Cutest Kids on the Block

Sam hasn’t been around much lately. Instead, our family has been hanging out intermittently with Floor, Zipper, Cold, and TV. On Friday, Samuel came home a bit sad because his friends and his teacher wouldn’t call him by his new name.
“You should just tell them your new name, then,” I suggested.
“I told them: ‘Me llamo Frío,’ but they just don’t listen.”
Ruth’s speech has exploded in just a few weeks time. (Sam reminded me tonight that “Ruth’s speech has exploded” is just a figure of speech. Ruth didn’t really explode, friends; she just has a lot of new words.) She is literally repeating everything she hears and it’s very endearing. She has even learned to repeat/tell a good knock-knock joke. Our favorite Ruthie knock-knock joke goes something like this:
Ruth: Knock-Knock
Us: Who’s there?
Ruth: Agua
Us: Agua, who?
Ruth: Agua Car!! And then lots of giggles. We’re pretty sure she came up with that herself.
She also has started to excitedly tell others about things she has experienced long after the event occurred. You should hear her talk about her vacation last week when Grandpa was here. It’s a beautiful mix of excited babble and words like “agua, boat, pool, Mommy, Daddy, Bubba, Papa, Ree.” (Ree is how she pronounces her own name and it’s starting to stick as a nickname.) This evening she excitedly told her Daddy all about visiting her friend Maddie in the afternoon. It went something like this: “Ree, Maddie, play, Maddie school Bubba.” Which is true, Maddie goes to school with Samuel.
When my Dad came to visit, he bought Ruth a brand new pair of knock-off Crock shoes in the market. She. Loves. Them. She cries when she has to take them off. She begs to have them in her bed with her. She wake up and asks for her “zapatos.” The girl loves her shoes.
And finally, Ruth is getting so big that this weekend was the “quit-the-paci-cold-turkey” weekend. It’s been a rough ride for everyone. But she is just so big.