"Draw! Draw!"

Gwendolyn has become quite interested in the crayons and drawing paper Daddy purchased for her on a recent trip to the art supplies store on Granville Island. For the last few evenings, drawing has become a favourite after bath-time activity, and Gwendolyn will ask for it by repeating the word "draw" until we get the message and pull out the supplies.

Of course, Dad or Mama do much of the (rather rudimentary) drawing, but G. has started to make some of her own marks on the paper, as you can see in the first photo. Note the way she gets right into -- or more accurately, onto -- the work at hand.

BTW -- that's Mama in the photos, home from work with her own cold. Dad has had two girls to take care of for the last couple of days. And now he's feeling a little sick. Sheesh...

Close to home

Gwendolyn has been spending a lot of time at home this week as she works through a wee cold. A runny nose hasn't stopped her from keeping busy with such fun games as "getting stuck under the furniture" and "peek-a-boo curtains" (see the film below). Of course, a fighting a cold requires lots of rest, too... (Don't worry, Daddy didn't wake her by taking the picture.)

It's getting harder and harder to take photos of G., because as soon as she sees the camera, she wants to play with it. We'll have to practice our stealth photography techniques a little more often. That, or take more pictures of a sleeping baby!

Swim time!

Gwendolyn had her second swim lesson this morning, and Mama had the honour of being her swim buddy. The pool was a little colder than last week, and "Princess G." didn't take kindly to the change in temperature -- note the evidence of tears in her eyes in the photo. She stuck it out, though, and was in somewhat better spirits by the end of the half hour lesson.

We celebrated afterwards with a trip to Vancouver Kidsbooks to check out their annual sale, and Gwendolyn left with several new books and a jazzy CD (all at 50% off -- whoot!).

First the recorder, then the tambourine...

...and now, the toy piano, which dates from Dad's childhood days. Note the brief use of baby sign language for "music" by our little maestro at the beginning and end of her performance.

Week Two in Review

We're two weeks into Daddy's caretaking of Gwendolyn while Mama is away at work, and things are settling in to a nice routine. There are two naps, plenty of eating, playing, talking, singing and dancing, and at least one excursion per day. This week included a trip to Granville Island for some art supplies, storytime at the library, a walk around Vandusen Gardens and a return visit to open gym time at the community centre.

Not many pictures are being taken in the process... We're just too busy! We do have a couple from the past week to share:

• Have you read this brochure? It's awesome!
• Mmmmmmm... cardboard...

Guess who got new boots this weekend?

Here are a couple of photos of Gwendolyn modeling her new rubber boots. She's not too sure of them, as the second photo shows. That's likely because they make walking a little more challenging than when wearing her comfy Robeez slipper-shoes. They're darn cute, though!

We bought the boots slightly bigger than needed, hoping we'll get more than a few months wear out of them. It was a great idea in theory, until we found that G. could easily kick them off her feet when in the car seat or baby carrier. We guess some extra thick socks are in order... That, and an "if found, please return to..." label inside each boot.

First "tale of the tape" for 2009

Gwendolyn had her first doctor's visit of 2009 today, and everything looks great. Our little girl is just over 22 pounds in weight, just shy of 31 inches tall, and healthy in all respects. Hurrah!

Here's our latest photo of Gwendolyn: reading a book with her friend Greg, who came over on Sunday to watch the Steelers/Chargers football game with Kevin.