Ruby-Cube

What an eventful time it is with this girl right now! This is not even a therapy update because these things are not all therapy-driven, BUT our lives are so intertwined with therapy, that honestly every minute of her day is shaped in some (therapy-derived) day. Soooo....update on Ruby or therapy or both, I guess.

Newest tricks for my girl include:

• Dancing. Not really dancing, but she's not responded to music much until this last month. Now she will stop what she's doing and swing her arm (usually right) straight out in front of her when she hears music playing. Love, love, love.
• Standing Unassisted. Really. She has been letting go of whatever support she's used in the standing position for quite some time, but lately she will 'climb' up one of us when we're down on the ground and then right herself to a standing position. She pushed herself to standing from Eli's knee the other day and he was SOO excited.
• Walking. Wait...what? OK, not really. BUT she took her first two (totally unassisted, totally independent) steps this week. At least three separate times in the same day too! 
• Eating Unassisted. Sorta. Ruby's been rocking the feed-herself-with-a-loaded-fork for months now, but I've been experimenting with spoons lately too. While it is a messy endeavor, it's starting to pay off. AND she has her bowl-to-mouth accuracy down because of all of the fork practice.
• Signs. Oh, how many she has. In the last few weeks Ruby has picked up several and uses them often. She still does "all done", but it's more intentional and recognizable now. She will sign "fish" when we are reading a book with a fish photo in it, but only when prompted. She will sign "please" all day long and very emphatically. Usually it's a flipping over hand across her chest, but if she can reach her belly (as in, when she's not in her high chair), she will rub her belly like crazy. And "eat". She will bring her hand to her mouth to tell you she wants to eat. Again, and again.
• Imitation. Ruby is showing us that she can be a very quick learner in every portion of her day. While we always put lotion on her after her bath, I just realized a few weeks ago that I never show her how she can do it herself. It only took one time and now she rubs her arms and chest as soon as she sees the lotion and/or bath soap. Love that little sponge!!