Her Gwen, My Gwen, and Their Books

Kim, the only other woman I know with a daughter named Gwen, recently posted a video of Her Gwen doing some very clever tricks with books. I was entirely impressed, and also (of course) compelled to try the same trick with My Gwen. After all, Her Gwen is a good two months younger than My Gwen, My Gwen must be at least that clever, right?

The thing is, though, that while My Gwen may possess abundant amounts of cleverness, and matching amounts of enthusiasm for books, she is at this stage lacking in the area of desire to co-operate. So I have no corresponding story of My Gwen fetching books at my request.

However, I DO have a story of My Gwen and Books.

Last Wednesday night, I watched Gwen over the video monitor as she pulled at least a half a dozen books off the nearby shelf into her crib. She spent at least ten minutes doing so. She then spent a good twenty minutes "reading" the books she had found: sitting up in her crib, turning the pages, perusing the pictures. She seemed to be entirely content. After a while, she decided (quite abruptly) to go to sleep. She flopped down on her side, but ... "What's this? There's a BOOK under me! That's not very comfortable. Hmm, what if I shuffle over here ... nope, there's a book here too. And - oh! I LOVE this one!" She sat up and "read" through it for a few minutes, then decided once again to lie down.

The next half an hour or so were spent repeating that pattern: lie down, discover a book underneath one's body, shuffle around trying to get comfortable, unearth another book, become distracted by one's interest in the book, sit up and read it for awhile. I was privy to all of this thanks to the video monitor, and I was quite amused. She did eventually find a book-free spot to curl up in and go to sleep.

The next night, I moved the bin of books to a lower shelf so she couldn't reach it from the crib.

She wouldn't go to sleep.

Twenty minutes after I put her down, her cries were pitiful enough that I went in to check on her, thinking she needed a diaper change. As soon as I picked her up, she reached for her shelf, saying "buh". I handed her a book and she calmed immediately. After a quick lullaby, I put her back into the crib, with the book, and crept out of the room.

The video monitor revealed a brief "reading" session, then she lay down and went to sleep.

Just one more way in which she is my daughter.