The Artist

Yes, that's what she's calling herself as she plays with her new set of watercolour paints, courtesy of today's trip to the Opus art supplies store on Granville Island.

She tells us she's illustrating a book. Perhaps this is because Daddy and Mama make a point of mentioning the names of the illustrators of the books they read to her (along with the names of the authors, of course!).

Crayons, coloured pencils, felt pens and now watercolours... What might be next?

Zzzzzzzzzz...

Can't finish dinner... Too tired...

Gwendolyn hits the sink

This morning over breakfast, Gwendolyn announced that she would like to do some dishes. Wanting to capitalize on this enthusiasm for household chores, Daddy quickly set her up with a footstool, a bit of soapy water, a cloth and a few things to wash.

Voila -- a half hour of rainy day fun, and a few clean dishes to boot. (And most of the water managed to stay in the sink!)

Cuteness Alert!

She's certainly not a baby anymore. Here's Gwendolyn, looking sweet as cherry pie and doing what she loves most: reading. Her current favourite book is Birthday Bear and she's heard the story read to her so many times, she's pretty much memorized it. As a result, she can recite it word for word while turning the pages -- if you didn't know better, you'd think she was really reading the thing. (It's a bit spooky, actually.)

Who did we see at VanDusen today?

Well, these critters for starters. And most importantly, a spunky 3 year old girl (and her fuzzy yellow rabbit ears) who became fast friends with Gwendolyn.

Daddy was too busy talking with her parents, and the two girls (bunnies?) running around so much, that no pictures were taken of humans today...

Monday afternoon in the park

Here's a handful of photos from today's visit to Gwendolyn's favourite playground in Douglas Park. It's about a twenty minute hike from our place, but the number of kids and variety of play structures there make the trek well worth it. We try to get there at least one sunny day each week.

And yes, Gwendolyn did climb all the way to the top of that wobbly chain ladder by herself -- about 10 feet up. (Gulp!)

Anyone for a duet?

Zoey came over for a play date this past Sunday. Sandwiched between chasing games and drawing was some tuneful time with Gwendolyn at the keyboard.

Looks like they really know what they're doing, doesn't it? Maybe we have the new Labeque sisters on our hands...

A tough day

Today was not a great Monday for our Gwendolyn. First, there was a doctor's appointment to check out some persistent tearing, itchiness and redness in one of her eyes. The doctor confirmed Mama and Daddy's suspicions: our girl has a case of conjunctivitis. Of course, this means eye drops to get rid of "the buggies," the administration of which (not surprisingly) is NOT GOING SMOOTHLY AT ALL. (Blood curdling screams, anyone?)

Then there was the walk home from the doctor's office. Gwendolyn tripped, fell and bumped her forehead on the pavement, resulting in the goose-egg you can see in the above photo.

Poor muffin! Let's hope Tuesday is much better.