Raine Drop: October 2012

I'm not exactly sure why I'm so amazed by Ruby these days. Maybe because she's the youngest of the 3 Raine Circus and there's no younger sibling to nurse and nurse and nurse, so I have more time to marvel at almost everything she does. She's 19 months old, likes to sing - The Wheels On the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle, and the alphabet are her faves - knows which letter her name starts with, and today she counted to 10. Even if you think this is not amazing, don't burst my bubble, MY GIRL IS A GENIUS.

Don't get me wrong, I'm equally amazed by my other 2 - boring blog posts about Tal and Dec are on the horizon, don't worry. They all do amazing, unexpected, loving, and hilarious things everyday and I'm so glad they are mine. But Ruby has really blossomed since being on her restricted diet. She has gone from being an exceedingly fussy, difficult, screamy little thing who was in constant pain and discomfort to such a bright, sunny, healthy, big girl. Practically overnight. I can't get over the change and I'm loving seeing the little person she's becoming.

A day with Ruby will include:

1. a tiny, curly-headed tyrant shoving books at me with a bossy "Mommy! Wead diss!"

2. Woobs letting us know it's time for a new diaper with a "Gwammie. Poop in diaper. New bum."

3. Woobs the Bottomless Pit cleaning her plate a couple times over at each meal with a cheerful "Down da hatch!" after almost every bite

4. a split-second of terror when I hear her yelling "Mommy! Uppy here! Baby Wooby uppy here!" and I know that little stinker is on the top bunk again

5. many, many baby kisses all day long

6. frantic demands of "uppy! uppy! uppy!" whenever anyone is doing anything in the kitchen - see # 3 above. I don't know where she puts it.

7. lots of fun at mealtimes as Talia and Declan delight in Wooby the Parrot, and have no shortage of suggestions for things she should try and say. Woobs, of course, is all too eager to participate - which is how we ended up with an 15 month old who could say anything and everything under the sun. Now she's trying to spit out longer and longer sentences. Sure, she didn't walk until 16 months, but why would she? She had enough words to boss us all around, she didn't need to use those little legs.

8. Wooby the Daredevil climbing places she shouldn't. Again, not a big deal for most kids. But for a Raine baby? This is unheard of. She climbed on every playstructure she saw this summer - up slides, across the wobbly bridge. She even sometimes gets off the ground when she jumps. Amazing.

9. so many hugs and snuggles. It's a big joke around here that Big Fun Daddy gets all the glory. With Ruby, I finally have a baby who notices if I leave the house. It's so nice.... in an exhausting kind of way. Haha. But I'm happy to finally have a baby who loves a good snuggle!

10. menus that include things I never thought I would be making - quinoa puffs with pear and applesauce, zucchini "noodles" with daiya "cheese" sauce, coconut milk yogurt made in my crockpot, buckwheat pancakes... the list goes on an on. But I really do love to cook and bake, and I do believe that food made at home with fresh, whole ingredients is the best for my family. So thank you, crazy Ruby diet, for making me live out my beliefs every dang day!!

We are so fortunate. I feel incredibly blessed to have these little comedians in my life and even more blessed that I am able to only work part-time while they are young. So I am just going to sit back and continue to enjoy our regular life with all the little additions of amazing that the 3 Raine Circus bring to it everyday.

We live approximately 2 minutes from an awesome corn maze. We have a little tradition of going there in the fall with my brother's family - we wander in corn, check out the animals at the petting zoo, have a hayride, eat copious amounts of mini-donuts, and pick out some Hallowe'en pumpkins. It's always a great day and today was no different (even though we did not indulge in the mini-donuts!)