Fall Down - Go Boom

It is officially autumn in the Loops, with the leaves on the trees changing, days are cooler (but still sunny and beautiful), and bed-time occurs almost as the sun is going down. Our days lately have been so much fun, filled with lots of activities for Gabrielle - and mom - like walks in the park with our friends and playing in the playground. Gabrielle loves the swings and bouncy teeter-totter. We love our Mother Goose group at the library too! She loves to play games and sing songs - especially ones where I have to lift her up over my head and "fly her to the moon". I'm so thankful for programs like this, because I have come to realize that I don't know any kids songs. And there are only so many times you can sing ABC and twinkle twinkle...both which have the same tune. We do sing along to the radio quite a bit - but it's just not the same. We also have a local playgroup on Fridays with other moms and kids fro the neighbourhood. All of these are leading to great new friendships for both of us.
We've been spending lots of time with Grand-ma and Grand-pa too, which everyone seems to enjoy so much, now that Gabrielle actually plays and totally interacts with us. She is becoming a real little person, with lots of laughs and giggles and squeals of delight. There are tonnes of smiles too - which is such a change from just 3 short months ago. She is such a delight, and pleasure to take anywhere now.
Bedtime and naps are almost perfect. She still protests the occasional nap - but a few comforting words or a minute more of snuggle time and she is down. Bed-time has always been great, knock on wood, and continues to be so. She sleeps so much still, from 6pm (sometimes 5:30) to anywhere from 2 to 4am where she wakes up for a quick feed, then back to bed until almost 8 these days.
Gabrielle has had the sniffles for 2 days now. I can't call it a cold, just a runny nose and a little cough. It's not surprising with all our activities - and with Daddy being so sick for over a week. It was wonderful to have him home, but I'm not sure who needed more attention...the baby or sick daddy! Of course, we were so sad to see him go...but Friday is a few short days away.
I guess that's it for the update for today. I'll download some recent photos tomorrow and post again.