Road Trip!

Gwendolyn graduated to her new "big girl" carseat, so we thought we'd give it a true workout by taking a road trip to La Conner, WA. There was a quilt show there last weekend, so the Ronaghan clan bravely headed south. Gwendolyn was a real trouper, even when our wait at the border stretched to 2+ hours! Here she is in her carseat, her face making clear how she feels about waiting so long:

We stopped in Bellingham for dinner before heading back across the border, and though we remembered to bring her food, we forgot her bib. Cloth napkin to the rescue! Our little imp entertained our fellow diners with lots of smiles and the occasional vocalisation. She was a big hit at the quilt show, too -- a junior quilter in training, she was heard to exclaim "Oooooh!" more than a few times (really!).

"Stop growing up so fast!"

Of course we say this in jest, but my goodness! Gwendolyn is changing so fast, we can hardly keep up.

Here is photo and video evidence of her latest talent: standing without support. The standing stints are brief, but pretty stable, despite the contrary evidence captured at the end of the video.

Gwendolyn and Mom share a laugh

Piggyback + tickles = bouts of laughter for all concerned. Watch and enjoy...

And now, a(nother) word from our Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn has always been a chatty little girl, and we're beginning to hear the fruits of all that practice. You've heard her say "bye-bye" in the previous video clip; we're also very excited to report that she's added "book" to her repertoire.

Actually, it's "buh" (sound familiar?). We know what she means, though, because she often says the word when she's heading to retrieve a book from the stack near her play area, which is now a very frequent occurrence. In fact, reading with Mom or Dad has become one of Gwendolyn's favourite play activities -- ranking right up there with practicing her standing. Our earlier blog about having a bookworm in training may not be all that far fetched.

To celebrate our little one's interest in reading and books, here is a picture of Gwendolyn with one of her current favourites: My Little Animal Book. Note the unorthodox, "on all fours" reading pose... Who says you can't crawl and read at the same time?

A walk along the river

We celebrated the last day of Gwendolyn's first summer with a walk along a trail on the Vancouver side of the Fraser River, found in a quiet, almost rural neighbourhood called Southlands. Here are a pair of photos of Dad and G. enjoying the sunshine and water views.

We saw several boats, planes taking off from the airport across the river, many folks walking with their dogs, a handful of bicyclists and runners, and a magnificent horse (Gwendolyn's first!) out for his (her?) afternoon walk. Horses and riders are a very common site in Southlands, which is home to a number of riding stables.

Before heading home, we stopped at Southlands Nursery to look at their beautiful collection of plants and garden items. Planning has already begun for next year's patio garden... Maybe Gwendolyn will want to help Dad with the planting?

A Trifecta of Tricks!

Gwendolyn has been a busy little bee these last couple of weeks, perfecting her clapping and getting a couple more accomplishments under her belt. By a stroke of luck, we managed to capture all of them in one (1.5-minute) video clip. It's actually a Trifecta plus one -- be sure to watch for the 'bonus' at the end. We can't believe how much she's learning and growing.

Enjoy!

Fun with Klondike

Gwendolyn has taken a real shine to Klondike, her stuffed polar bear. (Thanks, Isabelle!) She greets him with squeals of delight when she sees him in the morning, and any other time he's been out of view for a while.

Here's a photo of our two BFF's, chilling on Gwendolyn's blanket. Klondike's sleeper is a loaner from Gwen. You'd think a polar bear would be sweltering in the warmth of a late summer on the west coast, but I guess the early morning chill was getting to him...

Cuddling with Mom

How does a busy baby recover from an afternoon of laughing, clapping, playing, standing, crawling, reading, singing, talking...? Why, a cuddle with Mom on the couch, of course!

Nine Months Already!

All the clichés apply: where does the time go? It seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital! Or giving her that first taste of solid food. Or watching as she mastered rolling over. Not so long ago, this little girl was just discovering her new world and now she's babbling, clapping, waving, and - just today - dancing by wiggling in her seat. Crawling's a skill yet to be mastered, but she can pivot pretty efficiently on her knees. And she's still moving backwards until she meets an obstacle (the ottoman in the photo above).

We're having so much fun as we experience the wonderful adventure that is Gwendolyn. She's so happy and laid-back, we keep pinching ourselves to make sure this isn't all just a lovely dream.

Gwendolyn's new favourite

The ceiling fan (see our post from March 21st) has finally met its match. Gwendolyn has become quite fond of one of our living room floor lamps, and often wants us to carry her over to pay it a visit. Turn the lamp on, and smiles and happy sounds ensue.

Yes, we know: kooky. But that's our delightful little girl for you!

An afternoon on the farm -- in the city!

Well, you learn something new every day... We had no idea that a working dairy is located in the middle of an east Vancouver neighbourhood, and has been since 1906. Avalon Dairy held its annual Country Fair today, and we went to take a look. It was a bit crowded, but there was lots to see and live music to hear -- a lovely way to spend a couple of hours on a late summer afternoon.

Stand up, baby, stand up!

Gwendolyn's current favourite play activity is -- standing. She loves to be set in front of a chair to exercise her legs and practice balancing herself. Mom and Dad stay close by, ready to catch her if she falls, which she does, but rarely.

Maybe she's one of those babies who will skip crawling in favour of walking? Sheesh -- we really need to get cracking on our babyproofing tasks!

She's never seen a camera she didn't like...

No milestones to report here: just a terrific photo of Gwendolyn, favourite ducky in hand, taken at a local coffee shop by our friend Maridella. As usual, Little G was being her gregarious self!