Dev and Summer

Jack and B

2010-03-08T11:32:00.000-08:00

Jack celebrates his second birthday with his friends Miller, Alexis, and Beatrice

Beatrice and Jack

From Summer St. Pierre's blog - and Summer has a real knack for getting great baby photos, too.

Beatrice, Month Nine

2010-03-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

Congratulations, Beatrice - you're nine months old!

This month Beatrice has spent every spare moment pulling herself up to standing and then trying to walk. She is also crawling at an incredible pace, racing up and down the hallways chasing the dogs. She's very, very physically active, refusing to be held still for a moment - she's even taken to "swimming" in the bathtub.

To work through some of her excess energy we've been taking her to a lot of indoor playgrounds, children's museums, carousels, petting zoos, and science centers (it's hard to let B crawl freely at outdoor parks because the first thing she does when put down is to eat a large handful of the available ground cover: sand, woodchips, grass, or leaves).

Here she is having the time of her life on a carousel (click to enlarge and see the delirious look on B's face). I might add that she sat on a real horse that exhibited the full range of carousel motion, not one of those stationary benches for infants and cowards.

Dancing to Panjabi MC

This month Aunt Gillian came down to visit while Dev was out of town, then we took a road trip up to the Bay Area to visit her grandparents in Oakland. While we were there, we took Beatrice to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito - by the far the nicest children's museum I have ever been to, and highly recommended if you are ever in the area.

When not catching fish at the museum, Beatrice spent her time chasing our cats Odin and Andromache back and forth across my parents' house.

Beatrice continues to love trying any and all new foods, and she's moving on to more "adult" foods (Dev and I typically refer to them as "human" foods) like hard-boiled eggs, cheese, rice, tofu, dhal, cooked vegetables, and soup. For a treat we took her to IKEA to play with all the toys and eat macaroni and cheese for dinner. It was a huge hit. She also tried her first pickle at Aunt Mina's house and loved it.

"I ruined brunch."

Eating her first pickle.

Beatrice has been teething for months now, but still does not have a single tooth. Every morning I peer into her mouth, waiting. Every morning there's nothing there.

And my proudest moment this month: Beatrice vs. the Roomba. Beatrice was crawling around when she accidentally started the Roomba, causing it to roll over her fingers and (painlessly) vacuum them. She reared back, let out a whimper, and for the first time I saw a look of real fear cross her face. She retreated. But then, moments later, she charged it, chasing it back and forth across the dining room. Fear = mastered!

As always, you can find many more photos on Facebook or Flickr.

While in Los Angeles

2010-03-02T22:59:00.000-08:00

In honor of a friend's arrival in Los Angeles, I have undertaken to list of a few of my favorite L.A. places.

This list is by no means exhaustive or definitive but it can be a nice start for new arrivals. I've skipped those places that, while excellent, are also so well-known as not to bear repeating (places like LACMA, MOCA, and the Getty) except where I wanted to point out specific events hosted at those institutions. I've also largely skipped writing reviews ("excellent coffee," "delicious pizza," and all that). Two years as a food critic was long enough. Suffice it to say: these are all great places, just go try them and see.

I am also compiling a separate list of things to do in Los Angeles with babies and young children – coming soon.

SANTA MONICA
Glow. An annual summer arts festival. For twenty four hours, the pier and surrounding beaches are given over to art installations and performance pieces.
Santa Monica Pier, www.glowsantamonica.org.

Literati Café. Coffee and free wireless, a nice place to work.
12081 Wilshire Boulevard, www.literaticafe.com.

Musha. Japanese fusion.
424 Wilshire Boulevard, http://musha.us/.

Snug Harbor. Brunch, excellent biscuits. Another good brunch place, Bread and Porridge, is next door.
2323 Wilshire Boulevard and 2315 Wilshire Boulevard

Warszawa. Polish food.
1414 Lincoln Boulevard, www.warszawarestaurant.com.

MALIBU
Getty Villa. Regular staged readings and full performances of classical Greek plays in the summer.
17985 Pacific Coast Highway, www.getty.edu.

WEST L.A.
Guelaguetza. Oaxacan food.
3014 West Olympic Boulevard, www.guelaguetzarestaurante.com.

