Guest Blogger Yarden on Her 1st & a half birthday

Shhhhh! Mama and Dada are going to be soooo surprised I can write. Don't tell. Now that I'm a big girl I have a few questions that need to be answered: 

(1) Why does Dada call Oto "Oso"?  I think Dada needs to work on his diction. 

(2) Why can't I go to school every day? Those kids are delicious (and they have the bite marks to prove it)! 

(3) Who is this baby Mama and Dada have all these pictures of? Should I be nervous?

(4) When is this recession going to be over? It seems like it's been going on my whole life!

(5) Will the Red Sox win the World Series in my lifetime? 

Yarden is Almost 18 Months

We haven't written for a while.
It's been an exciting time, and I can't hope to recap it all.

I spent a few weeks dedicated to developing new shows with my friend Dan and we are in a good place now. Two different production companies will be taking out our projects.

I took a job through the end of the year that has turned out to be far more creatively fulfilling than anticipated, and I've had a great time writing, producing and directing a show for Spike that will air in February. It's scripted and that's been a nice change of pace.

Yarden and I went to Colorado for cousin Jackson's 2nd birthday. It was a great time and my folks, grandmama, and Felicia's folks all descended on the Soiferstein residence. Yosh and Feesh have a gorgeous new house (large enough to accommodate us all!) and a playroom so big that I'm pretty sure that Yarden thought it was a school.

Jackson (as Superman) and Yarden (as a gorilla) went trick or treating and they took to it like gangbusters. Neither of them had any interest in the candy, but they liked running up to houses to knock on doors and the accumulation of stuff.

We're heading back to Colorado for Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks.

Which brings us to today.
Other than the fact that we are all sick, it's been a great weekend.
Seamus got to catch up on his sneezing, and Yarden and I have been out on the town for girl time adventures.

Yesterday Yarden, my friend Lisa and I went to see They Might Be Giants do a family show at UCLA.

It was incredible, the band was great and there was a confetti cannon, songs about science and live sock puppet theater. All shows should be family shows - 3 in the afternoon, no opening band, the lights stay up, everyone is friendly and dancing and there is zero attitude. And even if the person in front of you has someone on their shoulders you can still see over them.

Afterwards, John and John handed out stickers and then the kids all ran out in the middle of the grass and had an impromptu recess.

Then Yarden, Lisa, her son James and her mother Ruth and I went out to Korean BBQ and I got to come home in a delightful meat coma.

Today, Seamus, Yarden and I all slept in late and then snuggled and watched Australia which is a 6 act movie. Captivating, beautifully shot, heartwarming and approximately 8 hours long.

When it finally ended, Yarden and I met Sofie and Helga for dumplings (Chris is sick too).
Yarden ADORES Sofie, and Sofie LOVES being the big girl. She did a great job of herding Yarden who refused to sit still and wanted only to climb into the fountain near the dumpling shop, or run through the crowded restaurant where the overworked waitstaff carry boiling hot stacks of soup dumplings. If they weren't adorable the two of them would be in trouble.

After the dumpling orgy, we went to kidspace where the girls made bracelets and rode bikes. Yarden dumped a bucket of water on herself and Sofie climbed to the top of a rock wall.
All in all a fun day.

The high points of this week are:
1) My buddy Houman is going to come edit with me on this Spike show.
2) Liam is coming to town with Josh Ritter and will be playing the Wiltern this Wednesday and Thursday along with Swell Season. We feel hipper just by association.

It has been a long time since we updated.
Here are some new things that Yarden has started doing since the last time we wrote.
- She can do all of the hand motions for "Wheels on the Bus".
- She knows the names of all the single and double syllable kids in her class. Sorry Xavier and Francesca, maybe in another 6 months.
- She knows all her body parts (the words boob and butt make her giggle).
- She spontaneously hugs and kisses.
- She has strong opinions, and you can't phrase anything as a question unless you are prepared to hear "No".
- She may or may not understand that she can pee in her potty, but she likes to dance to the three songs it can play. She will sit on the potty just long enough to set off the sensor, then the dance party starts.
- She can mimic a lion, gorilla, elephant, monkey, dog, and a cat. There may be more animals she can do that we just haven't thought to ask yet. We assume she learned these in school.
- She's now WAY into books and will make Seamus or I read her 5 or 6 in a sitting. Her favorites are "Are You My Mother?", "Caps for Sale" and "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". She mimics the peddler and the monkey in "Caps for Sale" and - if you pause at the appropriate points during "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"- she will offer up "head", "bed", "doctor" and occasionally something that sounds like "no more monkeys".

More later,

Aliyah