3.5

Ruby is half-way through her third year!

At first, I had a hard time thinking of cute things to tell you about Ruby at this age. I haven't been as good about writing things down, and honestly, I think she's hit the 'tumultuous threes' that I've heard about. There's no need for me to go into detail or recount our experiences. I'll just say we've had a lot of crying, defiance, tantrums, whining, meltdowns, hitting & kicking (we're the victims, not her!), time-outs, pushing limits, screaming, and disobedience around our house. It's a passing phase and we're going to miss these moments, right?

Like I've always said, when she's not being terrible she's being terribly cute. We really, truly adore our Ruby girl. These are the things I do want to remember about Ruby at three-and-a-half:

• She has been introduced to the world of playing with the neighbor kids. Our next-door neighbors have two girls, Natasha (9) and Cassie (5). It started out a couple months ago when they would be playing in their yard and would invite Ruby to go down and play with them. It has evolved into them coming over to our house to play for as long as three hours. We'll drive by their house and Ruby asks me, "Where's Cassie and Matasha?" [She does pronounce it with an M rather than an N.] Ruby is still too shy to ring their doorbell and ask to play. Cassie usually rings our doorbell, asks to play, and at some point, says she's going to see if Tasha wants to come play, too. They all get along quite well and Tasha doesn't mind playing house, either. I love it.
• Ruby is obsessed with playing house. We are assigned our roles and expected to obey her every imaginative request. One of my favorite things is when she says, "And pretend...". She'll say something like, "And pretend the baby was sleeping. And pretend the mommy put a blanket on the baby." Then she wants us to act out what she just said. It reminds me of playing with my friends when I was little.
• Ruby is SILLY! She loves to say silly things to make us laugh. She'll say things like, "Please don't put Cheetos in your hair!" and laughs! She has also started calling names, which I don't care for. A lot of times what she calls you is funny, not mean. And then she calls me "pee-pee head" or "poo-poo head" and I'm not cool with that.
• One day last week I asked Ruby to get into her car seat and she actually did it right when I asked her the first time. She exclaimed, "I'm listening! You better tell Daddy!" She was so proud of herself that she was being obedient. I really do appreciate the [rare] times that she does listen and is obedient the first time!

Now for the random photos:

Ruby's favorite food: a Happy Meal! 

Ruby bouncing at "The Bounce Off"
(my flash wasn't working so all my pics were blurry!)

Ruby loves playing inside the car and standing through the sunroof

Getting a ride on the magic blanket

I just love this picture

Ruby asks Jeff to turn on the sprinklers in the garden
so that she can put her butt in the sprinkler and get it wet.

Ruby opening Father's Day gifts with Jeff.
This is her "REALLY?" face.

the feel of new carpet

We got new carpet in the bedrooms this week! We've been wanting to replace the old, dirty, scratchy, matted-down carpet in the bedrooms since we moved in. If you've been to our house and walked on that nasty carpet, then you know why we wanted to replace it. The pictures really don't do it justice!

Our bedroom BEFORE
(Can you see that icky dirt track? We don't even wear our shoes in the house!)
(Oh, and the green tape is still up from me painting the baseboards)

Ellie's room BEFORE

Ruby's room BEFORE

I helped Jeff move the heavy furniture Monday night,
then we slept on our mattress in the living room.

Jeff moved the rest of the furniture the next morning.
He worked really hard that day taking care of the girls while I was at work.
He even took Ellie's crib to the basement so she could have a nap!

I know, we definitely could have waited longer to put in new carpet, but we did it anyway. And we have no regrets! The new carpet is so soft! It's pure luxury! I didn't even know, but the carpet we picked for the girls' rooms turned out to be even softer than the carpet we put in our bedroom! You have to walk on it to believe how wonderful it feels. Come on over and feel for yourself!

Ellie's room AFTER

Ruby's room AFTER

Our room AFTER

Now I'm paranoid about keeping it clean and stain-free, but I'll take comfy carpet even if it means a little extra daily diligence. I might actually cry though, the first time one of the girls pukes on their carpet. It's inevitable, and I hope that day is years away!

16 months old!

Ellie-pie is growing up! This month she learned a few new words: night-night ("nigh-nigh"), ear, eye, more ("moh!"), and MINE. It's funny to hear her say "mine," since she has so few things that are truly hers, and she knows what they are. Ruby still thinks that pretty much everything is hers, so conflict is inevitable. Those siblings are constantly competing with each other.

Ruby's bike helmet

playing at the bouncy place

Ellie is slowly learning how to communicate her needs and wants, with words and body language. It's rewarding for us both when I can interpret what she's trying to communicate and I get it right. Communicating rocks!

this baby loves dental hygiene!

I do LOVE that, when I leave for work, she waves, says "bye-bye" and blows me a kiss. I love that at night, when we're carrying her to bed, she smiles, waves, and says, "nigh-nigh."

mohawk!

lovin' some Sprite (just a few sips)

Did you notice her new accessory? [see mohawk picture] The dreaded binkie. She's been binkie-free for ten months and this month it has brought her new comfort for her sore gums. And I'll admit, she has seemed happier with it in her mouth most of the day, so you won't hear me complaining. However, this was the age that Ruby started using a binkie and was a junkie for far too long. It's only been a couple weeks for Ellie and I fear the attachment is taking hold. But look at that face - how can you say her binkie face is not cute?

"this huge binkie can't hide my smiley face!"