The Cardboard Box Rules

A boat trip across the sea. An airplane flight to see Nana. A train ride with her animal friends. A place to hide. A coloring surface. The cardboard box is versatile, unlimited and universal. All hail the cardboard box!

SNOW!

Wow! We got 4 inches of snow today! It started in the early morning and is till going at 2:30pm. Tama and I were awoken at 5:00am by thunder! Apparently, a rare occasion in a snow storm.

Needless to say, Liora is beside herself with glee. Who doesn't love a snow day?

Tricky Toddlers on Halloween

Liora enjoyed Halloween this year with her friends Alexander and his little neighbor, McKinley. Running from house to house carrying bags of Halloween loot got the most giggles and smiles. Full costumes, including Liora's duck suit, were soundly rejected by all three toddlers. Go figure. Walking up to strange doors with weird lights or creepy spiderwebs was also not a hit - those were shunned. Parents had to do a lot of coaxing and full-on porch lights were helpful. A few other trick-or-treaters dressed to the nines in scariness succeeded in scaring our timid gang. But, in the end, a good time was had by all.

Butterfly and FootballBoy

Cowgirl and Butterfly

Trick... or we invade!

Huh. It appears that toddlers trick-or-treating interpret the welcoming smiles as an invitation to GO IN people's houses. Completely forgetting to say "trick-or-treat," Liora and gang filed right into several homes to look for who knows what.

Pumpkin Pickers

Liora and her friend Pacifica get ready to roll a wheelbarrow of pumpkins back to the farmhouse. They had a little conflict over who would be in charge, but it was resolved when they realized neither could move it. In addition to a ginormous pumpkin patch, this farm had a corn maze, pumpkin cannons and farm animals. A good time was had by all.

Exit Strategy

This is a picture of Liora and Pacifica in the kiddie maze. My daughter is the one with the strawberry on top.

Scuba Diver? You judge.

All kids seem to fixate on an animal (e.g., monkey), object (e.g., airplane) or archetypal role (e.g., firefighter). For Liora, being a scuba diver has captured her imagination for several months now. Her only exposure to actual scuba divers has been at the Seattle Aquarium, in a giant tank at the front. They feed fish and chat up the little kids that gather in front of the two story window. We also randomly ran into a scuba teacher and student on the beach in West Seattle as they were gearing up. At not quite two and a half, though, its not clear to us what she can understand about scuba divers. But, let me tell you, she wants to be one.

In this picture, Liora has gathered several sets of pajamas and a lei as her scuba diver outfit. You can see that the outfit is not terribly successful, most of it dragging on the floor about her feet. Her determination to drape as many pieces on her body was effectively preventing us from getting her pajamas on and generally moving along bedtime. This is not the first time the "scuba diver" transformation has been invoked to create delay. But I ask you, could you resist?

Little Buddha

In repose, Liora the scuba diver looks uncannily like a statue of the Buddha.

Liora's Bay Area Fan Club

Liora's biggest Bay Area fans gathered on the steps of Liora's grandparents for this October photo. This was the only one of 10 photos in which Liora was not putting a finger in her nose.

Puppet show Glow

Liora could not stop with a earsplitting grin at the Fairyland puppet show. The story clearly went over her head, but she was still riveted from beginning to end. At one point, she wanted to leave, but made Nana come back to see the end.

Fairy Training

Nana takes Liora on the Fairyland train, a staple of the park since the dawn of fairydom.

A Swinging Greataunt

Liora looks to her Greataunt Diane for a push on the porch swing. Did we mention that, although Liora is not responsible for posing in front of the Obama sign, she can say "Barack Obama" quite fluently?

Tyke on Byke

Liora has been "riding" her tricycle for a while, say 6-8 months, but just now has the height to reach the pedals and the coordination to pedal. Downhill, at least. I'm thinking another month for uphill.

Not really a proud biker moment. She had stopped pedaling for at least a block. More like a paparazzi stop.

Passover in Berkeley - 2008

Yoga Chics

Train Spotting

When we visited Berkeley for Seder this year, we made the obligatory stop at the Tilden Park steam train. Grandpa David was on board to conduct our very, very fun visit.


The train, the train! After hearing its whistle for ten minutes waft through the redwood forest, the miniature train finally pulled into view - hissing and clanking and packed full of passengers. At this point in her short verbal life, Liora has been identifying, speaking of and enthusing about all modes of mechanical transportation. However, trains have always had a special spot in her heart. Needless to say, she was very excited.


How could this be possibly more fun for a dad?

Ticklefest

There's nothing as joyous in my life as a Tama-Liora ticklefest.
Priceless.

Winter in April

Another refreshingly cold day in April! Puppy dog knit hats anyone?

Cute Picture of the Day

February Fun

Liora and Mom horsing around.

We drove to Snoqualmie pass for a day in the snow with our friends Nate and Kasey (and two kids). Liora was not exactly enthusiastic, but the last time she saw snow, it had come to her.

Seattle Friends

We have been having a lot of fun lately with Tama's Berkeley buddy, Leah, who has lived in Seattle for some time. One sunny February day, we took the ferry over to Vashon Island to have brunch with her and her parents. What a lovely retreat they have! Unfortunately, I did not bring the camera from the car and have no photos of Leah and her welcoming parents! But, here is a lovely photo of Tama and Liora from the ferry that shows they look alike as well as share genetic stubbornness.



We had a great day at the zoo with Leah! It was Valentines weekend, and we ran around to see all the special feedings to various animals, usually in the form of heart-shaped sweets or cut of raw meat. Yum. Liora went on her first carousel ride. She loved the horses, although the ones that went up and down were too wild. Thanks for a fun day, Leah! (And sorry I did not take any pictures of you - Liora was a handful that day.)

Liora's Friends

Only in the late Fall, at about 18 months, did Liora really begin to become attached to stuffed animals - despite having a plethora of them. It started with Tama's own favorite from childhood, Barry, seen above giving Liora's head a hug. She enjoyed gathering a family of bears together - Mama, Dada, Liora and Arie Bears. Joining them soon was Monkey, a favorite animal from her books.


AMEAL! AMEAL! It took me a while to understand that Liora was demanding oatmeal for breakfast. She enjoys a hearty bowl, especially with her friend, Monkey (in the background, in his own seat). In fact, some breakfasts won't happen at all without Monkey leaving the crib and joining us in the kitchen. The good news, is that Monkey is easy on the wallet as he does not eat much at all.

New Years at Nana's

New Year's weekend at Nana's was sooooo fun. Good food, sun and family. A date for Tama and Howard.

Well, the first day could have been better. Our late flight translated into a lack of Liora's daily, two hour nap. Here she is at dinner time, belatedly taking that nap. As much as Liora's loves to eat, it did take us by surprise that she could actually fall asleep while eating.