First Words

Like many babies, Ruthie's babbles of "dada" and "mama" to anyone and anything began months ago. Slowly but surely she has begun to associate words to their objects. She looks at Daddy and says "dada." She looks at the chair and says "mama." She looks back at Daddy and says "dada." She looks at the wall and says "mama." Back to Daddy. "dada." Then over to Bridget. "bridget." Now she's looking at the ceiling. "mama." Finally she looks at Mommy... and she starts crying. Hey, I never said she was associating ALL words to their objects!

In the following video, are a few rare caught-on-tape moments of some of Ruthie's very first words. Make sure the volume is turned up- this is not a silent film!

Standing Tall

Ruthie has finally made it into the world of the standing. Yes, she's taken her sweet time reaching this point. Maybe it's because we kept wanting and willing her to stand. We would lift her up, hold her out, and wait for her to stretch her legs down long so we could plant her feet firmly on the ground. In reality we would lift her up, hold her out, and Ruthie would do one of two things; a) stretch her legs out in front of her (the "I'm sitting in midair' position), or b) tuck her legs up underneath her (the "I'm in mid-jump" position). Neither led to standing so we stopped trying.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting on the floor with Ruthie and up she went. All by herself. No help from anybody. She stood right up like she'd been doing it for years. And that was it. We didn't see her stand again until tonight. Maybe she stopped standing because we've been egging her on every time we set her down. Maybe she stopped because, when she stood up the first time, I yelled "YAY" so excitedly that I think I scared her half to death because she sat right back down and started crying hysterically. Or, maybe she stopped because she just wasn't quite ready to transition from infancy to toddlerhood. Whatever the case, it seems that now she's ready.