Theo and Ruby Make Four

At 2 1/2, Ruby is weighing in at 23.9 pounds (4%) and is 35.6 inches (44%). This gal is small, but mighty. Ruby is a little ray of sunshine and is seriously a light in our family. I am so super proud of the little girl she is becoming. She cracks us up everyday, and she is super fun to be around. Ruby follows Theo around and emulates everything he does, good and bad. She idolizes that older brother of hers.

The pediatrician actually referred Ruby to see a cardiologist for a heart murmur. A little worrisome, but he seems to think it’s innocent enough. He just wants us to be certain. The appointment is in early September.

Ruby has made so many strides recently. She officially weaned about two months ago, and it was a pretty flawless process. She is fully potty trained and doing amazingly well (diapers at sleepy time). When we are in the car she shouts, “I’m holding it!”. Ruby also recently transitioned to her big girl bed, AKA the bottom of the bunk bed. The plus side is that she really was ready for these milestones on her own and we did not push anything because of our own agenda (since I secretly wanted to try and get her in the bunk a while ago). She is just ready now.

Her language ability is absolutely amazing to me. The girl is wise beyond her years. She is generally a happy camper and an easy-going gal. She can certainly be persistent and demanding at times. Lately we hear a lot of, “I want it right noooow! I want it right this instant!”. As well as phrases such as, “I really, really, really want to ice skate/insert whatever other activity is sort of out of the question at the moment”.

Ruby is sleeping great, despite the fact that she has not been napping consistently. She kind of seems on the verge of not napping anymore. Theo stopped at age 3. She goes to sleep much more easily at night when she hasn’t napped, so frankly that’s easier on me. And since the summer has brought many adventures, it’s really worked out all the way around. She sleeps about 8ish – at least 8/8:30ish in the morning, if not 9 some days! Our schedule is going to need to change real soon, but boy has this summer been lax!

Girl loves her cereal in the morning and her “funny tricks”, as she calls them. She is tiny and fierce and I think she may just be some sort of gymnast!

We love you so much sweet girl. Can’t see what is in store for you next!

We have moved out of Kindergarten, and are preparing to enter the big bad world of 1st grade. I’m finally reflecting on his past year. It has been a year of tremendous growth for Theo. He did exceptionally well in Kindergarten. He is a reader, he is a writer, sounding out words to write on his own without us telling him the letters and he continues to be curious beyond words. We still have our challenges, boy do we, but Theo has grown and is such a wonderful and sweet little boy. Summer is tough. Getting out of his routine of school, missing his day-to-day studies and his beloved teacher has been hard. Not having a structured day that he can depend on is challenging. I’ve tried my best to set that up for him, but it is not easy to always be go, go, go, especially when I need to also consider Ruby and her needs, naptime, etc. We opted to do no camp this summer. It may have been good for him to have some sort of camp, but honestly I wanted to just have SUMMER. The kind of summer that does not require being places at a certain time, forcing your child to do something they may or may not want to do on any given day and just getting to hang with each other everyday. I figured how much longer will we be able to do this? I never went to camp. Well, maybe a week or something each summer. My summer consisted of going to the pool, beach and Geauga Lake basically every single day. It was awesome. So, that’s what we have been doing. I feel mixed about school beginning again next month. I know it’s needed, and I’m excited for what’s to come for Theo. Ruby will start preschool for the first time, and it’s just back to the grind of the daily running from here to there. And I’m balancing two part-time jobs!

Here is the final report card summary from Theo’s Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Laura.

“I am so very proud of Theo’s hard work and growth this year in Kindergarten! This year he grew as a reader, writer, mathematician and artist. He worked so hard especially in readers workshop and writing this year. He learned a lot of new strategies to figure out tricky words, and can use them when he is reading over the summer. He demonstrated a commitment to showing his thinking on paper through detailed pictures and expressive writing. He became such an outspoken learner and leader, which showed in his group work. Theo developed a maturity and independence throughout the year that showed in the way he immersed himself in and embraced his learning. I have loved watching his creativity flourish in his work and self-expression. Over the summer, I encourage Theo to continue visiting the library. The summer reading program is a fun and engaging resource. I also encourage Theo to continue reading, drawing and writing about all of these explorations! Theo can also play our math games, such as Double Compare with a deck of cards or make combinations of numbers using Dominoes. He can also practice writing his own math number stories. It has been a pleasure to get to know and work with Theo this year! Theo’s sweet nature and warm smile always brightened my day. His enthusiasm and curiosity motivated the students as learners and me as a teacher. I loved being his teacher. I thank him for sharing so many fascinating stories with the class. I’ll miss his curiosity, creativity, playfulness, imaginative spirit, sense of humor and love of learning. Have a wonderful summer!”

