larsmans answered your first question
For your second question, can you simply look before you leap to avoid recursion?
def makeList(self, aNode=None):
if aNode is None:
aNode = self.root
treeaslist = [aNode.data]
if aNode.lChild:
treeaslist.extend(self.makeList(aNode.lChild))
if aNode.rChild:
treeaslist.extend(self.makeList(aNode.rChild))
return treeaslist