Yarden's Latest Fascination

More than anything, I wish I knew what my daughter was thinking.
She gurgle, coos, talks to herself, laughs, gets antsy and rewards both the live and inanimate with huge smiles.

It's clear there is a rich interior monologue going on.

For the last half hour she's been trying to muster the nerve to touch her current fascination - the pig attached to her bouncy chair. She smiles coyly, grins at it, reaches out, then pulls her hand back like, "oh - I daren't".

I imagine her thoughts are something like this:
Yarden: Daddy - have you seen this thing? It's a pig with corn. Isn't that silly!
A pig with corn! Who thought of such a thing. Absolutey amazing. (Giggle.)

Daddy: You can touch it. (Reaches her hand out to show her that the corn is also a spinning rattle)

Yarden: (Laughing) I can't believe you did that. I hope the farm gods don't punish your hubris. Daddy there's so much you don't understand.

Yarden loves/can be cheered up by:
1) The part of Mommy that feeds her
2) The ceiling fan (really any ceiling fan, they all look the same to her)
3) Mirror baby
4) Mommy
5) The reflection of a fan in a mirror
6) Daddy
7) Diaper changes
8) Baths

Any of the following can increase their ranking by singing to her.

I Aint Gonna Work No More

Well - not me, but Yarden.

Her time at A. Smith has come to an end.
Next week she'll be hanging out with Grammy Hurley and the week after that she'll be starting at ABC Educational Center.

As this stretch of her life comes to an end, a HUGE thanks to my incredible employers who made her feel so welcome, wanted even, and especially to Mecia and Shannon who gave Yarden all sorts of love and quality time.

Here are some photos from her time at the office.

First day.
She settled in very easily.
With Shannon.
What a difference 2 months makes.
Above, Yarden with Mecia at 4 weeks.
Below, Yarden at 11 weeks.
Mecia looks pretty much the same. A closeup of her dress, my mom made it for me over 30 years ago. What I imagine she was thinking.

The room that was Yarden's playroom at work had been a storage space.
When they found out that it was her last day in the office - the PAs started moving stuff back in.
I took a picture because - well, without photographic evidence you wouldn't believe me.

The saddest part of it all was saying goodbye to Jessica.

Jessica has been Yarden's first teacher and friend and I feel like she was an amazing third caregiver to give her a safe, nurturing and loving start in the world.

She recorded a message to Yarden that I'll post here in hopes that this site will be here when Yarden is old enough to be able (and interested) in reading about her first few months of life.



And I couldn't post photos of my office without posting these:


Just 137 days until Christmas.

WE'VE GONE CLOTH (AND WHY THE ORTHODOX HAVE TOO)

If you think that people who use cloth diapers are preachy, proceed directly to the next blog entry.

About two or three weeks ago we decided to try cloth diapers.
I've been kind of quiet about it because it seemed like a big commitment - and possibly a gross one - so I didn't want to make it too public in case we couldn't follow through. BUT I'd been reading a lot about how much landfill waste disposable create and feeling very guilty (plus, they are ultimately less expensive).

In actuality, it's not hard at all (as long as you own a washing machine). We have 16 cloth diapers, enough for 2.5 days and a flip lid garbage can with a laundry bag liner. There is a special sprayer that attaches to the toilet to spray off particularly poopy diapers - wet ones go straight in the hamper. Every other night we wash them.

And they are WAY cute.


AND THE BEST REASON - I am a bit obsessed with laundry and there is nothing more satisfying than the magic of seeing a diaper go from dirty to looking brand new.

SO - now the plan is to stick with cloth by day and possibly one disposable at night.
Once she starts eating solids at 6 months we'll regroup and decide if we are sticking with cloth or going back to disposables.

Here are some of the staggering statistics about disposable diapers:

• Disposable diapers are the largest single product in the waste stream. Each disposable diapered child creates about 2 TONS of trash that does not decompose (approximately 5,300 disposable diapers).
• It takes 440-880 lbs. of fluff pulp and 286 lbs. of plastic (including packaging) per year to supply a single baby with disposables.
• And washing cloth diapers at home uses the same amount of water as an adult flushing the toilet.

I had assumed that most pepole's reasons for using cloth were either financial or environmental - but I found a local site run by a stay at home orthodox mother of 5 (the site is ironically called "ANGEL BUNZ") who had this to say.

• At Angel Bunz, we think re-usable diapers help us follow the Rabbinic dictum not to be baal tashchis/to be wasteful.


• "G-d placed him (the man) in the Garden of Eden to work it and protect it." (B'raishis/Genesis 2:15)
  
  
• "Do not corrupt or desolate my world: for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you." (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13)
  
  
Maybe we can't solve the entire landfill problem on our own but as Rabbi Tarfon says in Ethincs of Our Fathers (Pirkei Avot), "It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it." If you are serious about Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), you should be serious about cloth diapers!

Additionally, Rabbi Yissocher Frand, in his book Rabbi Yissocher Frand In Print, (Mesorah Puplications 1995. p. 88-90) discusses the state of society today:


• "We live today in a throwaway society where nothing is forever. Its not just aluminum cans and foil that gets thrown away after one use."

We at Angel Bunz feel that something is lost in our lives and our relationships when we just throw things away after one use, because, as Rabbi Frand continues, "this attitude spills over into every aspect of our lives.

