this might be a good choice for you. not the greatest quality by today's standards, but my boyfriend had that camera when we met and some beautiful pics came out of it
if i bought a dslr, though, i would probably go with a nikon D90 because it has video. i, too, have a kid and it would be great to shoot some shots of her and then be able to shoot video of her running around
right now we have a D700 and for a lot of family outings, it's just not an easy grab and go camera.....