Our little weight lifter

"They grow up so fast." I always thought that was sort of a lame parenting cliche. But it's NOT! On Friday, Liora will be 9-months-old. When I see newborns, I have trouble remembering her being that tiny. When I hold my friends' younger babies, I forget how to support the head. I could go on!

You already know how much Liora loves to walk. Most of her photos have my hands and legs (only) showing because she is using mommy for walking support. This short video shows the first time she has tried to pull to a stand on her own. (Please make sure you have volume; the grunting as if she is a weight lifter is pretty funny.)

So, pretty soon I'll forget what it's like to have a kid who is stuck where I sit her down. And I'll love every minute, I'm sure, just like I have loved every minute of this adventure so far!

Electricity, How do I Love Thee?

Yes, we were one of the over 200,000 households who lost power this past weekend when a freak storm with winds of 80mph hit DC and suburban Maryland. Luckily, the heatwave broke when the storm came, so although this was inconvenient (and we lost some good ice cream), it really wasn't that bad.

We are behind in posting...it's been over a week! We apologize to our loyal fans. Last week was busy, and then without power, we couldn't post. So here are a few photos from that time period to bring you up to date.

Last week, we went to dinner with Saba. Liora was VERY interested in all of our food. Here she is looking like dinner is hers.

Last weekend we took care of our doggy friend Stackhouse. Thanks to him and fellow office dog Locksley, Liora has no fear of dogs. She LOVES them. (She befriended a 160 lb. newfoundland this weekend and everyone was astounded at her bravery.) Anyway, Stacks came with us to the playground; kept Liora clean with lots of licks; and proved his worth by cleaning up the floor after Liora's meals. He can come by anytime! Here they are chilling in the back yard:

And now for toga baby! Frankly, I don't remember why I did this. It is probably because she got soaking wet during dinner (still drinking from a cup, sometimes making a mess), and instead of letting her sit around in a wet dress before bathtime, I wrapped her in a fluffy blanket. So that she could continue walking (still her favorite pastime), I had to tie it toga-style. Here she is in all of her grecian godessness:

Brilliant Baby

We think Liora is so advanced. We know that's what every parent thinks, but Liora IS an exceptional baby.

Case in point. Last week, I turned my back to get something for Liora while she was sitting in her high chair. When I turned around, she had picked up her cup of water and was drinking it! By herself! Without any drips! We were astounded.

The next night, we asked her to repeat.

Yes, that is Daddy saying, "our baby is smarter than your baby" or something like that. And that's me saying "no, we're filming this for posterity." But I'll just let the video do the talking; the brilliance speaks for itself. :)

Liora's first long distance phone call

Last week, Liora started screaming. In a good way. At least, she isn't screaming because she's angry. At first it was to the cats, now I think she does it to express her pleasure. She screams when I pick her up from day care or when someone talks to her at a restaurant (the latter so far is going over fine, but it's only because she's so cute).

On Tuesday when I was working on the computer, I gave her the phone--everyone knows, babies love phones. Toy phones (of which she now has two) won't do. It has to be a real phone. She pushed some buttons. I got some work done. A win-win.

Zooks walked by, and she started screaming. So, with the flip video nearby, I wanted to capture the noise for daddy.

This video shows her at her screaming best. I'm not certain the video does justice to the decibel levels. The eardrums hurt after this. The most interesting part of this video is that the phone on the ground--the one I gave her to play with--is on, and connected to Grandma MeMe's answering machine in LA! MeMe was so excited to get a call from Liora. At the end of the video, I picked up the phone and saw it had been on for 3 minutes; I didn't know until later that night that a call had been made. More evidence of her brilliance!

Liora at Work (and Play)

This weekend, Liora, daddy, and mommy drove up to Atlantic City! Don't call child protective services (even though Liora did end up spending the day in a casino); we were there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the boardwalk cats project for mommy's work.

We drove up Friday afternoon, leaving at 2:30. Five hours later (!) we arrived at the hotel. Liora was a champ on the ride up, napping and hanging out with daddy in the back seat. She also slept well in the hotel--once she got to know the place. She had to walk around, get her bearings, and look at all of the paintings on the wall before she would eat dinner.

The next day was the event, on the boardwalk outside the Taj Mahal. We all had on our gear, including Liora:


Setting up was a breeze! Then the breeze turned into a storm. Needless to say, daddy and Liora headed into the casino where they played slots and put lots of money on red 30. Just kidding...they walked around a lot on the upper floors and watched seagulls, all while mommy and the rest of the crew were outside trying to stay dry. We closed up shop after the event and hit the road--this time for a relatively short 3 hour drive home.

On Sunday, daddy was off to play softball. So mommy and Liora took advantage of the beautiful weather to play for a long time at the park. Liora LOVES mulch. She could sit in it and play with it for hours.

She also likes to make friends at the playground. Liora is starting to show signs of being a social butterfly, walking up to everyone at the park and expecting to be instant friends. She stares until the people start responding to her. Then she walks right up to them (yes, I am not innocent since I am helping her do the walking) until she is practically in their faces! It's a little forward of her, I must say! But she's so cute, it works.

Here she is playing with a playground truck that a little girl was just sitting on until Liora came over and stared her off of it. I am not kidding.


After daddy got home from winning both games, we headed over to Saba's. Liora was delighted with Saba and showed him her new dance moves.

Visit with Grandpa Otter, Pat & Aunt Elena

Last Thursday, Grandpa Otter, Pat, and Aunt Elena stopped by on a break from house shopping for Elena. Liora was happy to have visitors at the house during the week! She spent a lot of time demonstrating her walking skills and smiling up a storm! We were so happy to have a visit.

Earlier in the week, mommy and Liora had a great day on Tuesday. Mommy's days at home with Liora on Tuesday are coming to an end. As that is happening, they are getting better. This particular Tuesday, Liora took a 2.5 hour nap and allowed mommy to work very well. Mommy doesn't want these days to come to an end! Would you?

First Swim & Family Dinner

We are a week behind on posts. Hope you didn't miss us too much!

Last weekend, Liora took her first swim in the baby pool. You can see from her face that she truly enjoyed it.

After, she also enjoyed walking around naked, which seems to run in the family. Cousin Leo is a big fan, dubbed "nature boy" for his love of not only being outside naked but also using that oppportunity to test his peeing abilities.

Later, we went out to dinner with Aunt Nurit, Uncle Roy, Cousin Tori, and Saba. Even though we had to rush through our meal (and even take some to go) in order to make it back somewhat around Liora's bedtime, we really enjoyed seeing everyone. And Spanish tapas is a favorite with us.

It was Liora's first time eating her baby food at a restaurant, and she did pretty well in the provided seat (even though mommy freaked out about how dirty these things are). We got home a bit after bedtime and she fell right asleep, exhausted from her busy social schedule.