What lovely words about our boy. We loved Ms. Laura very much. As his class sang at their stepping up ceremony, “I want to be a part of it… first grade, first grade!” Here’s to another successful year!

This dreamboat is 2 1/4. Well, she was about a month ago. I have been wanting to update this blog for weeks, and time just gets away from me. The excuse of two small children, two part-time jobs and a house to run/take care of is simply not good enough. Haha, I kid! Strange, it is life that gets in the way of me documenting our life. I guess that’s what my thousands of photos on Instagram are for. I want very much to continue documenting here, though. To continue with photos and updates of our kiddos and our family. For them. For them to read when they grow up. I promise to try my best through the busyness that is raising children. I digress…

Ruby.

She is an amazing little human who just gets better and better as she grows. She is independent and easy-going and wants to do absolutely everything herself. She is funny, well spoken and adoring of her brother. Ruby is starting swimming lessons this weekend. I’m super excited because the poor girl has had nothing truly all her own (well, some things). She hasn’t had all the music classes and swimming and one-on-one time that Theo had when he was her age. So, her and I will be in the pool on Sunday mornings before Theo has his lesson.

Ruby is sleeping well. She goes down by 7pm, and usually wakes anywhere from 6:45 – 7:30am. She has quite the bedtime routine of giving sips of water and kisses to her current slew of “cuties” that she sleeps with every night. It used to only be foxy and piggy. Now enter Mr. Owl, Anna from Frozen and a rock. Seriously, a rock. Every night before bed it’s, “where’s my rock? oh, here’s my rock!”. She holds it in her little palm.

Weaning. We are currently weaning. The most bittersweet thing I’ve ever experienced. It is time for us now to end our nursing relationship. I’m being as gentle as possible, and it’s going well. It’s gone in phases, I guess. First it was any nighttime feedings a few months ago, then it was any daytime feedings the past couple of weeks and today marks the first time I didn’t nurse Ruby first thing in the morning, before nap and at bedtime. She asked at bedtime, and cried a little, which broke my heart a little. Instead of caving I snuggled her and listed off all the people in our family who love her, then I sang to her, then she said, “tell me all the people again”. I laid her down, rubbed her back and told her again. It was very sweet.

Ruby says so many great things all time. I wish I could easily capture her essence here.

When she is leaving a room, or the house, “Bye, cya later!”

When we go to the playground, Ruby says, “I won’t fall on jungle gym, okay? Be careful, be safe.”

When Jay is not home, or working in the office, she says in the best, most causal way, “Where’s dad?”

Ruby grabs her stuffed owl and runs to us, “Who’s this little cutie??! ”

One of my personal favs, “Okay, that’s fine.”

We hear a lot, “I’m a daredevil!”

When I’m trying to get Theo, I can hear my little sidekick, “Come on Theo! It’s dinner Theo! Let’s go Theo!”

She loves to shout, “I need help!”

Ruby likes to be a bit bossy, “Stop talking to me”, or “stop looking at me”, or “stop singing.”

She asks permission for things a lot, “Can I play with this?” or “Can I do this?”

Ruby will get excited about something she likes to do, for instance jumping down the stairs at Theo’s school with both feet at the same time. She grabs my hand and shouts, “Let’s do thiiisss!”

When she wants to know who somebody is (like a character in a show or movie), she points and says, “What’s this name?”

Walking down the street, Ruby will wave to strangers, “Hi, people!”

This age is my favorite. We love you Ruby, so, so much.

When did my sweet little baby become such a big boy?

He is a sensitive, sweet soul. He is so curious, loves to learn and ask, ask, ask a million questions always (especially at bedtime). He loves to help. Theo will always be the first one to want to be hands on, right in there with you to assist. He is musical and funny.

He is growing into such a great big brother. As I always tell him, I love him as much as every grain of sand on every beach in the whole wide world.

Ruby is a regular chatterbox, and is talking very well. Here are some more silly and cute things that she says for the record books.

