Say Cheese!

Rachel LOVES to take my camera and play "Cheese". Here's another post with photos from her point of view. Some of these are not very flattering, to say the least.

Here's a few other misc. ones:

She used chopsticks, and actually got some food in her mouth with them!

Jason and I bought a bunch of lego sets and for the past several weekends we've turned off our electronics and played with legos together. All of us love it. And Jason and I love the memories we're making!

 Yeah, this chair isn't a recliner. However, when she sits in it, she pushes the chair all the way back until it reclines!

 This is the girls at Grandma Johnson's playing in the bird bath and having a great time. They were muddy from head to toe by the time they were done!

 The girls putting their shoes and socks on all by themselves.

For Halloween Wendy's gave out Shrek toys. this one was a hat that had donkey ears. She was so excited!

The Ruchert Explanation

It was called to my attention that I neglected to explain the "Ruchert" name. Anytime you ask Rachel her name, she says, "Ruchert!" So sometimes I actually call her that. I noticed that the other kids in the classroom all call her "Ruchert" as well.

Ruchert Stories

I have a few stories I want to capture so I can tell them to Rachel one day. I'll post more pictures soon!

 

My Furry Friend

One day Jason was laying in the middle of the living room floor. I can’t remember what we were doing, but he had his hands behind his head laying on his back. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt. And what happened next we’re not sure if Rachel was just trying to be cute or if there truly was an element of discovery but Rachel started saying “Oh, it’s so cute!” and began to pet his armpit. He was trying not to move as he didn’t want to clock her with his arm, but she just kept cooing over his armpit. Both of us couldn’t stop laughing, which only made it worse.

 

We now have a parrot in our midst. I am ever so grateful that we are very careful about what we say around her. Most of the nasty stuff that comes out of her mouth is really rare and a complete accident or she was trying to say something like “fork” and she’s not quite adept to pronunciation. But some of her new phrases that are cute at the moment are:

 

“What are you talking about?”

“Ah, that’s so cuuuute” (not always is this one used appropriately, as is the case from the story above)

“But, why?” (instead of just Whyyyyyyyyy? Hers comes out as “But, why?”)

 

And all of the above phrases are sometimes accompanied by hand gestures (that she’s picked up from me), putting one hand on her hip in determination after saying one of the above phrases,  and/or looking off to the side and up. Generally she looks up and to the right. I believe I heard somewhere that means she’s right brained?

 

Be Nice

Last week we were sitting at the dinner table, which I do try to have us do a few times a week. Jason was getting ready for an upcoming trip to England and at the end of it he’s heading to Switzerland for a few days because he’s always wanted to go. He kept dragging his feet and I finally managed to get him at least okay with the idea. He purchased his flights and booked the extra hotel and all was set. It was a few days before he was ready to go and at the table he said, “Are you really sure you’re okay with me going?” I don’t remember what kind of day I had, but I was really frustrated we were about to have this conversation again. So I reply, “Are you seriously asking again? Of course I’m okay with it! I want you to do this, I’ve had to talk you into going! It’s all set and I’m good with it.” To which Rachel softly pipes up, “Um, mommy? Please be nice to daddy.” What’s the correct response to your child when they say that! Of course I wasn’t mad, just kind of annoyed so I agreed, apologized to them both and tried very hard not to feel so embarrassed.

 

A lot of times when I’m driving I’ll hear her little voice from the back say, “This way mommy?” “That way?” I can’t tell if she wants me to go that way or if she’s just asking. There has been at least one incident where she wanted to go left and I turned right and she threw a fit.

 

On the nights where I run up to Anderson with her she’ll see the Wendy’s as we go through the roundabout and she’ll either tell me she wants French fries, or she’ll point out the place that has the French fries.

 

Once in a great while she’ll dive into a complete explanation of something absolutely nonsensical. I happened upon one conversation she had at the kitchen table one morning with “Papa” Howell: “And there was a night-night, a blue night-night but then there was no night-night” and it went on and on and one and upon completion she put her right hand on her hip, slightly nodded her head and I’m not sure if I imagined it or if she actually said, “Hmpf!” If she didn’t, that would have been the correct place to do it. Sometimes she’ll go into a huge explanation of something and it’s almost as if she doesn’t breathe. I might understand a sentence or phrase out of the whole thing.

