Sweet Ruby

This girl is too cute for her own good. She is 5 1/2 now and is so anxious for her 6th birthday. She wants to plan her birthday party every night at bedtime. At this point she is set on a tea party just like Lyda had for her 8th birthday. She really wanted all of her friends to wear black dresses, but I've talked her into letting them choose their own dresses. She has agreed, but no dress up dresses allowed. This is a grown up tea party, not a little kid one thank you very much. Ruby loves preschool, playdates, sugar, chocolate milk, singing, gymnastics and hide-and-go-seek. Ruby gets to go to preschool 3 days a week and always looks forward to it. I think she is officially ready for kindergarten. Her class has 11 girls and 1 boy in it. It has been a fun and interesting group. Ruby wants a friend over all the time. Usually it is a help to have a friend over, but this age seems to be the time when everyone wants to play their way. Ruby always, always wants to play hide-and-go-seek. In fact it is not uncommon for her to just slip away and occasionally hide from her friends. She loves it, her friends not so much.

Ruby would seriously eat candy or anything with sugar all day long if I would let her. She has such a sweet tooth and unfortunately a really finicky stomach. She recently had a bout with acid reflux that made her so miserable, especially at night. After being unsatisfied with our pediatrician's advice to just treat her with heartburn medicine daily, we sought out a naturopath's advice. It was a really great decision. We found that she had a yeast overgrowth which the doctor had us treat and it solved her problem. She said we may have to do this little yeast cleanse once a year or so if her symptoms come back, but it was a relief to find a solution that wasn't just about medicating. Ruby recently started gymnastics. She decided she was done with ballet and begged to try gymnastics. She absolutely loves it! I'm just excited to have her involved in something that is fun and interesting to her. Ruby is the ultimate cute little girl. The kind that wanders around singing all day long. I remember when Lyda did this too, and I love it. Ruby sings all the time and about everything. The other day I overheard her singing about her missing sock that she was trying to locate in her bedroom. I love to think that her life is so carefree that she can just sing about anything. But there is another side to this sweet little person. When she gets mad, she gets mad. She is a growler. She will growl and grumble about whatever it is she doesn't like. And occasionally kick or hit something, like the wall, a chair or whatever she might pass by. This doesn't always go so well for her, which frustrates her even more. Such a contrast to her sweet little self, but I guess we can't be Cinderella all the time. While playing with friends, who like to pretend to be dogs, I overheard her say, "I don't want to be a dog cause I'm bad at ruffing." I love the little things that come out of her mouth. She is a funny girl and is getting so smart. She is figuring things out so quickly and tries so hard to keep up with the older kids. 

Quick funny story about Ruby. She went through a phase of caring about her hair and outfit so much. A product of an almost all girl preschool I think. Anyway, one day she asked me if I would wash a particular dress and put curlers in her hair for her upcoming preschool day. I told her that we would try our best to make that happen. So the night before preschool, we just didn't have time to put her hair in curlers, but I was able to wash her dress. The next morning I told her should could grab her dress out of the dryer and she looked at me like I was crazy. There was no way she was going to wear the dress without her hair being just how she imagined it. So she decided to postpone the outfit until the following preschool day so that she could complete the outfit with the curls. Hello, you're 5! We just may be in trouble.

This girl is wonderful, sweet and so, so helpful with her baby brother. We love watching her learn and grow. She really is becoming such a great little girl. We are so proud of her!

Rooker

Oh this kid! Man we love him. He came into this world with opinions! He is so busy and into everything.  He cleans out the cabinets and pantry daily. I feel like there is no keeping our house clean while he is around.  Rook absolutely loves being outside. His first word we officially decided was Go! Whenever the door opens, especially to the front yard, he drops what he is doing and makes a run for it.  And if he doesn't get to it before it closes, he has a total meltdown. He used to say, "go, go, go" whenever he had a chance to get out that door. Rook is soooo dangerous right now. He is at the age when we feel like he should be in body armor to keep him from injuring himself. He is so tall for his age that he is able to get into things and climb up things he shouldn't. He has been pulling things off of the table and countertops for months. This does not go well when glass cups and plates are within reach. We are just waiting for his brain to catch up with his height! Not to say that he isn't smart, because he catches on to so many things so quickly. He watches everyone in the house and imitates what he sees. He loves to talk on the phone and watch videos of himself on mom's cellphone. At this point Rook says: go, mama, dada, hi, bye, ball, cheese, balloon (this is my favorite, he rolls his tongue with this one), and bubble. I'm sure there are more that we just don't quite understand. He jabbers all the time and uses lots of arm gestures while doing it. I love it. Rook goes and goes all day long. He is so busy that when it is time to nap or go to bed, he usually crashes out so fast. He loves his soft blankies and his binki. That binki is going to be hard to break. I had planned to wean him at 18 months, but he was sick and frankly, I'm afraid of the fight. This is one stubborn kid. Plus his teeth are pretty crazy already, I don't think the binki can cause anymore damage. Not only are his teeth pretty crowded and crooked, but he's managed to chip his front teeth twice now. Crazy teeth or not, he grins so big and says "cheese" whenever a camera is pointed in his direction. 

When we decided to name this kid Rook, we figured his nickname would end up being Rookie. And I figure that name will be used by his peers as he gets older, but we don't call him that. He is known around here as Rooker, Rookers or Rooker-Dooker. Kind of funny how nicknames just sort of happen. There is so much to say about this kid but there is a phrase I have seen floating around that says a boy is noise with dirt on it. That phrase absolutely fits this kid. So, so noisy and always dirty or sticky. He has brought so much crazy and so much joy into our lives. We couldn't have asked for a better caboose!