- Ruby is almost 23 months old.
- It’s been a while since Ruby’s last doctor visit, so we really have no idea how tall she is, how much she weighs, or how that compares to other kids.
- Her appetite was noticeably reduced for the past few months, although it has now picked up again. I’d estimate she’s eating at least 50% more each day than she was a month ago. Growth spurt on its way!
- Ruby is wearing 18-month shirts and 24-month pants.
- Her vocabulary is huge and continuing to expand (it’s no longer possible to keep count). We’re always delighted to hear her spring new words on us, or correctly use a new sentence structure or tense.
- Steve says: “Her pronunciation is continuing to improve, but I imagine it’s still hard for strangers to understand her. Recently Ruby wanted to tell me about a brown truck (the UPS truck) and repeated “BOWN CHUCK” 3 times without me understanding what she was saying. So she did what anyone would do: she got up in my face and said “BOWN CHUCK” even louder, and with just the right stress on “CHUCK” to give it a hint of exasperation.”
- Kate says: “I think her pronunciation is above average for her age, however. From my observation, most people tend to understand what she’s saying.”
- Ruby always says the word “tiny” in a high-pitched voice.
- She said an unprompted “I love you” to Steve for the first time about two weeks ago.
- Ruby got a doll for Christmas and loves playing with it. She’ll buckle it in her highchair, put on a bib, and feed it imaginary food. She’ll give it baths. Her friend doesn’t have a name yet; just “friend”. We’re waiting for Ruby to think of a name.
- She is also currently attached to a stuffed black and white kitten we recently got, often meowing to it in a high-pitched voice.
- Ruby’s bedtime is around 7:30-8:00. It usually takes her about half an hour to go to sleep. She’ll rattle her crib, talk to her crib toys (stuffed animals and books), and roll around. She’ll sleep until around 7:30am.
- We play classical music while she’s falling asleep (the same CD since she was born) and leave the hall light on. If we turn off the light she’ll say “no – dark!”
- Ruby has one nap every day around 1:30, and she stays upstairs for around 2.5 hours. She doesn’t sleep the whole time, but that’s how long she’s up there (see above regarding crib rattling and playing).
- Ruby can jump clear off the ground.
- If you ask Ruby what some food item smells like, she’ll almost always say “jam”.
- Whenever Ruby is naked or she sees us naked, she says (for example), “Naked Papa woo woo!” She also likes to run around the main floor of the house when she’s naked.
- Ruby’s favorite food, based on asking her what she’d like to eat, is pizza. But I think she only likes it because she gets to help make it. Mostly she’ll just pick the pineapple off the top, and ignore the actual pizza part. Other favored foods are:
- edamame, cheese, yams, pineapple, ketchup, sushi, applesauce
- Other foods Ruby eats often:
- bananas, oatmeal & cheerios, peanut butter, bread, teriyaki-flavored tofu, goldfish crackers (for a special treat), peas & carrots & corn & soybeans (from the freezer)
- Ruby likes to use a fork and spoon while she’s eating, but much of the food still arrives at her mouth via her hands. Because of this, she usually insists on having a napkin, which she politely keeps on her lap.
- Once in a while, we’ll sit down with Ruby and watch a few YouTube videos on a subject of interest (such as cats or juggling). She loves this and asks to do it much more often than we actually do.
- She is very into dumping things out. I have put away her blocks and other such toys because all she’d do with them was dump them all over the floor and then ignore them. After which, I’d have to painstakingly cajole/discipline her into picking them up.
- Ruby is getting pretty good with “please”, “thank you”, and “excuse me”. Sometimes I feel like I have to prompt her for them constantly, but when she’s talking to other people, I’m often pleasantly surprised to hear her using them.
- She’s a good climber. I don’t worry about it much because she’s quite careful and not reckless.
- Ruby is currently very attuned to sounds, and will state “noise!” whenever she hears something.
