17 months

Ruby turned 17 months on December 9th. She's a busy bee for sure! She's changing and growing like a weed. Here's a bit about her over the past month.

-Ruby is talking so much. I may have mentioned these already, but some of her most used words are bubba, dadda, key-key (what she lovingly calls her blankie), lovie (luh-bee), hair bow, pretty, ear, eyes, nose, splash, apple (babow), cracker, yogurt (whoa-goo), Cheerio (chee-oh), cereal (eee-oh), I want cup, eat (hard t), I want eat, go go!, uh-oh, ball, jacket, feet, toes, nigh-night (nigh-nigh), milk (muck), trash (when she finds some on the floor), "bye bye Daddy". There are so  many more, but these are some highlights!

 -She is not walking, but is getting around much more. She is gaining strength and courage. She will now dismount the furniture on her own and does not fall. She figures out how to shimmy down on her tummy and lands on her feet.

 -She's getting to be a pickier eater, but I can always scramble eggs and she will eat them. The other food she's been crazy about this month are raspberries and blackberries. I've been able to give her those a ton, so at least she's getting good nutrients from them.

 -When she really wants something, she will say it over and over really fast and with some serious passion-it cracks us up. Henry imitates her at random times and makes me laugh. So its...Iwantcup, Iwantcup, Iwantcup, Iwantcup, Iwantcuuuuuup!!!! (same with I want ball!). She has also learned cookie and gum (no, she has never had gum), and associates these with all treats. So she will see the big kids with some kind of treat and will say, "gum?' and I will say, no you can't have gum. Then she will say, "cookie?" (nice try). She says it cooo-keee, drawing out that first syllable.:) She associates cookie with the grocery store, and the other day we were in Walmart and asked, "cookie?". I told her this store doesn't have cookies. Then she said, "nana?" which I got a kick out of because at the Madison Target they give fruit instead of a cookie. She was trying to figure out what they offered at the store we were in! Anyway, weird memory, but I could just see her making connections and communicating.

 -She is learning to shake her head yes and no. No comes much easier than yes. She was playing hard one night and started to fuss a little (maybe got hurt or something), so Steven asked, Do you want me to pick you up? And she gave an emphatic "NO!" shake of the head. We both cracked up. I think it looks more dramatic bc of all her hair or something.

 -She found some dried up leaf in the kitchen and picked it up and said, "wuck. wucky". I couldn't figure out her work, then it dawned on me she was saying yuck and yucky! She then handed it to me and said "trash". Ha! Yes, dear, get used to it! She has been using wucky a  lot since then.:)

-In the pic above you can see she picks her toes!:) She will just be playing, then all of a sudden she will notice something between her toes and she will work and work on getting it. It is so funny and makes her look like a little monkey! Annie did the same thing and still does sometimes.

 -She loves wipes and tissues and will pretend to blow her nose (above) and will use the wipe to wipe her belly and whatever is around. Maybe she will be a good housekeeper someday!

That's all for now! You're such a sweetie, and we love you so much, Ruby! It's hard for me to believe that you'll be 1.5 next month! Time is flying!

16 months

Ruby turned 16 months on November 9th. She is growing like a weed...She went to her 15 month check up on 10/16 and I forgot to put her stats in her last post. She is 32 inches tall (95%), 24.5 lbs (90%), so when I say she's growing, I'm not kidding! She got 3 shots at her check up and was a trooper. Daddy took her and he was a trooper, too:)
Below are a few things going on with baby girl over the past month.

-Quite the talker! She's saying more and more, and her current phrase is "I want_________" (fill in the blank with what she wants), so we hear I want cup, I wanna eat, I wanna ride, I want ball..... all the time. She is also starting to be attached to her blankie/lovie and calls them her kiki (sounds like blankie). We put the blankie on our shoulder and hold her, and her head is like a magnet going to lay down on her blankie. It is funny and sweet! She's also says "ear" now along with nose and eyes. She faces away from me in her car seat, but will crane her neck around to look at me and will say, "hello" when I am driving.

-She loves to talk about her body parts and will say "tickle tickle tickle" and show us her belly when asked "where's your belly?" She also makes that same sound when she sees someone else's skin or side showing and she goes to tickle us! She will also show us her teeth (bite teeth together), tongue (poke it out), and lips (put them together and apart, together, apart). She says a few animal noises (quack for duck, meow for cat), but she mostly just listens to us when we do them right now.

-She just loves the water. Bath is probably her most favorite thing, and she also had a blast this month when we went to an indoor water park. She crawled all over the place and her knees got all red and scratched. She does not mind getting splashed and loves to be in the water. She also loved sitting in the duck ride at Dollywood this month when we visited friends and was all smiles, but when the ride actually took off, she cried the whole time!

-She loves her daddy and when he walks in after work she squeals with delight from across the room and speed crawls to greet him and the door. When he picks her up, she lays her head on his shoulder for the longest time then is thrilled to be carried around by him for as long as he is willing afterward.

-Ruby really is such an easy going personality. When I think of all the things we drag her to and all the running around in the car we do, it is pretty amazing how chill she is. She sleeps her normal 2.5-3 hour afternoon nap wherever we lay her and always sleeps through the night without waking up, and she is the best car rider ever. Seriously-not a peep. And it isn't like she's just kind of fussy but we ignore it because we still have to do what we have to do. No, she is truly happy and easy going. She's a joy to be with, and I'm so thankful!

There's much  more, but I better stop for now! Evidently I forgot to take a pic of her in her pjs this month, so below are a few from around the 9th time frame. We love you, Ruby Jane! 

That's ice cream on her face...hence the pleasant look!

I'm including this one of her with her siblings bc she's in her pjs at least!! She thinks she's one of the big kids and will sit on the sofa beside them and watch a Saturday morning cartoon for a bit. She's started with TV way earlier than the other 2...oh well! :) Perk  of being a 3rd I guess!