John O' Groats. Brunch, particularly known for their pancakes.
10516 West Pico Boulevard, www.ogroatsrestaurant.com.

Mr. Cecil's. Barbecue ribs with assorted sides and cakes.
12244 West Pico Boulevard, www.mrcecilscaliforniaribs.com.

CULVER CITY
The Actor's Gang. Affordable, innovative theater specializing in classics. (Also, the Summer Family Theater Program is great for kids – see my other list.)
9070 Venice Boulevard, www.theactorsgang.com.

Art Walk. There's a large concentration of art galleries along Washington and La Cienega streets in Culver City. Once a year (usually in May or June) they do an Art Walk, a free open house for all the area galleries and museums. (Dozens of other L.A. neighborhoods also have art walks throughout the year.)

Bottle Rock. Wine bar. (A second location is in downtown L.A.)
3847 Main Street, www.bottlerock.net.

Center for Land Use Interpretation. Small, quirky museum.
9331 Venice Boulevard, www.clui.org.

Father's Office. In the old Helm's Bakery building. One of the best burgers in L.A. Across the street is Let's Be Frank, hot dogs– they also have a mobile truck.
3229 Helms Avenue, www.fathersoffice.com and www.letsbefrankdogs.com.

La Dijonaise. Café. Also in the old Helm's Bakery building. French café food, excellent lemon bars. 8703 Washington Boulevard, www.ladijonaise.com.

Museum of Jurassic Technology. The best place in L.A. Don't read about it, just go there. It's best to go when it's very uncrowded, maybe a weekday afternoon. (They also have shows, concerts, and films; pick up an event schedule.)
9341 Venice Boulevard, http://mjt.org/.

WEST HOLLYWOOD
Canter's. 24-hour deli. Lousy food and ill-tempered service, but still an L.A. institution.
419 North Fairfax Avenue, www.cantersdeli.com.

New Beverly Cinema. Excellent revival theater with $7 double features every night.
7165 W. Beverly Boulevard, www.newbevcinema.com.

Pacific Design Center. Art and design events on the third Thursday of every month. Also see the website for their lecture series.
8687 Melrose Avenue, www.pacificdesigncenter.com.

Silent Theater. Eclectic, eccentric movie theater with nightly programming including the Five-Minute Game (wherein the audience is shown the first five minutes of 15 different obscure movies and then votes on the one they want to see in its entirety). Also runs original silent pictures with organ accompaniment. Down the street from Canter's.
611 North Fairfax Avenue, cinefamily.org.

MID-WILSHIRE
Campanile. Try their Thursday night grilled cheese specials or their Wednesday night soup kitchen.
624 South La Brea Avenue, www.campanilerestaurant.com.

Csardas. Excellent Hungarian food – heavy but perfect for our few cold days a year.
5820 Melrose Avenue.

Lou. Wine bar and restaurant, try the "pig candy."
724 Vine Street, www.louonvine.com.

Village Pizzeria. Started by transplanted Brooklynites, maybe the closest thing to real New York-style pizza in L.A. A good newsstand is across the street.
131 N Larchmont Boulevard, www.villagepizzeria.net.

HOLLYWOOD
Bourgeois Pig. Comfortable coffee place next door to a good newsstand.
5931 Franklin Avenue.

The Hollywood Farmer's Market. Every neighborhood has their own farmer's market, but one of the best is in Hollywood on Sunday mornings.
1600 Ivar Avenue, http://farmernet.com/.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Classic movie screenings in the cemetery all summer long. Bring a picnic and folding chairs and be sure to arrive early.
6000 Santa Monica Boulevard, http://cinespia.org/.

Palms Thai. Los Angeles has the nation's best Thai food and Palms a good representative of it.
5900 Hollywood Boulevard.

Sacred Fools. Independent theater, featuring the comedy series Magnum Opus on Friday nights – staged readings of some of the city's worst screenplays. In a district filled with other small theaters. (See also the North Hollywood theater district.)
660 North Heliotrope Drive, www.sacredfools.org.

Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Improv comedy with free shows on Sunday evening. Next door is the Bourgeouis Pig.
5919 Franklin Avenue, www.ucbtheatre.com.