 

Her speech is getting better but she does still pronounce her c’s as t’s. ex: Tome on! Instead of Come on. Otay! Instead of Ok.

 

Sadly, she does now say “crown” instead of a “Happy cake”, which kind of makes me sad. That’s one that could have stuck. The other day I caught her trying to say “Pacifier” instead of “ night-night”. She actually pronounced it almost right! But I’m so used to it being called a night-night that I now call it that as well so at the time it didn’t compute.

 

When I’m driving I do get annoyed when people in front of me are going slower than the speed limit. Especially if they pull out in front of me or are driving recklessly. So of course I talk out loud, “Oh you gooberhead! Why’d you have to do that?” (Again….VERY careful with my vocabulary in front of her). Sometimes she’ll say, “It’s alright!”

 

She does say “UM” a LOT.

 

One of my least favorite of her habits is this:

“Um, mommy?”

“hmm?”
“Um, mommy?”

“huh?”

“Um, mommy?”

“yes?”
“Um, mommy?”

“Seriously, what?!”

 

It’s like how Stewie talks to Lois on Family guy and at the end of the whole thing, he says, “HI!” Oh that annoys me. This is a conversation that normally happens when she’s trying to wake me up. Grunting isn’t good enough, apparently!

 

BEANS

I have 2 bean stories. The first is another conversation we had in the car. We’re driving along and she points out the window:

“What’s that?”

I look. She’s pointing to a field.

“Those are beans”

“Bains? What’s Bains doing?”

“Growing.”

“Growing?”

 

HA! Either I have more of a twang to my speech than I thought, or she has a twang as she’s learning.

 

The second beans story is: we had a bean supper up at my Grandma Esche’s house not long ago, cooked by my Uncle Paul. I was skeptical that Rachel would even attempt them. (Uncle Paul had chicken nuggets in reserve just in case, he’s so good!) But sure enough, Rachel sat at the table and quietly ate…and ate….and ate…she even ate the beans and wanted more!

 

With Alana being home and I get to help care for her sometimes it’s kind of nice to see the differences between the two girls. Alana can play by herself a little more than Rachel can, although she does like to interact with the adults once in a while. But she’s not a good eater. And some nights, Rachel isn’t either. But consistently I see Rachel eat about twice as much as she does. I really do have a good eater! (Although I notice that Alana eats really well when she stays with us. I’m sure it’s because if her little cousin is eating, then she needs to show her up).

 

Also I’ve noticed that Rachel is a GOOD sleeper. More than one person that’s kept her has told us that she’ll suddenly just say, “I want to go to bed” or that she wants to take a nap and sure enough, you give her a pacifier and a blanket and she’ll curl up and go to sleep. More often than not, she does do this. I am ever so grateful. And part of that comes from the fact that we’ve worked really hard to set the boundary that she ONLY gets her pacifier in her bed. There was one weekend that Rachel wasn’t sleeping, but she wanted to pacifier badly enough that she spend just as much time in her bed as she did out of it. Because she wanted it so much and that was the rule. Now she knows when she goes to sleep, she gets it. Breaking the “no night-night at night-night” is going to be tough, but I’m okay with it. For now, we all sleep ALL NIGHT. And as far as her teeth go, sucking her thumb would make that worse, so I’m grateful she’s not doing that. And I’ve heard as long as she’s done with it by the time she’s 4 she should be fine. Considering now she doesn’t have it all the time, only when she sleeps (and it falls out as soon as she’s fast asleep) I think we’ll be okay. It’s one of those little things I’m willing to give on.

 

Potty training right now is going SO. SLOW. At least it is to me. Some kids are done by the time they’re 1, some kids aren’t there until they’re 4. Our kid is at least peeing in the potty regularly, so I’m glad it’s at least started. She doesn’t understand the concept of it’s the diaper or the potty, you can’t live in both worlds. As I’ve learned with our daughter, she does things in her own time and in her own way (exactly like me). And since I know how I operate, I’m trying to exploit that. If I push it’ll take longer, so instead I’ll encourage and offer but that’s about all I can do.