Daddy Finally Caves

I'll pretend it's the first time I've ever given in to her demands. (It's amazing what someone who weighs 20 pounds can accomplish by crying.)

Yarden has been eating Cheerios for a while now. As part of the routine in the morning and when we get home at night, she will allow me to leave the room if she is in the high chair with a large pile of them. This week Aliyah got her a snack cup - one of those cups with a lid that allows people to reach in and pull out food, but won't dump it all out if you turn it upside down.

She tried knocking on it politely.
She tried biting the top off.
She tried dropping it from a great height.
Eventually she figured it out. It didn't get a picture of that, but I can tell you that she played it very cool. I applauded for her. She looked at me as if she had always know how to get them out but just wanted to see if there was a better way.

For a while now her favorite changing table toy has not been the Dragon Friend (the stuffed animal with a pacifier for a mouth that is no longer manufactured so we paid some undisclosed sum on ebay for one). It has been the half empty box of tissues. So I picked up an extra at the grocery store today.
I assume tissue boxes are like magic to babies: the tissues just keep coming!

Once she realized I wasn't going to stop her she went into a cottony-soft paper binge.
It turns out tissues can do other things than come out of the never-ending box.
This 2009 vintage has a very light bouquet, but finishes with a strong almost medicinal aftertaste.
In the end, it's whatever makes her happy.
Maybe she let me wipe her nose once in a while now.

So THAT'S why we've been so busy

I was sent this article today and now I know why the past 9 months have felt like the most glorious and frenzied of my life.
And why I've made almost so few personal calls.

If you don't have microvision, you can read it here.
The two photos below are what Yarden looks like eating a piece of cake. And what she looks like getting caught eating a piece of cake. * Thanks to Linday Kugler for the beautiful images.

And here are a few other images that I've been dying to post.
They were taken by a professional photographer who we met at a party.
The photographer creeped Seamus out, but I liked the idea of taking Yarden to a photo shoot in a studio.
The photos weird us both out.

Yarden's Tupac Tribute.

I actually like this one. Yarden looks like she's in space throwing gang signs.

Yarden at Nine Months

Here's some things I want to remember later:
1) This week Dr. Shaheedy said that you are almost 20 lbs., 28 inches, and you have an ear infection.
2) You have 7 teeth so far. I turn up the radio when you grind them.
3) I cried during the movie "27 Dresses" because I realized someday you will love someone more than you love me right now.
4) My heart melts every time you tuck your chin in and smile at me. It is so hard to leave you at daycare every day.
5) I may have had the best night of my life this past Sunday night: You fell asleep in my arms, we watched the Oscars, and your mother and I drank a bottle of Coppola Claret 2005.
6) That's a Cheerio on your lip in the picture above. Right now the only time you don't scream when I, your mother, or Oso leave the room is when you have a small mountain of Cheerios in front of you in your Ikea high-chair. This also makes Oso happy: he gets about 50% of the mountain.
7) I cried when Dustin Lance Black won the WGA Best Screenplay award for "Milk." You deserve to live in a better world; I will do what I can.