Yai. More great Thai.
5757 Hollywood Boulevard.

Arclight. First-run, independent, and classic movies, film festivals.
Several locations, the nicest at 6360 W. Sunset Boulevard, www.arclightcinemas.com/.

DOWNTOWN
The Brewery. Artists' residence in the converted Pabst Blue Ribbon brewery. With a theater, galleries, cooking classes, and a bar and restaurant. They also host open-house art walks twice a year.
600 Moulton Avenue, www.thebrewery.net/.

The Edison. Maybe the most beautiful bar in L.A. 35 cent cocktails and burlesque shows on Thursdays, grilled cheese and tomato soup on Fridays.
108 W. 2nd Street #101, www.edisondowntown.com/.

Grand Central Market. Fresh chiles, spices, tamales, pupusas, Central and South American foods, and much more.
317 South Broadway.

Grand Performances. Free summer concert, film, and performance series. Bring wine and a picnic – there's also a nice grocery store onsite. (With some child-specific shows, see other list.)
California Plaza, 300-350 S. Grand Avenue, http://grandperformances.org/.

Langer's. Widely considered by critics to be the best pastrami in the country.
704 South Alvarado Street, www.langersdeli.com/.

Mama's Hot Tamales. Tamales with recipes from Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru.
2124 West 7th Street.

Mindshare. The third Thursday of every month, a party featuring art installations and guest lectures by local academics, artists, and various experts. Held in various locations downtown.
www.mindshare.la/.

Museum of Natural History, First Fridays. The first Friday of every month local university professors give scientific lectures and lead tours followed by cocktails and live music.
900 Exposition Boulevard, www.nhm.org/site/activities-programs/first-fridays.

The Redwood Room. Kitschy but charming pirate-themed bar.
316 W. 2nd Street, www.theredwoodbar.com/.

Seven Grand. A menu of 271 whiskeys and whiskey-based cocktails.
515 West 7th Street, www.sevengrand.la/.

SOUTH LOS ANGELES
The Velaslavasay Panorama. A magical little gallery featuring a 360-degree panorama painting. Frequent live performances and events.
1122 W 24th Street, www.panoramaonview.org.

LOS FELIZ
The Alcove. Comfortable, relaxing lunch and brunch spot.
1929 Hillhurst Avenue, www.alcovecafe.com/.

Fred 62. Diner with excellent French toast.
1850 N. Vermont Avenue, www.fred62.com/.

Home. Another diner with a wonderfully comfortable outdoor patio. Half-off specials on rainy days.
1760 Hillhurst Avenue, www.homelosfeliz.com/.

Psychobabble. Coffee place and local watering hole.
1866 N Vermont Avenue, www.psychobabblecafe.com/.

Skylight Books. Independent book store, frequent readings.
1818 N Vermont Avenue, www.skylightbooks.com/.

Steve Allen Theater. Live theater, film, lectures, and much more. Drive-in horror movies during the month or two before Halloween.
4773 Hollywood Boulevard, www.steveallentheater.com/.

ECHO PARK/SILVERLAKE
826 Los Angeles (The Echo Park Time Travel Mart). Los Angeles installment of 826 Valencia's non-profit. Offers readings, classes, and volunteer opportunities for writers.
1714 W Sunset Boulevard, www.826la.org/.

Intelligentsia. Coffee.
3922 W Sunset Boulevard.

Machine Project. One of L.A.'s best arts and science venues. Weird, wonderful performance art and classes.
1200 N Alvarado St., www.machineproject.com/.

Sew L.A. Fabric store and sewing classes for all levels.
1637-1/2 Silver Lake Boulevard, 2nd floor, www.sew-la.com/.

Taco Zone. One of the best taco trucks in L.A. parks at night next to the Vons at 1342 North Alvarado Street, near Sunset. Ask for the suadero.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD
A large and growing live theater district.

EAT. Brunch; try the huevos del sur.
11108 Magnolia Boulevard, www.eatnoho.com/.

Pitfire Pizza. Pizza, wine by the glass, and an outdoor eating area with a fire pit. (A few other locations throughout the city.)
5211 Lankershim Boulevard, www.pitfirepizza.com/.

