Calendar Girl - Fourteen Months

Yep.  This has been another month of totally awesome with my girl.  But lets back up a bit.  This post is (as usual) a little late, and this time, I'm blaming the kid.

The only thing NOT awesome this month, has been a little bit of sleep regression.  I'm not sure what it is.  I think maybe it started with teeth?  But every few nights or so, Ruby just will. not. go. to. sleep.

I put her down, and she screams her head off.  Not like, mad screaming.  Like, heartbreakingly sad screaming and crying.  It happened last night when I was trying to do this post.  So I had to go get her, and she was sweated through her shirt already, she was so upset.  Sometimes, she just wants to be held and will nod off.  Other times (like last night), nothing makes her happy.  So I end up sitting in my bed with her while she cries off and on for 2 hours, before passing out from exhaustion.  

What the heck, kid?  The rest of the time, she sleeps just fine!  I'm thinking this is something we just have to ride out...  Ugh.

But back to the awesome.  Since this girl has decided gross motor skills were on her to-do list, she has been going full steam ahead!  Yes, she is standing, not holding onto anything in that pic above!  She can pull herself up on practically nothing.  She loves to use my legs, if they are laying on the ground, to pull herself up to a stand, then she either dances or claps for herself.  Love it!  She crawls SUPER fast now, has figured out cruising, and the biggest game changer?  She climbs stairs.

She love, love, LOVES to climb the stairs!  She will climb up to the top, sit down, and turn to look at us with the biggest poo-eating grin on her face.  And lately?  Lately, she climb up the stairs from our living room to our kitchen, book it down the hall, and either go into the kitchen, or climb up to the landing for our stairs that lead up to the second floor, and wait for us to find her.  Then when we come after her, she totally cracks up!  She's playing hide and seek already!  The only bummer is, she doesn't know how to safely get down the stairs, so we pretty much are constantly running around after her.  We have a LOT of stairs in our house!!!

Such a goof.

Since she can get pretty much anywhere she wants, she sometimes gets into stuff she shouldn't.  If we say, "Ruby Jo..." with a warning tone, she will stop what she's doing and shake her head no.  She totally knows she is up to no good!

Also, with her new mobility, has come the typical resurgence of separation anxiety.  Maybe that has to do with the sleep stuff, too?  I left her with Mr. G to go to a doctor appointment that ended up taking forever (because they were all in a meeting, I had to wait around in a gown for an hour!).  Ruby had a really hard time with that.  And in the afternoons, she gets super clingy.  Luckily, I was prepared for this, as a wise person once told me that once they can move away from their mamas, that freedom gets scary.  Luckily, I get to spend the majority of my time with my girl, so it's not too problematic.

She was in LOVE with the bark chips!

To go along with that, however, she has also become super snuggly and a great hugger!  She seriously just wants to love on us all the time.  Big hugs for mommy and daddy, but she also tries to hug on Braidy every chance she gets.  And anything that is soft, too, like her stuffed animals and baby doll.  They get tons of hugs.  And my personal favorite?  She hugs her cloth diapers!  It is the cutest!  She will also take any piece of fabric (no matter how small), spread it out on the floor, and lay her head down on it like she's sleeping.  This kid is a hoot.

In addition to loving on her diapers, she also now says the word "diaper".  Well, usually she screams it, when she sees me come in with an armload of diaper laundry.  She yells, "Diaper!  Diaper!" and crawls as fast as she can to try to get them.  Sometimes it comes out, "biaper", which is even cuter, IMO.

She was really working on her "b" words this month, as she's also saying "bubble" ("bubba"), and "blue" (blueberry), and "bye-bye".  In fact, in the morning, when she knows Mr. G is leaving, she tells him bye-bye, waves, then pushes him away!  Ha!  She said, "go" last month, but now when Braidy gets reprimanded, Ruby always yells "go!" and points.  Hilarious.  

In addition to her new words, she also makes some sounds.  "Rowr rowr rowr" is what doggies say, and she says it whenever she sees or hears a dog.  She also says "buck buck buck" for chicken, "gobble gobble" for turkey, and "kack kack" for duck.  Oh, and any vehicle says "brrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmm!".

She gets lots of chances to see vehicles now that she is in her big girl car seat.  She can see out the windows, and will happily tell me when she sees cars coming.  Oh, and she definitely notices if someone is walking a dog on the sidewalk, too!  She rarely ever cries in the car anymore (thank goodness!), and every time we get in, she tries to buckle her chest clip.  It's pretty cute to watch her concentrating so hard on that buckle.

"Mom!  I see a doggie!!!"

In true toddler fashion, she definitely has opinions about things, and moreso about food now.  Her favorites are cheese and blueberries.  When she gets tired of what she's eating, she immediately throws it on the floor, and she's not a fan of eating any food off of a spoon right now (and will shake her head no if you offer).  She used to not love cow's milk, but now every morning I pour her a glass to drink while I make breakfast and she chugs the whole thing down in one go!

She's still a pretty voracious eater, and has definitely been doing some growing.  She's now mostly in 18 month clothing (though Carter's 12mo clothes are still a perfect fit), and sadly, she's outgrowing our beloved See Kai Run shoes.  I've been scouting out a good deal for some in bigger sizes, but until then we're (impatiently) awaiting the arrival of her first pair of Saltwater Sandals to last us the rest of the summer.  We even discovered yesterday, that with all her growing, she's surpassed both of her little boy friends - a surprising development!

This month, Ruby popped THREE (!) new teeth, bringing her total count up to seven.  This was all in the course of 10 days, and two of them were on back to back days (!!!).  So there's been a lot of finger-chewing, and even some drool.  She now has four on the bottom, and three on the top.  The last top front one has been thisclose forever, but it just doesn't want to come through.  Ruby's handled it like a champ for the most part, though as I mentioned, nights have been rough, and she sometimes points to the Advil or teething tablets.

To answer your question, yes, I think the amber necklace helps.

At 14 months, Little Miss Ruby J loves being outside, playing with balls, bubbles, and her water table.  She likes taking strolls around the neighborhood, and gets excited whenever we're near the park (where these photos were taken), as she loves the swings.  She has figured out how to take my hand to get me to do something she wants.  Like open a plastic Easter egg, "scrub scrub" on her tummy, read a book, or (my fave) caress her face.  She deftly pushes the home button on my phone so that she can see her picture on the lock screen.  She brings me my shoes and tries to put them on my feet.  She also points out her shoes whenever we meet someone, and knows whose shoes belong to whom in the house (she'll grab Mr. G's and say, "dada, dada", or bring them to him too).  She is overall just oozing personality, awesomeness, and smarts.

A friend of mine, whose son just turned 18(!), said to me the other day, "The older he got, the harder it was to leave him.  At first, I knew he was so tiny and needed me.  But then, as he got older, he just became so fun to hang out with!  He could do things!  We could go places together!  It was so much fun."

Seriously, how does she know how to "drive" already???

I totally get it.  I am surprised that I kind of love having a toddler right now.  She is just so. much. fun.  I am so thankful to spend my days with this girl!!!