When we got to the playground the other day: “Hi playground, nice to meet you!”

That seems to have spurred a lot of “nice to meet you’s”.
On pretend cell phone: “Hi, nice to meet you!”
Passing a city bus on the street: “Hi bus, nice to meet you!”

She will say to Theo: “Don’t you dare!” or “Don’t you dare do that” or “Don’t you dare say that.”

When she goes to grab something: “Be right back!”

Unfortunately Ruby took a big tumble off of the jungle gym about a week and a half ago. It gave us a good scare. Since then she’s been saying: “Fall jungle gym… big, big, big hurt” …and then that will often turn into, “Yia Yia broke her foot!” (which she did, sadly).

Ruby also recently saw the movie, Frozen. Theo recorded it on TV and Ruby feel in love, hook, line and sinker. I guess you could say it’s the first she has really sat and watched something for an extended period of time. It’s kind of sweet. We are now singing, “Let it go” before nap and bedtime, at her demand, and she can sing a lot of the song, too. I don’t mind it one bit. She acts out one of the scenes. While looking at her hands intently, Ruby says “don’t feel, don’t feel, don’t FEEEEEEL!”.

This girl is the absolute best.

Theo is officially 5 1/2, and he has accomplished 100 days of Kindergarten! We could not be more proud of him. Having a kid in school everyday is hard work. Theo has grown a lot this school year and he (we) love his teacher and his school very much.

Theo is reading at an early reader level and improving everyday. He can read some Dr. Seuss books, which is really fun. He is writing sentences on his own (sounding it out) and brings home adorable little letters to us after each of his writing workshops every week. At home, we do all sorts of math problems that he is getting really good at! We have a dry erase board and put new problems on it everyday. He can even add double digit numbers!

Theo just began piano lessons and we are going to give it a whirl for a little while and see if it sticks for him. He loves music and excels in this area at school. Theo also recently transitioned from ice skating lessons to a hockey clinic that takes place every Saturday for one month. We are trying it out and seeing how he responds to it. We shall see if he wants to move forward with more formal lessons. We will probably start soccer again in the spring/summer. The kid needs to be busy and does best when he is provided a lot of structure. We have our challenges for sure, and Theo is an incredibly curious and physical kid, but overall he has made some great developments this year and has strengthened his ability to deal with frustration and disappointment. He is very loving and sensitive and is getting better and better with teaching, sharing with and loving Ruby.

Here is his progress report from Ms. Laura:

“Theo continues to make a positive and successful adjustment to Kindergarten. His natural curiosity, creativity and excitement for learning and sharing have grown and certainly motivates those around him. During shared readings, Theo actively participates by making and sharing predictions and using strategies for tackling unknown words. Theo is extremely excited about reading independently and is constantly finding words within words, pointing out sight words and noticing rhyming words. Theo’s sight word knowledge have greatly improved. A next step in his reading development will be to read for meaning and reread when something does not make sense. Theo continues to demonstrate a strong creativity, which he shows through his drawings, writing, stories and dramatic play. In writing, Theo has made great progress at adding labels to his stories. A next step in writing will be to expand on his ideas and add pages to his stories. In math, Theo can successfully count objects well beyond twenty. He immersed himself in our measuring and comparing unit in which students measured and compared the lengths of many objects around the classroom. Theo was successfully able to use descriptive vocabulary such as shorter than and longer than when describing the attributes of objects. Theo also expressed a lot of excitement and curiosity during our shapes unit. He always enjoyed playing a game called “Guess My Rule” in which students have to guess a common attribute among several shapes. I have so enjoyed watching Theo develop his confidence, perseverance, self-motivation and problem-solving skills. Theo is an outspoken, energetic and animated student and continues to work on keeping his hands and feet to himself, especially when frustrated. He has made great efforts to use more expressive language to work through a problem with a peer and continues to work on using the most appropriate language during conflicts. Theo can continue to work on following the directions and rules of the classroom. Theo has also made great progress at implementing his daily routines independently. He has shown that he has great leadership skills and can use that confidence to make safe and successful choices. To support Theo at home, you can continue to reinforce letter sounds and sight word recognition. Encourage him to read his “just right” books to you. With these books he will continue to work on sight word recognition as well as utilizing strategies for tackling unknown words. Theo can practice writing by labeling objects around the house, making grocery lists, writing recipes and continue writing stories. He can practice his math skills by counting around the house, grouping objects into categories, measuring and comparing objects, or describing shapes around the house. I have so enjoyed watching Theo mature and develop into the student that he has become and look forward to his continued growth in Kindergarten!”

