Five Things

1. Gwen can now play "I Spy". I learned this when she started playing it with me, completely out of the blue. "I spy with my little eye, something that has green leaves, and the line goes up up up to the sky." You know how people say being around children forces you to see the world in a new way? It's awesome. 2. She has added some adorably precocious words and phrases to her vocabulary. When we were out on a walk last Saturday (it was sunny! on a Saturday! HALLELUJAH!), she told me that "According to my book, woodpeckers really like those trees." She has also started saying, "Oh, shoot," when she drops something or makes a mess. That one could be a lot worse, so let's give thanks for small mercies. 3. Gwen has been waking up hellishly early recently, as in two hours prior to the alarm going off. The second time this happened, Chris nobly got up to deal with her in hopes that I could get a bit more rest, since I am the one who has to go to work and function like a human being (all without the benefit of caffeine or sugar). This was such a lovely gesture, yet it accomplished absolutely nothing because immediately Gwen started shrieking at the top of her lungs: "I WANT MAMA! I WANT DADA TO GO AWAY!" Way to break your Dad's heart, kid. 4. Skating lessons have begun. For the first several minutes of the class, she was engaged and obedient and interacting appropriately with teacher (ie, answering all her questions, correctly even!). Then we went out onto the ice and it all fell apart. The rink is enormous, with a half-dozen classes all happening at once, and we're supposed to stay in our predefined area (predefined courtesy of marker pen on the ice) and Gwen was having none of it, much preferring to explore the entire area and all the accompanying toys and equipment. Still, she did fairly well - her falls were few, and she shook them off easily. And I still have the happy memories of those first few minutes to stave off my worries about having the most hyper and distractible kid ever. 5. Gwen got her first big haircut. It looks adorable. Here are the before and after shots.

PS Last Wednesday's picture post was my 600th post. As soon as they start giving out cash prizes for random, semi-long-lived blather, let me know. It could happen any minute, I'm pretty sure.