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There She Grows

With some of the characters around for the kids to meet. How cool is that?

LA locals with kids who are as into this show as ours is might not want to miss this.

(click for larger)

Here is the flyer I made for a MOMS Club fundraising event. Attn: Los Angeles locals – get some quality second-hand kids & baby items while supporting Alexandria House.

Today we had a fun time at Mayor’s Bicentennial Park in Glendale, which I revisited on a lark. I was just cruising around in an attempt to help Lil take a nap, and I hopped on the 2. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, she wanted to “go somewhere cool” and luckily, there we were.

We’d been there several months ago on Sarah’s recommendation, so I knew what an uncrowded gem of a place it is. There’s a nice grassy area with gently rolling hills and a series of concrete winding paths, with small bridges over dry rocky beds. Read the rest of this entry »

In preparation for our upcoming travels abroad (!! yes !!) we were in desperate need of a lightweight umbrella stroller. One that could endure being thrown around by countless baggage carriers, one with a strong cargo area. Preferably something I can control one-handedly with authority while I’m being pulled in the opposite direction by Marley. And perhaps the most elusive feature of all: something that works for tall people.

We needed something lightweight but durable like that Maclaren Volo.
Its $130 online.

Today I got that very stroller for less than a tenth of that price – gently used in great condition. This is exactly what we need for our trip! For about a hundred bucks total, I not only found the Volo, I also got a pretty awesome step1 desk & chair. The fact that its used means the thing is already assembled, nice. I have it all set up in the livingroom with lots of art supplies stashed away, and she hasn’t even seen it yet. That will be a fun surprise tomorrow.

Oh and a bunch of other stuff. Three pairs of summer play shoes and a bunch of gymboree & children’s place comfy clothes. Lil has grown out of everything. I also got a huge bag of dress-up clothes like tu-tus, accessories and princess dresses. A nice red silk kecci convertible diaper bag for a friend, and some other stuff for the many pregnant women in our lives. A swimming floaty ‘bubble’ for L, like the one I had as a kid. (Mom always said, I was swimmin’ since I was 2.) A cool new kid’s backpack (also thinking about our imminent travels!) and other odds and ends.

That’s right, its that time again. The LA Kids Consignment Sale is open to the public starting tomorrow and through the weekend. A lot of the great finds on sought after items go quickly, so I am glad that as a consignor I’m able to get in a day early. But seriously there is just so much stuff there you can’t even see it all on the first day. On Sunday most of the remaining items are half price. I’m planning to go back that day to get tons and tons of books and play clothes for Lil. Moms in the area, you should check this out.

Location:
7733 Hayvenhurst Ave.
Van Nuys, CA 91406

Sales totals from today were just posted online and I found I have already made about $70 from my own items. Does that mean I only spent $30 for all my new stuff? kind of!

end-of-sale update: Read the rest of this entry »

Lil always speaks positively about her pre-school teachers and friends; she absolutely loves it. So I don’t believe she is actively involved yet in too much exclusionary play while interacting with the other kids there. However, its apparently common and expected behavior for the 4-5 yr old set, in general as well as at her school. Lil is already keen on watching and learning from everything the older girls do, so its something to think about.

This article on BecomingtheParent.com, sent out by her pre-school, is a good quick read on the subject. It highlights a few different causes of this behavior and ways to handle it from each of those perspectives.

My cousin-in-law Lori Kaplan has written and published a memoir that chronicles her experience raising her daughter, Jaclyn, who was born with Congenital Heart Disease. We’re so proud of her for accomplishing this, and excited to read it. Here’s an excerpt that describes the book:

Written by her mother, this memoir describes Jaclyn’s personality, her ability to find humor in frightening medical ordeals, and her perseverance in the face of serious illness. It is about being “normal” and doing what other children and families do, in spite of health issues. It is also a story about adapting to circumstances as they arise, and how a family can cope with chronic illness, without having it define their lives.

This book is an inspirational tale for parents and families, especially those who may have a terminally ill child in their lives.

Jaclyn’s Journey will ultimately be available for purchase at online bookstores but for now, you can buy a signed copy from her website.

Click the book cover (designed by our cousin Danny Kaplan) to visit the website (made by yours truly).

Kid is very much enjoying the clay candlestick holders she made in pre-school. They are bejeweled with treasures. (sequins of all kinds are ‘treasure’ defined). Shown here in use with the lovely hand-dipped hannukah candles we got post-holidays for a buck. Ah the simple pleasures in life.

It seems her too-early mastery of the English language has started to make the whole thing seem old hat. Because Lil has begun making up her own new language entirely. Just experimenting I guess, but its hilarious/awesome. It started awhile ago, and she’s expanded upon it since. When she plays around with her Lilahspeak, we can usually tell what she’s conveying but its definitely her own brand new words. And often, she plays with rhyming. Its like she’s got her own cockney rhyme slang going. She’ll substitute a rhyming word in place of another word in a sentence, and crack herself up doing it. Or she’ll play around with letters and sounds: muh mar mu moing min mere, mommy? instead of what are you doing in there. Its funny when others hear this kind of stuff occur, they think its her cute silly 2-yr old way of trying to speak. And I think she gets a kick out of that, too. Fooling people. Its like a little secret.

Its also a reminder to me that I have to get this kid some Spanish. She’s just so rife for new language challenges right now and there’s no excuse if I don’t give her that opportunity. Sure, unlike so many other kids around these parts, we don’t have a spanish-speaking Nanny to accomplish this. But its not like I don’t have years of school spanish vocab in the vault somewhere. There’s plenty I can teach her, translation-wise, but she needs to hear it in context from real spanish speakers. I’ve enlisted her good friends next door to speak to her only in Spanish but that hasn’t panned out so far. I don’t think they realized I was serious.

