Ruth is seven!
Ruth had a fun birthday with her daddy. They ate Burger King at a pond, then went to the Science Factory. She had lots to share about her time there.
She chose cheesecake with caramel sauce for her birthday dessert and requested home made dumplings and bought Chinese food for her meal. It was all quite yummy.
Ruth is still very tiny; she weighs about 31 pounds but is happy to finally be in size 4 clothes. Thankfully she loves being small for her age and actually likes when people comment on how tiny she is.
Ruth was diagnosed with a learning disability at the beginning of the school year. It was helpful for me as her teacher to be able to work in a different way to help her learn. With Herculean effort she is now reading. It’s still a bit laborious but she’s getting better everyday and is confident enough to finally find some enjoyment in reading. Writing is also a huge challenge but she has made slow and steady progress in that area as well. For some reason compound words often get mixed up in Ruth’s mind so she comes out with the cutest words like: bow cross and bell cow. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to upset her. I typically tell her it’s because she’s so smart and her brain is moving so fast it gets one step ahead of mouth.
Ruth loves Hans so much! She asks to hold him more than any of the other girls. She is adamant that we have another baby right away so that Hans will have a friend close to his age. Ruth thinks it would be best if we have one more but have it be two (twins). I’m not sure we can convince daddy of the idea, though.
Ruth is enjoying ballet. It’s a great activity for her small size. She is interested in softball and swimming but I don’t think she’s got the strength and endurance for either of those sports just yet.
Ruth is always wanting to help with everything. She loves to help with meals, with Heidi and Hans, and just about everything but cleaning up. She’s very good at keeping her school things organized.
I’m constantly amazed at her work ethic. She does cry sometimes when the work is very hard or she’s frustrated but she always wipes her eyes and tries again at her own insistence. Her speech has progressed incredibly this past year. We’re very grateful for her speech therapist who is dedicated and talented. Ruth has therapy once every two weeks and we practice everyday at home. It’s nice that I’m in the sessions listening and can reinforce the lessons at home.
Ruth has lots of plans for when she grows up. She still says she wants to have nine children but she’s not sure what job she wants to have. Maybe an artist, maybe a hairdresser, maybe something else. I just remind her she has a long time before she has to choose.
Ruth is also very, very funny. She sometimes says little one liners that crack us all up. For example, when the Hess family was talking about the Boba Fett show and how it wasn’t that great Ruth pipes up and says, “Yeah. It jumped the shark in the Mando episode.”
We’re grateful that she will not need any cleft surgery this year. Most likely she’ll get braces on her top teeth in the next year, then after that she will have to have a bone graft surgery where they’ll take a piece of her hip bone and put it in her gumline where she’s missing a piece of bone.
But most of all, we love Ruth for being herself. She is a sweet and caring girl. She loves dancing for Jesus and it was so precious to hear her belting out the songs while she does ballet. She told me recently that she’s extra special because she has 3 moms and 3 dads. Us, her foster family, and her birth family. Hans has helped to heal some of the blank spaces (for now) in Ruth’s mind. Watching my pregnancy and seeing ultrasound pictures and reading about how the baby was growing inside of me really moved her. As I said, Ruth holds Hans more than any of the other kids.
Happy 7th birthday, Ruthie V.! We love you!
