Super cute, a bundle of activity, happy most of the time and so much fun – everything you could possibly want at this age.
Ruslan loves to sleep – at night he is so happy to be carried to bed and snuggles down in his crib for the night without a fuss. If I tell him to go sleepy and he will put his head on my shoulder. He still sucks his left thumb and rubs his right ear while he falls asleep. If he gets tired during the day, he will sometimes lay down in the middle of the room for a little rest. The good sleep gives us a very happy little boy in the morning. He is usually bouncing up and down in his crib or playing with his crib aquarium and dancing to the music.
Drop-off at childcare is so easy for him. When I stop the stroller in front of his classroom, he hops down and walks into the room. He makes his way over to the table for breakfast, finds a chair and sits down – ready to eat. And he loves to eat just about anything. His primary method of eating is with his fingers, but we are working on using a spoon with some success.
When he sees something he wants – he runs toward it. Legs moving fast, arms shaking back and forth, bum wiggling as he goes. Sometimes running fast equals a hard tumble which is met with the saddest cry you have ever heard. Luckily most of the time a snuggle from Mommy will get him back on his feet. He has a silly little game he plays when it is time to leave or eat lunch – he runs to the opposite corner of the room, giggling the whole time with a mischievous grin on his face. Then he realizes that he is missing out and runs back hollering along the way.
We started sign language early and Ruslan has several signs that he uses all of the time: more, all done, eat, milk (as well as others he uses sometimes). Over the past week, he is suddenly using more real words, his vocabulary includes: mama, dada, more, milk, drink, thank you, kitty, dog, cracker (he pronounces it with a grrr on the end – he loves to growl), cereal, G, Na-Na (for Juliana), car, hello (when talking on phone), hi and bye – with waves, yes and no – those include wild up-and-down or side-to-side of the head.
He has quite a temper when he is not getting what he wants. He gets mad and will scream for a long time – it is so loud – I hope this phase ends soon. Nothing will make him happy except the thing that he wants and then he eventually forgets why he is mad and does something else.
He loves to carry purses, tote bags and buckets – usually over his arm. Pots and pans and spoons are another current favorite. Cars have long been interesting, but are suddenly lots of fun to push along the floor and say vroom, vroom. Christmas morning is going to be so much fun here this year.
Adorable.
Cutest cheeks ever!