I took her to a session of Habla Blah Blah, a spanish-immersion music class for little ones (how awesome is that name?). The class itself did not seem worth enrolling in right now but the songs are perfect. So we got their CD (thanks karen!), and it has quickly become Lilah’s most requested car music. She’s heard it 3 or 4 times and has already started to sing along to parts. Lil has an uncanny knack for remembering songs and loves to sing them. I try to tell her what everything in the songs means; she is quite intrigued. She gets some of it. Mostly I think she just loves the fun voices and catchy tunes, but this is a start. What other great spanish kids music is out there?

Oh and by the way, Lil knows one thing in Hebrew: L’Chaim!

Janna has been living in San Diego for a few months now, which is awesome because when she gets time off she can randomly visit us. That very opportunity arose on labor day weekend, the first time we’ve all seen eachother since Lilah was 2 months old! So in essence this is the first time they’ve met, and it was great to hang out.  Jen was here too, and together we discovered Oinkster in Eagle Rock.   OK, Sara told us about it.   But yay: a family-friendly place where one can sit outside, eat delicious burgers with a decadent concoction called Piggy Fries, and drink pitchers of good beer.  Score.

All too soon, Janna had to return to her busy life as a veterinary intern. And on Sunday afternoon, the rest of us drove out to the desert to visit Jen’s new house. She’s recently moved into a spacious and adorable house in  La Quinta, and now has a pool! Which is a very key thing to have in that hot hot heat. It was so fun, Lilah LOVES being in the water.

Title pretty much says it all! A gift for Mike’s birthday: a portrait of him, by Gondry himself! I emailed him several photos of Mike from which to choose… some of the pics included me. I mentioned that if he wanted to include me that would be cool too.. and he did! Suweeet.

These are the photos he took us from:

Those who know me know that thrift shopping is a long time guilty pleasure of mine. I love finding those unique gems on the rack amidst all the crap. its like a treasure hunt and I dare say I’m good at it.  I guess it was fairly unavoidable I would start to seek out second-hand goodies for Lil girl, from toys to gear to (especially) clothes. Since she grows out of things so rapidly and constantly gets her clothes dirty, thrifting makes more sense than ever. I love for her to have a fun wardrobe and I love spending hardly any money. Yes, you might say I’m cheap. Or frugal, or of a specific ancestry that often garners razzing on this subject. What’s that phrase… never pay retail? yeah.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is  a handy list of kid-friendly activities in the area. It was passed on to me by a friend but originally compiled by Andrea Weiss, updated June 15, 2009. Its a good resource for families travelling to the area.

We’ve been to several of these spots, but most are yet to be checked off my list.  I have added many of our own favorites that were missing from the original list, as well as a few photos of us enjoying these fun times.  When I blog about one of these places, I’ll try to include a link to the corresponding blog entry here. And I’ll continue to add more here as we discover them. Because this is by no means an exhaustive list!  Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago, Daddy cut some windows and a doorway in an empty pampers box, and presented it to Lil as a new little house. Stroke of genius! We figured it was good for a bit of fun that day, but since then the luster has not worn off by any means. She still plays with it often, and sometimes for extended periods of time. The primary residents thus far appear to be two separate families using the home as a bit of a timeshare. Its either the baby dolls and her plastic doggy, or Mickey and Minnie and Goofy.

The other day when Lil was in a foul mood (teething, again?! I hope this is the final bout of it!) I tried lots of activities & distractions to cheer her up. She wasn’t having any of it until I suggested she paint her house, and her face just lit right up. It really saved the afternoon. So I’m pretty happy with how much we’ve all managed to get out of a plain old empty box. Here she is, just getting started:

btw, the empty plastic container that previously contained the array of hummus we served at a recent BBQ was really worth saving; it is an absolutely ideal painting palette.

And when she was finished, she ran around the yard saying “blue-y hands! blue-y hands!” A friend of ours joked after seeing these pictures: looks like she took care of that pesky smurf problem.

Daddy, Aunt Jen and I brought Lilah back to the arboretum last weekend. She had so much fun! We really should visit more often. Its beautiful and fun for all of us. The last time we were there, Lil couldn’t even walk. She loved it even then, but this was a much different experience. She was running around like crazy and really experiencing and exploring. She was loving the wildlife (turtles, lots of birds, lizards). It was so much fun to see her in the woods, and how enthralled she was with the peacocks (I am too!). She had a dream about peacocks the next day (I’m going to make a whole post about our windows into her dreams one of these days).

More pics are on flickr…

Mike and I did not ride our bikes for almost a decade.    They’ve been languishing behind the garage, collecting rust and spiders. I decided it was finally time for a long-awaited tuneup because I wanted to ride around with Lil.   I started looking into child-seats, hoping that by now civilation had developed a front-mounted seat and I’m happy to report that humanity did not disappoint. There are several available now, and the iBert safety seat seemed like the clear winner. Our verdict so far about this seat is after the jump.

Anyway, so excited was grandma about this concept, that she got both of our bikes tuned-up and Lil’s accoutrements as our birthday presents. Lil watched wide-eyed as we loaded the decrepid bikes into the trunk. She was psyched to bring them to the ‘bike doctor’ and kept talking (as always)  about how mommy and daddy’s bikes will be fixed and lilah will ride on mommy’s bike too. She was thrilled about her own seat, and little Giro Me2 helmet which is awesomely adjustable to fit like a glove and has little duckies all over it.

So now, all of a sudden, we have bikes. And cruising around on them is Lilah’s new favorite thing to do on earth. Check out the pics: Read the rest of this entry »