Ruthie's 2 Years Old!

Ruthie is now officially a 2 year old and that comes with all the joys of a 2 year old. First I wanted to look back at some pics of Ruthie over her 2 years so here they are:

first picture

My favorite new born pic

professional pics at 2 months

professional pics at 6 months- wearing her christening gown

first Halloween

first Birthday

one year professional pics

Valentine's Day 2012

Easter 2012

professional pics at 21 months- swinging which is one of her favorite things

sisterly love

Christmas 2012

2nd birthday and loving some cake

sweet girl on the morning of her birthday!

We are so proud to be Ruthie's parents. She is growing and learning so much right now. In the last month her vocabulary has more than doubled. Sometimes she says things that we didn't even know she knew such as names like Jackson (our friend from youth group- she called him Jack), the dogs names, the words "ready", "catch", and "please" are just a few of the new words in her vocabulary. It is such a joy to see her putting things together and learning so much. She has even moved to her big girl queen size bed. Life is just passing so fast.

Ruthie loves her sister so much. The last 2 months Ruthie has learned to be a big help. She gets diapers, blankets, clothes, and anything else that she is asked to get that is within reach. We also had to crack down on discipline, but since we did that she has really shown improvement in listening and following directions.

She is so fast and energetic. She loves being outside too. She likes to go to the door and just stare out the window. She will sometimes bring us her shoes and then go stand at the door and say "outside". She loves sliding on her slide and standing at the fence to see the cars and trucks, which she also now knows how to say. She loves throwing and kicking the ball in the back yard and Matt taught her how to hit the ball with a broom stick like she is sort of golfing. 

The other day we were playing ring around the rosies and were discussing how fast she has gotten lately. She has begun to run around our legs while we stood in the middle of the floor. Matt commented that she was "literally running circles around us." That my friends is what our life is like these days. She is constantly on the move. She has started walking around the house with her eyes closed and will even spin in circles with her eyes close. That leads to her running into things. No worries though b/c she is tough and it doesn't bother her one bit. She also likes walking backwards. She is also a good little dancer and I think we will be starting dance classes as soon as she is potty trained.

We are not potty training yet, but I think we will start that in the next few months. We will see.

Ruthie loves "corroring", known as coloring to the rest of us. She decided to also stash some crayons away for coloring when her crayons are put away. She likes to color on the walls and floors so then she gets in trouble and when we take the crayons away we have found her taking crayons out of buckets and other toys. She's a smart kid!

Ruthie sleeps every night with her brown and pink blanket and her panda from Great Aunt Marcia and Great Uncle Mike (Matt's aunt and uncle). She will grab them both and climb into her bed to sleep. 

Ruthie loves Sesame Street. Elmo, Abby, Bird (Big Bird), and Blog are her favorites. She also knows a few of the other characters. Her 2nd birthday theme for the day was Abby Cadabby and friends. She was very happy to walk out of her room and see her friends wishing her a Happy Birthday. 

Ruthie is getting pretty good at dressing herself and she loves bath time. She is such a joy and life. While she has her moments of "terrible twos", she is a very loving child who is compassionate (cries whenever anyone else is crying) and caring. She gives kisses and hugs all the time to her momma, daddy, "baby" sister Olivia, and her grandparents. She is always making friends at church, the park, restaurants, and anywhere else we go. She is living up to her name which means "companion, friend". The best thing is that she loves praying and going to church. If we are at the table together she will hold out her hands and bow her head for us all to pray. She will not go to bed without her prayer time. She loves going to church and if we pass the church and don't go inside she gets very upset. As soon as we walk in the doors of the church she just gets so excited to see her friends. 

Ruthie, We pray that your love for prayer and the church will continue to grow as you learn about the Triune God and all that He is about. We pray that you will learn to love God and love others the way God loves you. We are so proud of you and can't wait to see how you grow over the coming months and years. We are so happy that God gave you to us! We love you Ruthie Roo!