Calendar Girl - Seventeen Months

Uh oh, guess what day it is?  Guess what day it is!  Nope, not hump day.

It is the actual day that Ruby turns 17 months.  And here's her calendar girl post.  BAM!

Yeah.  I'm a little proud of myself.

So, seventeen months is where it's at.  Seriously, I am so in love with this age right now!  Ruby is just so so SO much fun!

Last month, I had a feeling that we were on the verge of a big language explosion.  There was a lot of babbling going on, and it just seemed like she had something to say.  BOY, was I right!  In just one month, Ruby is up at least 25 new words!!!  I say at least because, well, that's how many I remembered and wrote down.  And, of course, like any toddler, some of the words aren't actual words, but sounds that she says the same every time she means that one thing.  So it counts.

Added to her vocabulary this month are: guy, shoe, no, cheese (this one is SO cute), wash (wa), buh which means buns, box, bag, bus, buckle, or pocket (wtf?) depending on what she's talking about, spoon (which is what she calls all utensils), boom (thunder), girl, cake, bite, ride, guh (glasses and hanger), nice, dance, boo boo, down, bone, bowl, chair, and boots.  Phew!!!

Adding those to the words (and sounds) she already knew, we now can basically have conversations with each other.  It is totally awesome!  Of course, it's also kind of a bummer.  Like when I pick her up to change her diaper, and she starts yelling, "Down!!!".  Or I try to eat a cookie and she demands, "Bite!  Bite!".  But it's also really adorable.  When she sees (or makes) a mess, she exclaims "Oh, no!!!".  Kid cracks me up.

She is straight up obsessed with Braidy.  She kind of always has been, but it's reached a new high.  She gives her hugs whenever she can get her hands on her.  She brings her her bone (which is probably why she chose to learn to say that word).  When she wakes up in the morning or from nap, she doesn't call for mama or dada.  She calls for "Bray".  At night when we're going to sleep, she asks about her ("Bray?  Bray?") at least a dozen times, and finally accepts it when I've told her (also a dozen times) that Braids is ninights.  And the cutest part, is whenever Braidy walks into the room, Ruby lights up and goes, "Heyyyyy, Bray!!!".  It kills me.

In other news, sleep continues to be going all right.  It's much the same as last month.  We get one nap a day in the crib (unless we're gone somewhere at naptime).  We read our stories, sing a song, and I put her down.  For a couple of weeks, she went down without crying AT ALL.  Then one day I realized she had pooped while we were reading stories, so I had to change her first, and that totally unnerved her.  She had a few days in a row of protest cries, and now sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't.  Probably more often not.  

Nights are also the same.  She falls asleep cuddled up with me in my bed, then I pop her over to her own.  Which sounds like it should be a bad thing, but it is totally working for her.  Once in her crib, we don't hear a peep from her until morning.  It has been much colder at night, and she has outgrown all of her sleepsacks, so instead of buying large ones, we've been making the switch to using a blanket (that my aunt knitted her, so it's holey and breathable).  She's still not totally sure about it, but will allow me to put one over her after she's asleep at night, and seems to like it when I put one on her at naptime, but she doesn't usually keep it on for the whole sleep.  I'm not really sure what else to do, other then just keep offering it to her, but I have been kind of worried about her being cold, as her room seems to be the chilliest in the house.

Of course, we all know that Ruby started school this month!  So far, it seems to be a hit.  Sadly, we've only been twice.  We had to skip this week because the new school germs got her down, and she had a cold.  But she's been getting more daring at moving away from me to go try things she likes (she even crawled through a tunnel!).  She discovered the play kitchen last time, and loved it, so yay, since that's what Santa's likely bringing her for Christmas.  She also love LOVES getting her hands stamped at the end of circle, and has been walking around "asking" for more stamps since we've been.  I was so sad we had to miss last week, I already look forward to us going so much!

Girl on the go.

Speaking of being more daring, my girl finally braved up enough to go down a slide on her own!!!  She likes to slide, but she's always been too fearful to do it herself.  When the weather is nice, we walk over to a little toddler park in our neighborhood, and last time we went, she marched herself up the little steps, sat down on her bottom, and slid down the little slide!  I couldn't believe it, really.  And I think she was a little surprised, too, but she did it a few more times.  Go Ruby!

Ruby continues to knock our socks off with her smarts.  One day, I dumped a bunch of blueberries into a colander to rinse them.  R was standing next to me, so I absentmindedly handed her the empty container.  Next thing I knew, she was opening the pantry door and putting it into the recycling!!!  Then a few days later, she finished eating a snack while we were down in the living room.  She climbed up the stairs into the kitchen, I didn't see her for a minute, then she came back, without the bag, asking for help down the stairs.  I had no idea what she'd done with the bag, until later, when I found it neatly in the garbage can.  What the heck, kid?  And she now does this all the time, and she always knows what's supposed to be recycled, and what has to go in the garbage!

Requisite pointing-at-airplane shot.

Ruby is still a good eater.  She still hates yogurt (and most all white, creamy dairy).  She LOVES broccoli, and would probably eat a whole head if I let her.  I cut her off at 1 cup.  Insane.  In the past, she has disliked oatmeal, but I have been making this pumpkin oatmeal recipe that I found on Pinterest, and she loves it!  She's doing pretty well at eating food off of a plate (instead of her tray) now, but has some learning to do in the utensil department.  Use of fork is starting to pick up, but she doesn't really like eating anything off of a spoon - except that oatmeal, which she practiced scooping herself just yesterday - yay!

Oh yeah, and to eat that food, she needs teeth, right?  It's been a couple of months since she's gotten any new teeth.  Understandably, she doesn't like me feeling around in her mouth, but I check periodically.  Knowing molars are on the horizon, I figured we'd know about it when those were coming in...  Um, NO.  Sneak-baby cut BOTH top molars sometime in this past month without even telling us about it.  I just discovered them a couple of days ago.  Either she is crazy tough, or she should be a poster child for amber teething necklaces!

Overall, she is just the most awesome, delightful toddler.  She's had one solitary tantrum (and it turned out, she was getting sick), and while she has her whiny moments (like while I'm trying to cook dinner), she is just so happy and fun!  She loves to give kisses.  She brings us our socks and shoes.  She'll walk up behind me when I'm sitting down and drape herself over my back in a hug.  She notices everything. She likes to help me cook.  She still is obsessed with the dishwasher and can unload almost the whole thing.  She's getting into crayons ("color color").  She is still very much into clothes and shoes.  She likes to sniff spices when we're baking, and flowers if she sees one.  She is the love of my life.

It's hard to believe that the next one of these I write will be 18 months.  One and a half.  Time is flying.