Gwenny turns 4!

I loved the name Gwendalyn, growing up. I thought it sounded like such a happy name. I also went through a "Wonder Years" phase, and loved the character "Winnie". When I found out that Winnie was a nickname for Gwendalyn, I was so excited! It was fate! "We should start calling her Winnie!" I told Richie. He was not on board. :) But lately, we find ourselves calling her Gwenny a lot, which I'm diggin.


*This kid. I tell ya. She is one of a kind. I don't know anyone who can turn it on and off like her. One minute she is ecstatic, and a split second later she had tears rolling down her face and the world is ending. Within another split second, she is back to happy. I love her energy and excitement for life. She just wants to soak it all in.
*She would rather be outside than inside and takes great pleasure in really investigating things outdoors, no matter where she may be. The other day while planting the peas out in the garden, she found a big fat worm. Elated, she picked it up and brought it over to show us. When she tried to show it to Miles, he winced and backed away. :)
*She has a great imagination and loves to play with her dolls and babies in her room. She pretends she is the mommy/nurse/teacher, and her possessions are the kids/patients/students.
*She loves to talk! Sometimes she gets acutely shy, but most of the time she will strike up a conversation with just about anybody. It cracks me up when she repeats phrases or big words she's heard. One she's been throwing around a lot lately is "quite", as in, "I'm quite hungry mama." I know I've said it before, but she just blows me away with the things she retains and what's in that brain of hers.
*She loves babies and whenever she finds one when we're out and about, she just has to go up to it and talk to it and give it plenty of attention. She says she wants to be a mama when she grows up.
*She has always been a good eater and willing to try any food we put on her plate, but lately her thing is, "I don't like ____ anymore. Only when I was 2. Maybe I'll like it again someday when I am maybe...6 or something." Has me baffled.
*Still is a major book worm. She will sit and listen to you read FOREVER. After she is tucked in at night, she usually gets out of bed, finds the flashlight and grabs a big stack of books from the bookshelf and "reads" them until she falls asleep, completely surrounded by books. Although I was pretty sure she knew all the letters and sounds at the beginning of the year, I had her go through a letter curriculum anyway just to give her a really solid foundation. Well, surprise surprise, she whizzed through that and is begging to start Miles' reading books now. I guess it's time to kick it up a notch!
*She has one volume: loud! I'm literally having to "coach" her on how to whisper. She just doesn't get it! :) It's irritating (especially during church) and also endearing.


To celebrate this year, she was spoiled all weekend! On Thursday, aunt Makenna offered to take Miles and Gwen overnight for a sleepover! They were entertained from the moment they walked in the door, to the second I came to pick them up. The highlight was getting to go to the planetarium and getting frozen yogurt afterward! We took treats to joy school and homeschool group. She was sung to in primary. On Friday night she got to go on her very first date with daddy to see Tanner's play "The Wizard of Oz". She was so excited to get all dressed up and be with just her and Dad. After I snapped a picture, Lindy and I watched them drive off, and all the way down the street I could see Gwen's arms, very expressively moving up and down, obviously telling Dad stories.The play was long, and they didn't quite make it to the end, but I think she felt pretty special. I kept telling her that Dad's going to take her on lots of dates so that she'll know how boys are supposed to treat her when she's old enough to go on real dates. And she said, "Yeah, like how Miles treats me and treats all the girls." :) She's totally right. Miles is a stud. And for the finale, we decided to go see the new Cinderella movie on Saturday. She even got to borrow aunt Makenna's special Cinderella dress-up dress to wear to the theater. The movie did not disappoint, it was magical. Afterward we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Garner's house for cake, ice cream and presents! She was spoiled with games, puzzles, a new barbie from her requested princess cake, and a cash register. To top it all off, she got a #4 pancake this morning. So yeah, I'd say she had a good birthday.:)