A Once in a Lifetime Easter Birthday - Ruthie turns 3!

Ruthie had the blessing this year to celebrate her 3rd birthday and Easter on the same day! This won't happen again until she's 200 something (thanks Wikipedia) so I think it is safe to say it was a once in a lifetime chance which we fully embraced! 

This little girl is 3 years old!

We had a full on Easter themed birthday party complete with Peeps cake, Easter cookies, Easter egg truffles, Peep S'Mores, carrot cake cupcakes and candy galore! I may have gone a bit overboard on the sweets- oops! Not sorry :) 

As I've reminisced in recent posts this last year was quite awesome with many milestones and accomplishments, so much growing up! From toddler to little girl, from crib to big bed, diapers to potty trained, pacifiers to none, attitude to more attitude and opinions on everything! She's the puzzle master, loves trains, books, the library, playing at any and all playgrounds. Loves to eat and help in the kitchen- especially smoothies! 

I'm so blessed to get the one on one time with Ruthie that I do get and this year is bittersweet as in a few short months she won't be the sole child in my universe anymore. She will always have a special place in my heart as the little baby girl who made me a mother and continues to teach me more about myself than she'll ever know. 

Love you my 3 year old sweetie! 

Big Girl

This morning I looked down at Ruthie and thought with sadness how BIG she looks- like such a little girl now!

Duh, it's nothing new to anyone else looking in but for me and especially with a few things that she's grown out of lately (diapers, paci, some clothes) she is just seeming so grown up- SOB! It probably doesn't help, either, that I went through some baby clothes this weeend and they are SO TINY! She is going to look huge compared to this baby we bring home in June. 

 Ruthie's coming home outfit- so teensie! 

In the last month or so we completely got rid of diapers at night and she's been totally accident free and going strong! She hadn't peed in her diaper at night for months prior so it was more of a security thing (for laundry purposes) to even have her wearing one at night. She started really fighting it and not wanting to have one at night so one night we just decided ok- why fight it?!! Most mornings this does make for an early 530/6am "DADDY/MOMMY I HAVE TO GO POTTY!!!" wake up call but we are happy to run and take her as the pay off for such a successful totally potty trained all day and night in 6 months feat. And she does still go to bed before 8pm so we can't complain too much!

Also last Wednesday she and I got home from work and daycare and she disappeared into her room for a bit. I found her in the baby room putting all her pacifiers from her bed into the crib in the new baby's room and declaring, "I'm a big girl, I don't need my paci's so I will give them to the baby!" (side note: she often will take things of hers and throw them in the crib in the new baby room 'giving' them to baby as she doesn't need them anymore). She had toyed with this idea a couple times before and I had planted the thought about giving them up and getting something really special but she had always then jokingly grabbed them back and we didn't push it. 

But this time I set her down and we had a serious talk about really giving them up and what that would mean. I told her she would never have them again because she is a big girl and to celebrate that we could the next day go to Target and pick out ANYTHING she wanted for a special treat! I was serious, I would have paid something stupid but luckily we ended up with this: 

and spent only $20! 

Ever since she hasn't thought too much about them but at night as we are reading and singing our goodnight book and song she will sometimes say in her funny way, "Where's my paci? Oh yeah, I'm a big girl, I don't need it!" She is a bit more restless at naptime and in the early morning when she would have otherwise been messing with them or sucking on them but like I said, we'll take that pay-off any day. I'm glad it is something we didn't push to have done by a certain time and in the end it was painless and her idea! 

As we approach her 3rd birthday I think I'm just feeling like I want to capture these fleeting moments of her as my baby girl even more. It's so hard yet so rewarding to watch these littles grow bigger. 

Ruthie Says

Our little almost 3 year old has been saying some pretty cute things lately and I wanted to jot them down before I forget! 

On a walk in the snow (while stopping in several random yards to do snow-angels) Ruthie notices the sky and exclaims, "When I lay like this I can see the sky! It's beautiful!" (of note: it was a cloudy gray day but made me think gosh, if we all had that optimism in the winter!)