If you are interested in reading more - here's the link to this particular store.
http://www.angelbunz.com/info_why_use_cloth.html

Dogs Love Our Baby

Brady (Gina and Clarke's dog) loved on Yarden this past weekend.
Yarden wasn't so sure about the whole experience.



The sniffing was fun - well fun for Brady, tolerated by Yarden.
But the licking was too much for the girl.

After the face lick - Yarden took refuge on Daddy's lap.




This picture looks scary - but really Brady is yawning and Yarden is looking at a ceiling fan.
Ah film magic.

Something Oso This Way Comes

Introducing the newest member of our family, Oso!



It's very tempting to give him more name: Oso Silly, Oso Happy, Oso Much Better Than a Cat. So far, he is just Oso.

Oso is a 3-years-old yellow lab mix. His personality borders on aloof, but he licks my face. He re-affirms my sense that I am a dog person. It feels really good to have a dog who should hate every human the world declare "I like you."

"Oso" means "bear," which to me is like having a gerbil named "Lion." The story of his life (this far) is long and very amazing. The short version is he is a rescue dog from Guatemala. The longer version can be found here:

http://www.murphysbone.com/oso.html

The longer-longer version is below.

Tonight Oso's foster parents, Minoo and Bobby, came over. They've been taking care of him at their house in Northridge since September last year. At one point another family was going to take him in but they had to move to Israel.

Oso showed up with Minoo and Bobby at 7:30. Oso promptly established himself by barfing green/yellow muck on the floor. He was nervous, and they had warned me about his I.B.S. (irritable bowel syndrome).

We all talked about getting Oso not to pee indoors. Oso perked his one un-torn ear and contemplated peeing on the fabric covered music box that lives next to my Wii. Bobby told him "no."

We moved to the back yard. Oso marked the grill as his. I could see it from is point of view - make sure you try to claim the thing that smells like steak. Then Oso barfed on the platform that will eventually become my storage shed. I could see his point of view - it had been a couple of months since I had worked on it and I was a little disgusted with myself too.

Oso poked around the backyard and barfed a couple of more times while while we humans talked. Minoo told us this story:

Her sister bought her a trip to Guatemala. Because Minoo is a student of anthropology she traveled by boat to the isolated fishing village of Livingston - a village on the Atlantic Ocean side where the indigenous people were/are ethnically homogeneous. There she met the second-worst mangy street dog in all of Livingston.
He cowered from all people because he had been abused so badly. But he stared at Minoo. A friend had told Minoo not feed the street dogs in front of the people of Livingston. So Minoo ate at a restaurant and saved half of her chicken in a bag. When she looked, this dog was still staring at her. Minoo offered the dog the chicken.
The dog had been so abused that he would not take it, even though the dog was almost starved to death and could smell the chicken through the bag. Minoo coaxed the dog down an alley. She put the chicken on the ground and said "This is for you." The dog ate it in one bite.

Minoo asked some children in Livingston who the dog belonged to. The children said that the dog didn't belong to anyone. Minoo asked if the dog had a name. The children said the dog's name was Oso. None of them knew who gave it that name. Minoo decided that she had to help Oso.

Minoo put Oso on a boat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tBhIl_IOc8

She took him to a shelter another part of Guatemala.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6iJJtlTiBo

He got beter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4_NE7mZhY4&eurl=http://www.murphysbone.com/oso.html

Eventually, Oso got well enough to come to the USA.
So anyway... Minoo and Bobby asked their friend and professional dog trainer/therapist Parker [(310) 560-5665] to come by and give us advice on canine thinking around a human baby. Parker was excellent. What I most regret is that we don't have a picture of Oso giving Baby Yarden kisses. Then, on his way out, Oso threw up.

I think everything went well. Oso was a little nervous - Minoo, Bobby, and Parker were sure he knew something was up. We expect Oso will be a little on edge for the first few weeks he lives here. Also Oso was in recovery. Last week, Minoo took Oso to the Vet Surgeon for a couple of things: the removal of floppy dew claws, the benign growth on his ear, the teeth cleaning, a tooth that was pulled, etc., etc. Minoo then sent out the call to the O.F.C. (Oso Fan Club) for a little fund-raising. They were very generous. Some have been fans for a long time. Some have been fans from far away. Some have been both. All had been moved by what Minoo and Bobby did for this boy, by his story, and I feel special that I am person who gets to be Oso's human. Anyone in the O.F.C. should feel free to add a comment to this blog. Please check in regularly. In case I haven't had the opportunity to say "thank you" to you personally, I thank you publicly here.

P.S.
My mother is coming Sunday to spend time with Yarden. She did not expect to or sign on for caring for 3-years-old Guatemalan rescue dog too. But, when I was born, her mother traveled to Massachusetts to help take care of me. Instead my Grandma ended up mostly taking care of our black lab Alice's litter...

P.P.S.
I thought of a couple of more things I want if you are shopping for my birthday:

(1) Cork City Football Club jersey http://corkcityfc.buy.ie/catalog/index.php?cPath=63_292

(2) Some kind of shirt or hat from here: http://www.peeyourpantsforthebrewers.com/store.php

(3) "Three Amigos" on DVD