Ruby is 2.5

Our big girl turned 2.5 on January 9th! She is at such a fun age, and her personality is really starting to become evident! Below is a bit about her!

Ruby with her rock basket-showing me her new PJ's

Babies go with us everywhere-this was to basketball practice. The girls always take their clothes off for some reason. We never have clothed babies around.

Ruby with her baby holster. You can also see here she is wearing Annie's boots-that she put on herself, so they are on the wrong feet!:)

One day recently at Let's Play-definitely not a baby anymore!!

Loving the outdoors! Adores playing outside, swinging, sliding, and anything at the playground!

-Perhaps the biggest thing about Ruby at 2.5 is that she's fully potty trained! I was dreading this and so I kept putting it off, but once we put our all into it, she was super easy and fast! It just took a few days, and just a few small accidents, and that's it! She gets a tiny treat as a reward, and that is motivation enough for her! She is so proud to wear big girl undies like her sis, too. I still put her in a nighttime diaper, but I really don't need to because she always wakes up dry. I'll use up the pack I guess! She wants to do it all herself, and will pull up her undies and pants herself. She sometimes takes everything off, then wants to put it ALL back on herself. One morning she did this before church. Then when I was getting her out of the car I noticed they were on inside out. I went to fix them and noticed her undies were in a wad down in one of the leg holes! haha!
-Ruby loves baby dolls, and she plays with them often. She is constantly going in to her room, turning on the noise maker, getting the stool to turn off her light, and laying her baby (all wrapped up) down for a nap! Sometimes it's on the floor or in the little baby crib. She comes out and whispers, "Shhhh. Baby's sleeping". She loves when I play along and we will creep back in together for her to show me her sleeping baby. She also has a bitty sized baby that she wants to keep in her undies, but we tell her no! We let her keep it in her pants like a holster, and she is very adamant that the baby face toward her like she's sleeping. That's what she's doing in the picture above!:) She takes a baby with her to the car most of the time and holds it in her car seat. Another favorite thing for Ruby is to put her baby in the stroller or shopping cart (sometimes 2 babies-with blankies and other gear of course) and make laps around the house. Annie does this with her quite often-they can have lots of fun together doing this type of thing.
-Another highlight for Ruby right now is rocks and chap stick! She loves both so much! She carries around a little basket of rocks (in first picture) all over the house, and will stop and pour them out, look through them, and put them back. She is very protective of her rocks-a sibling better not try to claim one (they are actually Annie's and Henry's rocks from various places we've collected over the years, but oh well). She also adores chap stick, and we honestly have to secretly confiscate it because she gets so obsessed and it becomes a big mess (she was putting it all over her doll's lips and it became a big mess). She isn't content with just her own lips, either. It ends half way up her face, and once she was rubbing it all over her forehead! She got some in her stocking, and Grandpa and Peggy gave her some, too. She added those to her little rock basket, and, oh my! It has been her focus! She has to put it in a special place before nap and as soon as she wakes up, the very first thing she ask for is her rocks and chap stick! This type of thing reminds me of her bro-singularly focused and into collecting. It cracks us all up!
-She tries to use her manners and will say "Thank you!" for different things...booboo bandays, when a door is opened for her, when a mom gave her cake at a party, etc. She is so cute to give compliments, and will say "I love your ___________"(fill in the blank with whatever!). We were visiting Grandma, and she told Grandma that she loved her sweater. Grandma didn't hear her, so Ruby looked up and said, "Grandma didn't manner me!" Ha, ha! I guess she wants others to use their manners, too!:)
-She buckles her top buckle herself. When she hears the click, she says, "Got it!"She will ask us to "unbuckle" stuff for her-meaning she wants us to open it (like candy or chap stick). She went through a little stubborn streak (October) and wanted to sit in real chair rather than high chair. We try to let her, but things still go more smoothly when she's in it! Sometimes it's not worth the fight, though! She went through a phase of furrowed brow, but luckily it didn't last! She was throwing fits to not hold hands to cross the parking lot, etc. Very 2 year old behavior!:) She was saying, "No, I do it!" quite often.
A few more things...
"Mom, mom. Can I???"
"I want some-ping else"
"Oh man!"
"What YOU doin?'"
"Do you hear me?"
"Chewy, chewy bubble gum. Do it really fast!!"
"My nose is so yuck!!"
"It's coming out!!" (talking about her diaper or when she needs to go potty!)
"I had a burp in my seat." (talking about gas)
"My tummy and my back is full!!" She was also getting being full and being hungry mixed up, so we had some very confusing conversations.
-Very sad flu shot. Saw the big kids get them, and kept whispering to me, "Don't want it. Don't want one!" Then when it was her turn she just lost it before anything bad had even happened. After that she freaked out in Sunday School class because the lesson was
-So proud to get late bday present from Elijah. "Por me?? Por me, mama??" Then that night she prayed and thanked God for "My present and my shirt and my Elijah." She threw major fits when we made her take her new shirt off to get PJ's on, and I had to promise she could wear it the next day.
-Beach trip in Oct and she talked about playing in the sand the whole drive (didn't have memory of our other beach trips!). As soon as we go to the beach, she squealed in delight and fell down in it and rolled around. It was in her face, her hair, everywhere! She is quite the beach bum and doesn't mind being sandy, wet, and windblown!
-Santa pics in our house all show the girls crying while sitting on his lap. She studies the pics and will talk to me about them-"We crying." she would say,  so I asked her why. Santa's nice! Then she said, "He's scary. He's big. He's a monster!"
-She loves to play doctor. I will be her patient, and she will say, "I'm gonna doctor you. Can I doctor you, mama? I gonna shot you. You get a sticker and a treat."

We love you, sweet Ruby Jane. You are a delight and a perfect ending to our family. Can't wait to see what the next bit of your life brings!