Putting her lips on my growing belly, "I love you baby" 

While talking about baby..."I want a girl baby" "How does it get out?" I want a baby in my belly"
Ruthie what should we name the baby? "Princess Sandcastle!" Asked a different day and she responded, "Pizza!"

"I wish I were a bird so I could fly!" 

Singing..."God made everything beautifuuulllll!" I asked where she learned that song..." I made it up!"

Also we have a few inside jokes that she likes to tell me randomly or when she wants to distract or make me smile.

Background: There is a fantastic children's book called 'The Day the Crayons Quit' and the page about the peach crayon makes her laugh and laugh because his (the crayon's) wrapper gets peeled off leaving him naked and asking for underwear. So randomly she'll just look at me and say, "PEACH CRAYON!" and then we laugh and laugh. She likes to say this to strangers, too, who she fully expects to get the joke...but they don't.

Another Ruthie joke is, "The octopus tooted" because of an octopus bath toy that when squeezed underwater makes bubbles. So she'll whisper to me, "the octopus tooted!" and then giggles :)

And finally there is another joke involving another great book The Nuts: Bedtime at the Nuthouse and let's just say "Nut Butt" is Ruthie's favorite line in the book! She has a dance to go with it too.

What a cutie pie- these are the days!

Ruthie- 2.75 yrs

Ahhh the toddler days continue and we continue to have our many ups and several downs. The emotional roller coaster of a toddler is a fascinating case study. These days Ruthie is still happy to sit and do a puzzle (24 piece are easy, 48 piece is the current sweet spot at challenging enough but not requiring too much help) and she is also becoming the cutest little story teller. "Once upon a time there was a (fill in the blank of something in her immediate vision) etc. etc." But she still throws tantrums for ridiculous reasons. Sometimes you have to laugh. Or cry. 

Examples: 

the spoon or bowl she is presented with at dinner isn't the one she wanted

she didn't get to go first when entering a room

Xena is in her spot

she wanted to wear sandals in the snow, not boots

she didn't want to wear socks or shoes or pants that day 

she didn't want something to drink with dinner (my bad) 

I scootched the chair in too far

she wanted to ride in the other car

Sigh. This too shall pass. 

Moving on! Ruthie is such a performer! My favorite story of late is when I took her to a donut shop in town to meet a friend, I let her pick out whatever donut she wanted and she chose the pink frosted 'Homer'. The sugar hit her veins within minutes and she was her usual crazy but times 1000. She proceeded to strut to the front door and loudly announce to the whole shop that this was her stage and nobody can come up here. Then she sang 'Twinkle Twinkle' at the top of her lungs as patrons gathered, workers took video and she received a rousing round of applause. I can't make this up.  

Also the memory this child has is remarkable! I am constantly astonished at what she remembers from weeks or months ago that randomly pop up in our conversations. (like last summer when one time the neighbor let her use her broom to help sweep the sidewalk) ???

The holidays were awesome as usual this year. From the first time I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween she came up with a 'dancing strawberry' and stuck with that idea throughout- never changing her mind. To this day we have no idea where that came from but it sure turned out cute! 

Thanksgiving this year was especially awesome as we took the whole week to spend in Colorado at a little cabin in Estes Park. We had the most beautiful snow storm, we hiked, we cooked, we enjoyed cozy chats by the fire and were quite entertained by a family talent show. Ruthie was so happy to play with her cousins that she paid me no mind whatsoever for the entire week and it was glorious! 

and now we're at Christmas! This is the first time that Ruthie 'gets' Christmas and the anticipation of Santa, Jesus' birthday and of course presents and lots of time with family! It has been so fun to decorate and talk about Christmas which in our house includes both Jesus and the Bethlehem story AND Santa, our Elf on the Shelf- Willy and of course a family favorite- Rudolph! We have so many fun Christmas books and Ruthie has been singing Christmas carols in her very own special way (see videos on my YouTube channel) gosh I love everything about this season, now even more with her!

oh and one more cute thing Ruthie is saying these days... "I want a girl baby" to which we don't quite have an answer but will in June 2016! 