BURBANK
Thrift Stores. There is a great run of thrift and antique stores down Magnolia Avenue roughly between Burbank Boulevard and Verdugo Avenue. Many sell old studio props and costumes. Particularly good for Halloween. Also a good place for vintage and reproduction clothing and furniture.

Urban Eats. Stop in while shopping.
3501 W. Magnolia Boulevard, www.urban-eats.com/.

EAGLE ROCK
Casa Bianca. Classic family red-sauce Italian.
1650 Colorado Boulevard, www.casabiancapizza.com/.

The Coffee Table. Free wireless, a nice place to work.
1958 Colorado Boulevard, www.coffeetablebistro.com/.

Oinksters. Barbecue specializing in pulled pork sandwiches.
2005 Colorado Boulevard, www.theoinkster.com/.

Senor Fish No.2. Mexican seafood; try the scallop tacos. (A second location is downtown.)
4803 Eagle Rock Boulevard, www.senorfishonline.com/.

Swork. Coffee, free wireless, a great place to work. (Also features a kids' play area, see other list.) 2160 Colorado Boulevard, www.swork.com/.

ON THE ROAD
Follow Kogi, The Grilled Cheese Truck, Coolhaus, Sweets Truck, Buttermilk, and other Twittering mobile food trucks. See LAist for a complete list.

ON THE INTERNET
Some good sites to keep up with what's happening in L.A. (and there are a few more specifically tailored to those with young children):

LAist
Culture Monster at L.A. Times
Eater L.A.
Jonathan Gold at L.A. Weekly
Art Slant L.A.
L.A. Observed

And now I realize I forgot about tiki bars, not to mention all the food in the San Gabriel Valley - well, more soon...

Happy birthday Jack!

2010-03-01T21:52:00.000-08:00

On Sunday Beatrice's best friend Jack celebrated his second birthday, and today he invited Beatrice, Miller, and Alexis over to celebrate with him.

Photos coming soon...

great greens

2010-02-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

I just made greens tonight with a recipe from the back of the Trader Joe's mixed cooking greens bag and they were really wonderful. The mix is collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and spinach.

The (slightly modified) recipe:

1 lb. of mixed cooking greens
1 white onion, chopped
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup V8 juice (the original recipe called for tomato juice)
1 cup chicken broth (the original recipe called for vegetable broth)
salt, pepper, and marjoram to taste

1. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions are translucent.
2. Add the V8 juice and broth, bring to a boil.
3. Add the greens and simmer, covered, for about 30 mins.

That's it! Very easy and very, very good. I've rarely been this excited about mustard greens.

Just one more...

2010-02-04T16:07:00.001-08:00

I know I just posted "Beatrice, Month Eight" - but my good friend Amy Robb just posted a photo on her blog too cute to pass up. This is Beatrice with her friend Miller while Amy and Evan were very kindly babysitting for us the other night.

Beatrice, Month Eight

2010-02-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

The eighth month was a big one. Beatrice is now standing up (with the aid of a piece of furniture). She stood up for the first time at Summer St. Pierre's house and has been perfecting her stance since - though since Beatrice can't walk yet, she will instead stand still for five or ten minutes while looking around with a "what next?" look on her face.

Beatrice has been spending a lot of her time lately with Summer and Summer's adorable almost-two-year-old Jack - they've been entertaining Beatrice twice a week while I work on writing. And Jack adores Beatrice - he calls her "my baby" and runs to bring her her favorite toys when she comes over. Beatrice loves Jack, too, and she doesn't mind being occasionally bowled over by his affections - in fact, the other day she managed to catch him off balance and knock him over. She always leaves Summer's house in a great mood (even if she often has too much fun to nap while she's there).

Beatrice is also perfecting her sitting, including sitting in the bath - and especially her crawling. She is crawling basically every moment she's awake. Unfortunately, she refuses to stop moving for anything, including nursing and diaper changes -even at night, she crawls back and forth in her crib until finally exhaustion takes her.

This month we started B on more finger foods, including Cheerios, cereal puffs, crackers, and yogurt drops, as well as non-traditional finger foods like cottage cheese and egg yolks. Egg yolks make more mess than you can ever imagine. Still - nothing occupies a baby like finger food. Mina and I enjoyed a leisurely brunch with all three babies recently while Beatrice was perfectly engrossed in eating five Saltine crackers in slow succession.

