New spring wardrobe

Gabrielle has become my sewing muse, allowing me to practice sewing on a smaller scale, butchering less fabric than I would have if I was making full-size clothes for myself. So far, I'm learning that there's a reason people buy cheap clothes made in China - making clothes is totally not worth it. It's hard work, expensive, and hard work. Plus who can figure out the sizing? I obviously can't. Gabrielle will be able to wear these dresses right through to elementary school graduation, from the looks of things. But she loves them, so I'm happy to keep churning these things out.

The one below may look familiar to you hockey fans out there. Don Cherry has a jacket made out of the same fabric.

My little sportsman

I bought the Adidas track suit on a whim one day when I was slumming it at Winners. A total 1970s throwback but looks totally fresh on a toddler, in my humble opinion.



Now that he's mastered walking, he's all about the talking. He must have a few dozen words. Some of them are ridiculous: "yayoop" is yoghurt and "poon" is spoon but we understand him and as a result, he's eating alot of yoghurt.

Playdate with Alison

As if parenting weren't already complicated enough, I have now added the role of social coordinator to my duty roster, setting up playdates for Gabrielle, at her convenience of course. Alison is one of the girls at G's daycare. She's not someone Gabrielle actually interacts with at school very much, but her mother and I have some stuff in common so I figured that should be enough to forge an eternal friendship? No, apparently, it's not. They play well for a few hours together on the weekend and then walk by each other like complete strangers at school the next day.

Keep your eye on the sandwiches!

Gabrielle and I went out on a mother-daughter date to the Byward Market, along with all the other tourists from the outer reaches of Ottawa suburbia. We stopped for lunch at the market bakery, also known as the home of the Obama cookie, and got a giant sandwich to share. I don't know from where in the depths of silliness it came, but "keep your eye on the sandwiches" became our catchphrase for the day.

Wheels

Gabrielle got her first real bike a few days ago. She loved riding around the store on it - zooping around the customers, cutting them off with a "scuse me!". She also insisted on getting a helmet right away. Somehow all the zealot helmet-wearers have gotten to our daughter and brainwashed her while we weren't looking! (All right, all right, take it easy out there - I'm clearly kidding.)



Mark sent me this picture moments ago. Heading off on her inaugural ride to school... Mark has to somehow navigate the stroller and keep G from riding off into traffic. I have no idea how this will end - stay tuned.

15 minutes later....

They made it!