Stand and deliver!

Our little bundle of energy is constantly pulling herself up to stand at pretty much every piece of furniture she can reach. Sofa, coffee table, dining room chair, bar stool: all are fair game for our little adventurer, who crawls from one to the other to the other as if it were a circuit training exercise.

Here she is, under Papa John's watchful eye and clearly pleased with herself, standing at her eating station. (Note the booster seat attached to the chair and the "drop cloth" underneath...)

All dressed up for fall

Here's a lovely picture of Mama and Gwendolyn, ready for a Sunday afternoon outing. Gwen's new wool hat (with awesome ear flaps!) was a gift from one of Felicity's online friends. It has a lovely diaper cover to match...

We must report that Gwendolyn has been a real gem these past few days. It must be the extra sleep she's been enjoying during the night -- and the fact that Papa John is visiting!

Just like Daddy...

When he was Gwendolyn's age, Kevin loved to empty things: cupboards of their pots and pans, bookshelves of their books, etc. Gwendolyn seems to follow in Dad's footsteps, as you can see in this photo of her rummaging through the contents of the paper recycling basket at home. She seems a bit perturbed by the photographer's interruption, though... ("Can't you see I'm busy?")

Eating update

Well, we've graduated from one meal a day to two -- breakfast and dinner -- plus the occasional rice cracker, as you can see here. This particular cracker was given to Gwendolyn in response to her staring intently, lips smacking, at Dad eating his own snack of crackers and honey.

Our Gwendolyn is a very good little eater so far, and meal times are often protracted affairs due to her voracious appetite. For example, Thanksgiving dinner consisted of two helpings of butternut squash, and for dessert, a wee serving of -- you guessed it -- butternut squash. We did try to switch it up a bit with some carrot and yam wedges, but with no luck -- squash was clearly the order of the day.

Recent additions to her food repertoire include melons (cantaloupe and watermelon), cauliflower (previously a bust, but now a hit when slightly mashed with a wee dollop of butter) and oatmeal (especially tasty with a spoonful of plain yogurt).

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, practice, practice!

While she's been listening to music since before she was born, this is Gwendolyn's first time playing a musical instrument -- a recorder Dad found while rummaging through an old box of memories. We're sure a scholarship to Julliard is just around the corner...

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Gwendolyn would like to wish her many fans and admirers a very happy Thanksgiving. Here she is being suitably impressed by her mini-pumpkin from Grandma Ronaghan (she was making her newest sound, "oooooo," as the photo was being taken).

The sweet red jumper is corduroy -- hooray for Fall!

Back from the City of Roses

We didn't post to the blog this past week because we were away on a short trip to Portland, Oregon. We travelled on the Amtrak Cascades train from Bellingham: a beautiful, relaxing ride, and highly recommended.

We didn't have much of an agenda while in Portland -- we just wandered about, visiting different neighbourhoods and enjoying what the city has to offer. We visited Powell's Books (of course!), bought coffee beans at Stumptown in the Ace Hotel, shopped at the Wednesday Farmer's Market in Shemanski Park, wandered the neighbourhoods of Hawthorne, the Pearl District and Nob Hill, and visited the Oregon Zoo. We were quite taken with the city, especially its great transit system with free service in the downtown core (Vancouver, take note!) and the exceptionally friendly people.

Of course, Gwendolyn was a hit with all who met her. She's now a good friend of each one of the wait staff at Jake's Grill where we had breakfast each morning, and at Oba! in the Pearl where we enjoyed a lovely anniversary dinner.

All the parents out there know that travelling with a little one is lots of work, and honestly, we're pretty tired at the end of it all. But it was fun to spend time on the road as a family, and the smiles Gwendolyn attracted from all who met her made it all worthwhile.