Beatrice encounters a cracker for the first time.

Beatrice and cottage cheese.

This month B also discovered a newfound love of swings. As you can see, she's perfectly fearless (though I'm not - I made Dev stop pushing her so high, I was sure she was going to fall out).

And now that she's older, she's beginning to appreciate things like the Zimmer Children's Museum, where she explored the water table and the "toddler bounce room," or the Cabrillo Aquarium where she sat in a fish tube.

Fish tube.

Beatrice plays with the water table.

Beatrice poses with some kosher play food at the Zimmer Museum.

Find more month eight photos on Flickr or Facebook.

Congratulations Stephanie and Paul!

2010-01-14T00:23:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Stephanie and Paul got married in one of the loveliest weddings I've been to - every element was totally personal and unique. Sadly I didn't have my camera but you can catch a few pictures on Summer's blog - with many more to follow.

Beatrice, Month Seven

2010-01-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

Beatrice's seventh month saw her still working on most of the same things she started last month, including crawling and sitting up. She spent most of the month in a great mood, however (barring episodes of teething), full of laughter and excitement. She is very sociable, loves parties and crowds, and gladly welcomes the attention of strangers.

Here she is crawling to get Dev's Leatherman:

She's taken to letting out a loud roar of enthusiasm or victory - she does this constantly, all day long, whether bathing, feeding the dogs Cheerios, or greeting a new friend.

She has now sampled a wide variety of foods, vegetables, fruits, grains, and meats, and loves them all - some of her favorites include yogurt, puffed cereals, beef, peas, and all fruits.

Every month she gets more and more interested in her toys, which is so gratifying since I bought them for her long before she was able to appreciate them (and in some cases, long before she was born). One of her favorites is the Swedish barnyard play set.

She also adores the Rody that Patricia, Lucas's mother, gave her.

This month Beatrice met James's sister Katy.

Beatrice loves playing very rough (or as rough as we'll allow) - she likes nothing more than to be knocked over by the dogs, to tumble upside down, fall over, get back up, be grabbed and tickled, or pushed very fast in the stroller. Here she is roughhousing with Shack:

She loves music and toys that make noise, including her xylophone and her giraffe shaker (both Christmas gifts from Mina).

She also loves books and listening to stories - Travis gave us several new favorites this year for Christmas, including stories about Babar, Eloise, and Madeline.

Beatrice is very independent and insists on doing everything herself, which is charming but also messy and time-consuming. She won't eat anymore unless you let her try to hold the spoon and feed herself, and she also wants to turn the pages of books on her own.

She is learning lots of skills out of order, the harder thing before the easier thing, so she can crawl and use a spoon quite well, but she can't properly sit or use a cup at all. It's pretty clear she has her own agenda.

By far what I'm proudest about, though, is that Beatrice is so brave. She is truly fearless. On New Year's day at the Waddingtons' annual party, we showed her a wooden mango. When you turn the mango upside down, a realistic-looking cobra pops out. You might have expected Beatrice to cry or at least recoil when the snake popped up in her face - instead she let out a roar, lunged for it with both hands, and tried to throttle it. That's totally Beatrice.

We didn't take that many photos this month other than Christmas ones, but you can catch a few on Facebook or Flickr.

Stephanie's bridal shower

2010-01-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday night, Summer St. Pierre, Amy Robb, Amy Turner, and I hosted a bridal shower for Stephanie before her wedding this Saturday. We looked at photos of Stephanie from infancy until the present day, learned a little about her fiance Paul in a trivia game, and had a wonderful time celebrating Stephanie's amazing, adventurous pre-married life and looking forward to all the exciting times ahead for them both. I can't believe I've known Stephanie now for more than twenty years, ever since I spied her playing wagon train on the monkey bars in fifth grade.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-01-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Beatrice with her cousins Louis and Rosemary in Griffith Park

This year's Christmas card photo

Merry (belated) Christmas! and a Happy New Year!