Ruby had her well visit today. She gained 2 pounds and grew 2 inches in 6 months! That’s good for little Miss Ruby.

Ruby has finally crossed the 20lb line and she is clocking in at 21lbs, 11oz (<5%). Her height is 33 1/2in (37%). She had her second Hep A shot and won't need any more vaccines until she is four years old. The doctor had the fastest shot I've ever seen in my life. So fast Ruby said, "again!". Also, a girl can never have enough headbands, right?

Some things I’d like to remember about right now…

Ruby is very interested in wearing her big girl underwear and using the potty. We are just following her lead. When we are at home, usually she is wearing underwear and peeing on the potty. She yells, “go peeeeeee!”. She is more interested in what she calls the “big toilet”, and not so much the little potty anymore. She has pooped in the little potty once.

I love when she does something that she learned from somebody else. It’s always, “Theo does that” or “Daddy does that”.

When she doesn’t want something (like hair brushing), it’s “stop it, mommy… stop it”. So adorable when she says that.

When one of us sneezes, “bless you”.

Ruby has transitioned from saying “uh-huh” to “yah” to a fully decisive and enunciated “yes!”. I love this so much. Her little voice is the best.

When we put on clothes, she often says, “cuuute”. Even a bowl of cereal the other day was “cute”.

When one of us is leaving she always points to herself repeatedly, “Ruby go, too”. She gets sad when she isn’t coming, too.

Some things she shouldn’t know how to say… “shoot gun”, and then pretend to do so. Or “zap!” running around with her arm out just like big brother.

Also, “vodka”, “beer” and “wine”. She loves to point out what’s in our glass.

Theo reading to her.

This gal is a major keeper.

This amazing gal is two!

Two years we have been blessed with this sweet little girl. She truly has completed our family (yes, no more kids!) and we can’t wait to see what is in store for Ruby in the next year.

Ruby is an independent soul. Everything is “I’ll do it!!!” all the time. She is talking a ton. Pretty much says everything and she is able to string together at least 3 – 4 word sentences. She is funny and sweet and tough. She can count to ten, sing the alphabet, sing some songs and she loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

We had another little party for her at home this year. We invited several of our closest friends. It was the day after the big blizzard, so some people were unable to make it. She had a blast, though, running around, eating cupcakes, opening presents and seeing her decorations around the house. Theo was very sweet with the whole event, too. He helped me make her cupcakes, picked out his own gift for her (a stuffed Minnie Mouse!), helped me decorate and was very excited about singing happy birthday to her and just overall celebrating her day. I found that all to be very sweet. I will have to post photos once I get my new phone up and running.

I will also update her stats after we have her well visit.

We love you so very much, Ruby!! SO glad you call ME Mommy!

Ruby at 23 months…

A sweet, loving girl who is smart, ultra-coordinated and has developed quite a little will on her. She is flawlessly stylish, as she loves to pick out her clothes and shoes, and she is independent and smitten with her older brother.

Ruby has grown so much. She can count to ten, with adorable mistakes (1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 8, 10!). She sings the alphabet (adorably) and sings a few other songs, especially her longtime favorite “I’ve been working on the railroad”. She is talking a bunch and it’s so fun to be able to really communicate with her more these days. The cutest is, “thank you Mommy! or thank you Daddy!” When Theo gets to watch a show, she runs over “watch TV! watch TV!”. Her interest in a show in short-lived, but it’s impossible to keep her from screens. She prefers my phone, anyways. 😉 Another cute one is, “mon Weeeoo” (C’mon Theo!). Sometimes when she yells his name it sounds just like she is saying “yo!”. Ruby loves puzzles and is very good at the alphabet puzzle and her animal and transportation puzzles. She sits there are takes them out and fits them in all on her own.

Of course it’s tough when she wants what Theo has, or vice versa, but all in all this sibling thing is going well. Theo displayed some big brother protection the other day when he thought Ruby was walking too close to pricker bushes at the botanical garden. My heart was all aflutter seeing his care for her. He may act tough, but he loves her. And Ruby misses him when he’s at school.

Can’t you see the love? 😉