Another wee photo gallery

Here are a few photos of Gwendolyn from the past week or so:

• "Big fat gloves" (her words, not ours)
• Playing in the living room is always better with your rubber boots on
  
• Working on her letter puzzle -- sans everything but the diaper
  
• Admiring her quilt which was displayed at Mama's guild's recent show
• Playing in the bird bath at the community garden while Daddy watches (thanks, Steve, for the lovely photo)

You'll notice from the above photos that pants are becoming more and more optional for Gwendolyn. It's the same with shirts... We now often refer to her as the "half naked daredevil," a term of endearment she repeats with glee during her "running around" sessions.

A couple of other tidbits:

• Remember when we told you about Gwendolyn's passion for drawing when we first brought home the easel? Well, digging with her garden tools is Gwendolyn's new "Draw! Draw!" We've set up a small sandbox on our patio for her, and if she had her way, she'd be out there all day, every day, digging (or more truthfully, telling whoever is watching her to dig).Today, the two passions were combined as Daddy had to trace outlines of the tools with Gwendolyn's crayons -- over and over and over again.
  

• Just when we think we've got this nap thing figured out... We seem to be back to two naps a day, at least for the time being. Mama and Daddy think it might have something to do with molars coming in -- cutting teeth must wear a little girl out!

Hop-along Gwendolyn

Here's another short video for your viewing pleasure, featuring Gwendolyn's newly developed hopping prowess. It's not quite dancing to Rockit, but pretty funny nonetheless.

Daddy particularly likes the up close and personal, and slightly tipsy "sleeper off" declarations at the top. Maybe that apple she was eating beforehand was a little fermented...?

It's Captain Underwear!

Her pose does seem a little superheroine-ish, no? Actually, those are Gwendolyn's swim shorts she's wearing over her sleeper. She's been quite fascinated with her swim gear lately, even wearing her swim diaper and swim shorts over her regualr diaper and cover. Talk about Big Baby Booty!

On another note -- we're happy to report that our little girl is finally starting to cut her molars. Two are peeking their little heads out of her gums. Both are on the right side; one is on the top and one on the bottom.

Language Explosion

Gwendolyn appears to have made quite a leap in her language development these days. Three-word sentences are routine now, and she's correctly using the possessive form and is doing quite a good job with verb tenses to boot. We're astounded at the things that come out of that little mouth. Lately, she's been pointing at things and saying, "That's a [quilt/kite/book/gas meter/truck]."

Kids really are on "record" at all times - Gwendolyn has proven that to us recently. Oh sure, there's been lots of cute, innocuous stuff like saying "how 'bout......" in the same drawn-out way that Mama does as she's choosing the next letter from the letter puzzle, or using another Mama expression, "how's pickins?" as her index finger is up to the first knuckle in her nose. Then things got a little more "interesting." One night during bathtime, Gwendolyn started saying "You basket! You basket!" and Felicity was quite puzzled at first. But Gwendolyn's tone had a rather familiar ring and the realization suddenly dawned: Gwendolyn had heard Kevin tell Felicity that upon hearing that a neighbour had scored a case of delicious wine from Nota Bene winery in the Okanagan, his response was "You bastard!" Little Pitchers certainly DO have Big Ears (expression courtesy of Felicity's Papa). Note to selves - make sure all languge is G-rated! Ooops!

Babushka x 2

Mama and Gwendolyn had some fun with the scarf box this afternoon. Notice who got to wear the ridiculous scarf combo and who is wearing a simple black and white polka dot number. More evidence of our budding fashionista, perhaps? In any case, Gwendolyn is getting more - how shall we say? - directive in her play. "Sit ground too." "Put it couch." "Sit lap read." "Move it. Move it the basket." It's quite hilarious because she's very particular about how we are to play and what we are to do; however, woe unto he or she who doesn't immediately obey her barked out orders!

Daddy's little (garden) helper

Gwendolyn accompanied Daddy to the garden plot this afternoon to see how the plants were faring after a number of very wet days. After a bit of playing together -- to be truthful, it was more like Gwendolyn ordering Daddy around ("Dig! Rake!") -- Daddy did a some weeding and cultivating and Gwendolyn got busy with her garden tools.

There were a few other gardeners out working their plots, and they seemed happy to see our wee one in their midst. One woman remarked: "what a beautiful little flower you have growing in your garden!"

Beautiful, indeed!