Early in December I took Beatrice to see (a wonderfully authentic-looking) Santa at the Americana shopping mall in Glendale. We waited in line for 45 minutes surrounded by loud music, blinking lights, and shrieking children but Beatrice had a great time throughout, she was smiling the entire time, even when I made her sit alone on the lap of an outlandishly costumed stranger.

Christmas attire in Southern California

Then we drove to Dallas with the dogs, stopping on the way to visit Michael, Laura, and Boston in Santa Fe.

We spent the holidays with Dev's whole family: Mamo, Naresh, Suzan, Mina, James, Julie, Maureen, Rosemary, and Louis, along with me, Dev, and Beatrice, plus the two dogs and Maureen's rabbit Fifi.

And we even got snow for Christmas!

Louis had his Christmas balloon tied to his wrappings

Beatrice plays with her drum and xylophone from Aunt Mina

Beatrice opens her first Christmas gift from her mom and dad, the "bob and wobble lion"

The lion is a hit.

Playing the worst board game of all time.

Beatrice with her Christmas balloon.

James makes an excellent pie.

See the rest of our Christmas photos on Flickr and Facebook.

Beatrice, Month Six

2009-12-02T14:04:00.000-08:00

Today Beatrice is half a year old! This month she has hit a few developmental milestones here and there but the real change is just in her constantly evolving personhood. Compared to six months ago (or even one month ago) she is just so much more of an individual now, with the rudiments of a distinct personality. Whereas once her face mostly registered only happy/neutral or unhappy/crying, she now has a range of real, recognizable emotions, including boredom, amusement, frustration, delight, curiousity, and suspicion.

The highlight of the month was the baby's first Thanksgiving and her chance to finally meet her uncles Travis and Aubrey and many other friends. Beatrice and I also took a week-long vacation to the Bay Area to visit the Blocks while Dev was out of town on a business trip.

This month we also ventured out to a baby sensory learning group (don't ask) but Beatrice adored all the chaotic, noisy activity. At one point Beatrice was simultaneously bombarded with recorded music, live drumming, hand-held percussion instruments, and ribbon dancing, and she seemed to enjoy it all. The class leader declared she had never met a baby who was so hard to unnerve. That will come in handy.

Beatrice continues to add new foods every week - fruits, vegetables, and meats - and so far she loves them all uniformly. In fact, dinner time is now the highlight of her day.

Beatrice continues to try out new vocalizations - most of them sound like the typical consonant-vowel pairings of baby babble, but her neatest trick is the bird-like trilling she has taken to making.

She also loves petting (ie., grabbing) Shackelton, Cromwell, and Odin.

She is also working on crawling - she can scoot efficiently across the entire length of a room. But only backwards. If you place a desired toy in front of her, she will work with all her might to reach it while slowly receding from it. Like so many things involving babies, it's both sad and incredibly funny. (Video coming soon!)

Find more Beatrice month six photos on Flickr and Facebook.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-12-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

We spent this year at Sam and Lilli's house celebrating our ninth annual Thanksgiving party, which this year featured the triumphant return of Adult Fry and the unholy creation of a chidurkey (an inverted turducken). It also featured MSG waffles, which might just be the worst thing I've ever eaten. Twice.

This year was particularly exciting, though, because it was Baby's First Thanksgiving. For years to come, she'll think Thanksgiving is like this for everyone. I can't wait until her kindergarten teacher asks the class to draw a picture of what their family does to celebrate Thanksgiving and Beatrice draws a picture of a bearded lunatic deep-frying a road sign.

That's the best thing about babies: they have no context.

1500 servings of MSG.

A meeting is called.

This should never happen.

This man is NSF certified.

It's not important what this is.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

We've had a busy month of Halloween-related activities, starting with our annual Block family trip to the apple farms near Placerville in northern California.

We also went to a pumpkin festival in Pasadena with Mina, James, and Rosemary,

and to see the fall foliage at Descanso gardens.

Then Dev and I helped out with the Mom's Club children's Halloween party on October 24.

The following day we had some friends and family over to have an all-pumpkin dinner and carve jack o' lanterns.

Then at last it was Halloween itself - we had a big open house with friends from all over the city while also handing out candy to the many trick or treaters in our neighborhood. More than thirty people dropped by plus a total of seven babies.

