Calendar Girl - Fifteen Months

Man, is this post ever late!  Good thing I take good notes on my phone throughout the month so that I can remember everything she's doing.  Because this girl?  She is doing a LOT!

Hoo, boy!  We are in full-on toddler mode now!

And I don't mean that in a bad way at all.  What I mean is, she toddles!  Yep, at 14 months 17 days old, Ruby took her first steps and has not slowed down since!!!

At first, she still could only get to a stand (and then walk) if she had something to pull up on, or was set down standing.  But it was only a matter of days before she could stand up herself and just take off.  I kind of expected her to walk closer to 18 months, given her past timetable for gross motor skills.  So this has been a pleasant, and adorable surprise!  I love her little zombie walk!

With this walking ability, she's finally gotten the hang of her walking push toys, too.  She practically runs around like a crazy girl pushing her clacking alligators and her baby stroller.  She also dances, her most comical move being the "booty drop", which is exactly what you can imagine, and if you say, "booty drop, booty drop, booty drop!" to her, she'll do it.  Ha!

This month, Ruby also added a few new words to her repertoire.  She says "ok", "wow!!!", and "yay!" (this one accompanied by clapping).  She also started using the word "eye", and you'd better watch your corneas around here, because chances are, if she's saying "eye" she's about to poke one.  Sometimes it's just her baby doll's, but often it's one of ours, or the dog's.  We went to a petting farm, and while petting a bunny, I heard the tell-tale, "EYE!!!" and had to get her the heck away from the bunny.  She has a new animal sound, bear, which is a very growly "ROWR!"  And my favorite new word/sound of the month is this:  If you ask her what Santa says, she very deliberately says, in a low voice, "Oh! Oh! Oh!"  The face that accompanies this is priceless.

My chalkboard idea isn't faring too well.

Our sleep issues mentioned in the last post have continued.  In fact, several nights Ruby has just ended up sleeping with us (or just me, sometimes Mr. G opts for the couch - there's really not room for three in our bed!).  I'm not really sure what the deal is, but she seems to be almost afraid to go to bed in her room.  I know it sounds like another step backward to allow her to sleep in our bed, but my hope is that we'll make sleep seem like it really IS a safe thing for her, and then we'll work on getting her back to the crib.  Since I can't climb in the crib with her and help her to sleep there.

I went to a class for parents of toddlers, and the sleep regression was my issue that I brought.  One of the other mothers in attendance mentioned that they had had similar troubles at one point, and pushing back their son's bedtime helped.  Ruby still seems tired at her "normal" bed time, but we've started to push it back a little bit, and it actually seems to have helped some.

I have wondered if her sleep issues are due in part to the fact that we are nursing much less now.  Right around her birthday, I dropped to nursing only at first morning wake up and for sleeps (2 naps and night).  So, about 4 times per day.  Often, though, one nap would be a car nap (sometimes both!) so it was more like 2-3 times per day.  Then this month, I decided to drop the first morning wake up session.  It wasn't serving me a purpose (getting her to sleep), and I wanted to head in the direction of weaning, so out it went.  Which means that sometimes, the night session is her only one, if we're on the go.

I'd read that children mourn the loss of nursing, and so have been taking care to have lots of snuggle time.  We've definitely been cuddling up and reading a lot more books together, at her request.  So I wonder if she's just resisting the sleep because she's needing more mama time.  As nice as that sounds, I want sleep, too!  

Ruby got to try ice cream for the first time this month, and she was NOT a fan.  Which pretty much holds true with her no white dairy attitude.  She still doesn't like yogurt, sour cream, or whipped cream either (what the heck, kid???).  Luckily, she came around when Mr. G & I got our traditional anniversary Blizzards, and she had a taste.  Now she'll mooch the heck out of us if we have any.  

Ruby also seems to be a lover of sauces.  Often times she'll refuse meat, but if I give her barbeque or something with it, she is into it.  The girl is a lover of flavor.  She even likes my salsa verde!

Mobile toddler = lots of shots of her walking away from me.

No new teeth this month, so we're still at 8 total.  Maybe she's working on some molars?  There's often a hand in her mouth, but she doesn't often let me in there to feel.  Plus, those teeth that she does have are SHARP.  Because she also still puts stuff in her mouth that she shouldn't (dirt, bark chips, dryer lint, toilet paper - I know, what???), I taught her to say, "Ahhhhhh!" and open her mouth.  So that I can at least look in!  She actually thinks it's pretty funny, and if I say, "Ruby, what's in your mouth?" she'll say, "Ahhhhhh!"

At 15 months, Ruby's loves are much the same as before.  She loves bubbles, and being outside to blow them.  Her water table.  Vehicles (especially the garbage truck!).  Animals, especially dogs, bears, and horses.  Sidewalk chalk, which she now tries to draw with on my leg, because her DAD taught her that!  Loves books, especially Go, Dog. Go!, Goodnight Moon (she can point out the mouse on every page now) and any Dr. Seuss.  Loves to eat.  Loves the dryer and dishwasher and helping me unload them.  Loves to play dress up, especially with things that are tucked away in drawers that she figures out how to open.  She is very much the observer, and I can tell that she spends most of her day filing away information and figuring stuff out.

As far as toddlers go, I think we've pretty much hit the jackpot with this one.  Aside from her sleep issue, at 15 months, Ruby is a pretty easy going gal.  She was such a high needs newborn, I'd hoped that would come back around and mean she'd be a great toddler.  I know that toddlerhood is long, but so far, she's pretty full of awesome.

Ruby is a quiet observer.  She needs a moment to warm up in new situations, but then she is quite social, and loves to charm people.  She doesn't seem to mind so much when other toddlers take her toys, and doesn't usually have that determination to get into trouble that I often see in her buddies.  She does have determination, though.  When she has a goal, she is bound to accomplish it.  The following photos are an example that I just had to share.  She wanted to go on that slide.  Barefeet + bark chips?  Yeah, those weren't slowing her down!

Made it!  Can I please go on the slide now?

The funny thing is, she's pretty scared actually to go on slides.  But she was happy to do it with Grandma's help.

I love the hair!!!

Overall, I just can't get enough of this kid.  She continues to be an amazing presence in our lives, and we just can't wait to see what she does next!!!

Ruby's gorgeous dress was a gift, but you can find it here.