Puzzles and Pretend

Over the last few weeks Ruthie has been in puzzle heaven. She has mastered a 48 piece puzzle with no help whatsoever and I find it so awesome to watch her piece it together all on her own! She never tires of it either, as soon as it's together she smashes it up and starts all over!

Another favorite game of late is where she has me pretend to go to sleep (she tucks me in and says 'sweet dreams my darling') then she 'makes' me breakfast and wakes me up to eat it (I have to make sure to stretch and yawn).Then it's her turn and we repeat, repeat, repeat. We make each other lots of different breakfasts; pancakes with syrup, scrambled eggs with orange juice, smoothies, French toast, sometimes she even makes me coffee :-)

We also pretend play a lot of doctor office visits with lots of shots and pretend play library and shopping at the market.

This imagination of hers grows daily and it's pretty darn cute!

Fall Morning at the Orchard

Saturday was a beautiful fall morning for visiting our favorite local apple orchard- Wilson's! We rode the tractor to the ripe rows of apples and Ruthie ate her weight in apples picked right from the tree. Then we enjoyed apple and pumpkin donuts and apple turnovers with cinnamon ice cream. Mmmm, heaven on earth!



 
 
 
 



 

2.5

It's Ruthie's half birthday today! So I'll be reflecting on where she's at and what she's up to these days. Let's just say we're smack dab in the middle of toddler hood so basically we never know what we're going to get when it comes to what mood we'll be getting from her from one minute to the next. 

Dearest Ruthie, 

  Spring and early summer were rough, I felt like you were more unhappy than happy and there were many days that started with no less than 6 crazy crying fits before breakfast. Not to mention getting you dressed and shoes on was (sometimes still is) a Battle Royale. There were some really rough days but of course there were many many awesome and fun days and more often than not that is what I'll remember. We had so many fun picnic lunches and played at so many parks. We had fun working on our challenges for the summer reading program at the library and we finally got the bike carrier hooked up for some family bike rides. Your motto of the summer could be, "Mommy (or Daddy) will you play with me?" in your singsong-y cute voice. It's hard to say no. 

Later summer we think you turned a corner and have recently seemed to have been in a much better overall mood! You still have at least one or a few fits every day and they are epic and dramatic- but we wouldn't expect anything less. You are SO observant and have starting asking questions of Why? One day you looked up at the barn star on our garage (which birds recently built a nest behind) and asked, "Mommy why doze birds put a ness up dare and put a star on it?" Not to mention books and your continued love of reading...you are always happy to cuddle in the reading corner and read with me, sometimes you surprise me and take the book in your own lap and tell me the story back in your own words-it is too cute. You love any and all Curious George "George Monkey books".You make up songs about what you are doing and sing along with the right tune more often than not. You let everyone know that your favorite color is orange and everyone we pass in the grocery store gets an enthusiastic, "HI! I'm Ruthie!" You are such a joy (most days)!  

I looked back at a video of you one year ago and couldn't believe how much you've changed. You were only saying singular words here or there and 'talking' but nothing intelligible like now as we have whole conversations recalling our day and favorite things. Your blonde hair is halfway down your back now and curls at the end, I never want to cut it but you HATE getting it combed or put in any sort of ponytail! 

You continue to be my good little eater and you 'help' me make things in the kitchen, cracking eggs and whisking vigorously- making quite the fun mess. You favorite things to eat are any carb, 'smoovies' (frozen banana + other random fruit and greens smoothies), bell peppers (especially orange ones) and carrots, pizza, pancakes, cereal, and tomatoes- all the tomatoes! I think you single handedly picked and ate all the grape tomatoes we grew this year. Gardening with you was a blast this year- you loved to stand right in the garden and pick and eat pea pods, cucumbers and tomatoes. You loved pulling up the carrots and eating them right out of the garden- after washing them in your water table of course.

You've been a champ as we forged ahead with potty training this summer and

The summer of you at 2- one to remember fondly, thank you for being you sweet and crazy girl! On to the next season!