Rosemary in costume as an Indian princess,

and I made Louis an ultrasound costume.

And of course, I also made Beatrice's costume, a stack of pancakes.

Shackleton was a middle manager.

Cromwell was an old-timey motorist.

Dev was a ghost (again).

And I was Medusa.
See more of our fall and Halloween photos on Flickr and Facebook, including some great photos of our party guests and their costumes.

Beatrice, Month Five

2009-10-26T23:23:00.001-07:00

The big news this month (besides Halloween) is SOLID FOOD. That's right, we're into the big time with rice cereal and even the occasional dabble into oatmeal. Beatrice is surprisingly enthusiastic about what is, in essence, a flavorless gruel - she even insists on holding the spoon and trying to feed herself. A mess ensues.

Also - she's sitting! Sort of. She can sit on her own for a limited time when placed in that position, but her big break came the other day when for the first time she lifted herself from a reclining position to a sitting one on her own, held herself steady for about 20 seconds, and then tipped slowly forward until she wound up on her stomach.

She's also been enjoying some forays into object permanence - she likes to sit in her highchair and throw her plastic cups over the side, then peer after them and try to find where they've landed.

Beatrice is engaging more with the dogs this month, reaching out to pet them and following them with her eyes as they lope around the house causing trouble. The other day she was crying pretty hard until Shack came up and licked her face - she stopped crying in an instant. Good dog.

Most of her time, though, is spent grabbing her feet and stuffing them into her mouth. Accomplishments abound!

Beatrice with her cousins Rosemary and Louis:

And last but not least, Beatrice celebrating with Lucas and Veronika at a Russian Orthodox church festival featuring our favorite Russian folk band Limpopo:

(Beatrice is wearing a pumpkin hat from a previous engagement.)

As always, you can find many more photos on Flickr and Facebook.

Congratulations Mina and James!

2009-10-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

Mina had their son Louis James Kumar Spindler at 3:28pm on Monday October 12. He is 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 20 inches long. We visited them at the hospital yesterday - Louis is doing well, very healthy and rather serene, all in all a good baby.

Beatrice, Month Four

2009-10-02T03:13:00.000-07:00

Another month for Beatrice - this one started with Beatrice's first airplane flight, a trip to Seattle to visit our friends Chris and Lindsey and their daughter Charlotte, and then to attend Chuck and Monica's wedding. On the flight home from Seattle she was so cheerful and charming that nearby passengers actually thanked us as we ~~disembarked~~ deplaned.

The biggest news this month (at least for me) is that Beatrice is now watched by a babysitter one day a week. I drop off Beatrice every Thursday from 9-5pm at Mina's house, where Mina's sitter Leticia watches both B and Rosemary. That means I get eight uninterrupted hours to work. (The rest of the week I work while B is napping or after she goes to bed.) If I plan carefully, I can get almost a week's worth of work done in that one day.

I get so much done on Thursdays, in fact, that I can spend Tuesday mornings at the excruciatingly named "Mommy and Me" - which Beatrice adores. About thirty babies and their mothers gather in a room at 10am every Tuesday for singing and games for young infants. B's two favorite activities are bubble blowing and parachute time. For the former, the teacher plays soft music while filling the room with soap bubbles; for the latter, all the babies lie on their backs while the mothers take hold of a rainbow-colored parachute and wave it back and forth over their heads to the babies' evident delight.

In addition to bubbles and parachutes, Beatrice's favorite things are reading Fluffy Chick and Friends, listening to Paris Combo, watching the fountains at the Americana shopping mall, and going to the aquarium. Joanne and I took B to the Long Beach Aquarium and Beatrice was mesmerized by the brightly colored, well-lit, and continuously moving fish, very easy for even an infant to see. The hot pink jellyfish were her favorites - she liked them so much that Dev and I took her back to see them again the following week.

Sadly, the Los Angeles Zoo's petting zoo (or, as they have dubbed it, the "contact yard") wasn't such a big hit. Beatrice seemed blandly indifferent to the many goats, pigs, and sheep - at one point I tried to rub her hand over a sheep's wool but she didn't even turn around. Maybe next month...
Meanwhile Beatrice has stalled a bit on rolling over. After rolling over eight or ten times last month, she seems to have tired of it already - she hasn't rolled over in weeks. I assume she is storing up energy for the Next Big Thing.

