Hallowe'en 2009: Year of the Ladybug

What a difference a year makes! Last year's Hallowe'en activities were a bit overwhelming for Gwendolyn, but this year, she quickly got the hang of things. With her cute costume and confident "trick or treat," she was a definite hit with the neighbours around our townhouse complex.

Of course, there are photos...

• Carving the pumpkin(s) with Daddy
• Inspecting her teeny weeny jack o' lantern
  
• All dressed up; look out, little aphids!
• With Mama and Mr. Jack (brother of Mr. Lantern)
• With Daddy at the end of her trick or treating adventure

Happy Hallowe'en, everyone.

Another week passes...

Here are a few photos to mark the past week:

• Lounging with Daddy before bed
• A nursing session with Monkey (this was a bit of an obsession on Friday, and Monkey was not the only one to be nursed; Gnomi, Flute, Teddy and Beary Bear were also beneficiaries)
• A morning latte with Mamma (hers: a little steamed milk and foam)
• Carting around a diapered Teddy

Really the only item to report this week is a significant increase in Gwendolyn's resistance to bedtime -- and to sleep in general. The length of her naps has tailed off significantly (from 2 to about 1 1/4 hours on average, with just a 10 minute car seat nap on Saturday) and bedtime has shifted to after 9 p.m. with no change in the morning wake up hour. Most bedtimes now include a fair amount of crying and negotiating for more play time before she finally succumbs to sleep. As you can imagine, this has made for some long and tiring days for Mamma and Daddy.

Ahhhh... the joys of being almost 2 years old!

The week that was

Gwendolyn spent the past week getting back to her normal routines after our time away -- not completely, though, as Mama was still on holidays. There was plenty of playing with old friends and new, a return to swimming lessons, a trip to the library, a couple of bike rides and lots of time just hanging out with Mama and Daddy.

It will be interesting to see how Gwendolyn adjusts to having only Daddy around this week after more than two weeks with both parents available to do her bidding.

As for the photo: is it just us, or does Gwendolyn look far older than her 22+ months?

More dancing

It seems that Gwendolyn has really been bitten by the dancing bug these days. While we were in Vermont, she befriended a cousin's riding toy that played a short bit of music, and she danced to that little ditty over and over again. Yesterday, she found that her "Little People" barn also plays a tune, despite Daddy's best efforts to keep the power switch a secret. The result? You guessed it -- we've heard that snippet of the William Tell Overture about fifty times now. Thank goodness the dancing that accompanies it is so darn cute.

Here's a little video of Gwendolyn's most recent moves. Her dancing partner is her rubber giraffe Sophie, wearing a scarf "a la babushka."

Home from back east: Vol. 2

...and here's the second batch:

• we're still in the car?
• mid-Vermont scenery
• watching the Otter Creek falls at Middlebury VT
• A little puddle jumping after a Montreal rainstorm
• happily strolling in a Montreal neighbourhood

Home from back east

Sorry for the long break between posts! We're just home from a week's worth of travel: a reunion of Mama's family in Vermont, with a short visit to Montreal tacked on for good measure. Gwendolyn was a game little traveller, despite two long flights, lots of time in her car seat and a three hour time difference that threw her for a bit of a loop.

In Vermont, she enjoyed the chance to visit (and play!) with all but one of her cousins on the Clark side, along with her uncles, aunts and grandparents. In Montreal, she made sure there was ample time to visit playgrounds in a number of the more interesting neighbourhoods of the city.

It was a grand adventure for all concerned, but we would be lying if we said we weren't glad to sleep in our own beds at the end of it all.

As with past trips, we'll break the photos into two postings. Here are captions for the first batch:

• Rest stop stroll with Mama: upstate NY
• Playtime with Mama and cousins John, Grace and Charlie
• More playtime with Papa John and cousin Claire
• Guitar? Check. Popcorn bucket? Check. Time for some fun!
• Up close and personal with the pumpkins: Manchester VT