep it out of her face...as even though she can move it out, it remains in her face for most of the day if I don't pull it up.

Ruth can sing her ABC's...she might miss a few letters, but she's got it! I actually didn't know she could sing it, but she just did it...twice! I have to help her a little...like "what comes after p?", but I was so surprised! It was precious!

Ruth almost always takes her shoes off in the van:)...not that this is new but it happens basically every time we go anywhere.

Ruth has been doing this awhile, but after we do our night time routine as a family and Tom goes to pick her to take her to her room to put her to sleep, she goes limp...I call her the limp noodle at this point, so now I'll say, "Goodnight, limp noddle" as Tom carries her off, so she's started saying it before I do or after I do...it's a new tradition now:).

Ruth is singing more and more phrases of songs.

Ruth has really been enjoying sliding at parks now. It used to be all about the steps and ramps and swings...hardly any interest in slides...but now, she enjoys going down the slides over and over and over again! It's fun to see her enjoy something new and different and not be scared.

Ruth has been able to do the stairs (I don't remember if it was going up or down or both; my guess would be down) without hands a couple of times (like a couple of stairs...not the whole stair case a couple of time). She's getting more and more competent and more and more comfortable.

Happy 4th of July! We went to a 4th of July parade and grabbed a bite to eat/ice cream to take to a local playground. We just enjoyed some time as a family.