13 Month Update...Someone's Walking!

She's walking, folks! Ruby has been taking steps here and there since early December, but this last weekend she started taking walking to a whole new level! She is more fearless than she used to be. Usually she uses your hand or a piece of furniture to stand up and then she'll start taking lots of wobbly "Frankienstein-ish" steps on her own. Brandon counted 30 in a row yesterday while we were at church and then when we got home she made it all the way from the couch to the kitchen. I should post a video for the grandparents soon...

Ruby has also decided to start trying some table foods. Goldfish crackers were her "gateway" food. Now she also eats tortillas, bananas, apples, froot loops (in my defense they are now fortified with fiber), german pancakes, ice cream, graham crackers, saltines, and sometimes she gets brave enough to request a portion of our dinner. She is still a very picky eater, but a picky eater is better than a non-eater.

The only other major development we've noticed in the past month is her use of baby signs. I've been using signs to communicate with her since she was about 7 or 8 months old, but it seems that she really started to pick up on it after she turned 12 months. Here's a list of signs she knows and does well: eat, more, water, milk, fish, dog, bath, ball, hat, baby, shoes (and of course, waving and clapping).

Just a few quirky things: Daddy taught her to screech like a pterodactyl; which I love-- especially when we're in the car (insert a thick layer of sarcasm here). And Little Roo has started to purse her lips like a fish when she's concentrating really hard on something. Needless to say, it is quite adorable. Now if I can just capture it in a picture...