Budding Fashionista

She's wearing a pretty standard sleeper and slippers combo, but in a daring fashion move, Gwendolyn asked to wear the poncho and put the hat on herself. The result? Well, let's call it "Peruvian chic." Sophie the Giraffe (in G's hands) was heard squeaking her approval...

We have half a mind to send this photo to The Sartorialist!

A wee photo gallery

Here's a few more photos from the past week:

• Eating her "toasty toast"
• Waiting for Auntie Deborah's sunflower seeds to sprout
• Wearing a lovely sunhat -- and "bracelets"!
• A morning smile for Daddy

Election Day and other stuff

Yep -- we've been around this past week, but with all of our busy-making (particularly getting our garden plot planted) there's hasn't been much energy left to post updates. Let's fix that today, shall we?

We had a fine Mother's Day, thank you -- celebrated a day early because Daddy was busy on Sunday playing in a New Westminster Symphony Orchestra concert. Mama received several hours of free time in the afternoon to sew while Daddy and Gwendolyn roamed the neighbourhood in search of adventure. Dinner was ordered in and enjoyed on the patio with a nice bottle of 2004 La Frenz Syrah from the Ronaghan "cellar". (Gwendolyn stuck with water of a more recent vintage.)

Today is also an important day around our parts: election day for a new provincial government. Gwendolyn accompanied Daddy to the polls this morning, and watched intently as Daddy's vote was cast. She was quite serious throughout the whole affair, much to the enjoyment of the scrutineers helping Daddy with the voting process. As she left, Gwendolyn was presented with an "I Voted" sticker, which she is wearing in the above photo -- still with a seriousness on her face befitting the occasion.

If you live in BC and are eligible to vote, please do! Gwendolyn and her friends are counting on you...

Tears for the Canucks

For those of you non-hockey fans out there: Gwendolyn's team went down in a hail of goals at the hands of the Chicago team last night, and are now out of the playoffs.

Oh, well. Thanks for a better than expected season, boys! You still RULE in Gwendolyn's books. See you next fall...

Canucks RULE!

It looks like someone is very excited about her Canucks playing tonight. We received the "Canucks RULE" cap as a baby gift many moons ago, and G.'s little head has finally grown into (and almost out of) it. No more borrowing Daddy's Canuck cap! Now, if Daddy could only find that Bruins cap of his... Where have you hidden it, little Canucks fan?

Gwendolyn has taken quite a shine to Canada's favourite sport. We've let her watch snippets here and there, and she loves the fast pace and the skaters "zooming" around the ice. She connects watching hockey very strongly with Daddy, too -- it seems that whenever the television is on and Daddy's out of the room, she thinks he's watching hockey (not true -- really!).

Hey, Miss Tambourine Girl!

Gwendolyn looks like she's channelling 60's Flower Power in this photo: dancing in her groovy little peasant top and banging on her tambourine. Cool, man...

Dining al fresco

Ahhhh -- there's nothing like a bit of fresh air to stimulate one's appetite. While Daddy was off on his Sunday morning run, Mama and Gwendolyn took advantage of the warm sunshine and enjoyed their breakfasts on the patio.

While we're on the subject of food, let's not forget to report Gwendolyn's latest food-related word: delicious!

Friday afternoon fun

Imagine her excitement when Gwendolyn returned home this afternoon to find a package on our doorstep addressed to her from Auntie Deborah. Among the gardening-themed items in the box were a skookum set of colorful tools and a Gwendolyn-sized watering can. As you can see by the photos above, Gwendolyn got busy very quickly digging and watering an unplanted pot on our patio. Looks like we have a wee green thumb on our hands...

Thanks for the thoughtful gifts, Deborah!

(BTW, a great alternate use for the watering can: rinsing baby's hair after shampooing. Gwendolyn has always hated -- no, not too strong a word -- having water poured on her head. "Watering" her noggin using the can is just fine, however.)

Flushed!

Well, it had to happen sooner or later, and thank goodness it wasn't something treasured. So, does anyone out there have any tips on how to extricate one of Gwendolyn's tennis balls from the toilet drainpipe???

UPDATE: We thought the tennis ball had made its way through the plumbing system, but the appearance of some strange gurgling in the toilet when the tub was draining suggested otherwise. We made a call to our favourite plumber yesterday (May 3), and after much scratching of heads, he deducted that the ball had taken up residence at the junction between our bathroom outflow pipe and the main one heading out of the building. An hour and a half and $??? later, we've got ourselves a clean bill of plumbing health.