Watch her fail to roll over!

And here she is, endeavoring to put her whole fist into her mouth (also available on the Baby Fail Blog).

Beatrice is now sleeping in her own crib, in her own room, and you can watch her do so by clicking here.

As always, there are many more photos on Facebook and Flickr.

Next month -Baby's First Halloween!

Welcome Baby Spindler #2!

2009-09-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Dev and I hosted a small party at our house this weekend for Mina, James, Rosemary, and their new family-member-to-be. We were able to sit outside despite the still-warm weather and enjoy mini sausage pies, roasted vegetable and ricotta pizzas, and other autumnal fare. And grandparents Dan and Mary Spindler were visiting in Los Angeles and so they were able to come, too. Now we're even more excited about Baby Spindler, we can't wait until next month...

Goodbye Joanne!

2009-09-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday ended a great week with Joanne visiting us in L.A. As usual, we packed a lot into her stay, including the Long Beach Aquarium, the Getty Villa, LACMA, the tar pits, thrift store shopping, and veggie Chinese in the San Gabriel Valley.

Can't get enough of looking at our baby?

2009-09-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

Now you can keep tabs on the unsuspecting infant around the clock with our new cribcam!

DIY is not always the best solution

2009-09-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

On the plus side, Dev learned that shaving a dog is a lot harder and more time-consuming than it looks and now he understands why we should pay to have a professional do it.

On the negative side, our dog now looks like this.

Beatrice, Month Three

2009-08-30T01:49:00.000-07:00

Month three has been a big one for Beatrice (as are most months when you are an infant). Beatrice started off her third month with the family trip to Ojai for her Grandmother Suzan's 60th birthday party.

Later the same month we drove to the Bay Area to attend Edward and Vanessa's wedding - Beatrice had fun with her other set of grandparents while Dev and I got to enjoy two baby-free nights in San Francisco.

Back in Los Angeles we also had a lot of fun, including attending a children's outdoor performance of Cymbeline and a Bollywood kids' concert, both with Mina and Rosemary. I also joined a mother's social group in my neighborhood and took Beatrice to several "play dates" - though since I have been assigned to the youngest infants' group, there's little real playing, as you might imagine.

Developmentally, the big news is that Beatrice can now really engage with toys and other objects. Favorites include the sleep sheep and the $20 rubber giraffe. But above all, she adores the (somewhat banal) soft book Fluffy Chick and Friends - she will spend more than an hour at a time staring at the book, transfixed, slowly turning the pages.

Playing with the book:

She spends a lot of time staring at and grabbing her feet, trying to stick her entire fist into her mouth, and grabbing other people's fingers and putting them into her mouth. She babbles a lot, mostly saying either "goo" or "ah-goo." She's also picked up the rather distasteful habit of blowing bubbles - but (specious) research shows that babies that blow bubbles often develop superior verbal skills as older children, so blow away!

Also this month, Baby's First Pants, Baby's First Subway Ride (the Gold Line from Pasadena to downtown L.A. with her aunts Mina and Julie), and Baby's First Dive Bar, in Studio City.

Baby's First Pants:

Overall she's an incredibly smiley baby, spending most of the day smiling, laughing, and looking around contentedly.

Some video of Beatrice waking up in an excellent mood, as usual (she really starts rocking out around second 45):

And just this morning she rolled over for the very first time! and burst into tears immediately afterward. Sadly I missed catching it all on film, but I did catch her frantically clinging to the mat to make sure she doesn't ever do it again...

As always, you can find more baby photos on Flickr and Facebook.

Greenville Avenue Wine

2009-08-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

David Waddington has a new wine blog - check it out!

(Somehow that exclamation point looks all wrong.)

Congratulations, Hannah and Daniel!

2009-08-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

On your just-announced engagement - I can't wait to hear the details...

McSweeneys swimsuit edition

2009-08-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Elissa Bassist for mentioning me in her article "The Women of McSweeneys.net" in The Rumpus! It's particularly exciting to be on the same list of "funny women" as people like Sarah Vowell.