More from Opočno Chateau

Eating yummy vanilla ice cream on the way to the gardens.

In the chateau gardens watching the "doginka" (ducky) with Teta Lenka and Mommy.

A scenic view of the Chateau from across the pond.

Looking for fish with Daddy.

Opočno Chateau

During our visit with Pavel and Lenka, we walked through the gardens and courtyard at Opočno Chateau. It was a chilly, but sunny, day - perfect for a stroll! Here's a "panoramic" view of it.

And the final count was...

Yes, folks, a picture just wouldn't have given this hair do justice - a video in full spectrum was definitely in order! When we took all those clips out, there were 35!

For Simona

Sunday morning Magdalena refused to eat every food we offered her for breakfast. She kept saying "baba" and we thought she was referring to her cup with frogs on it because "baba" is how she pronounces the Czech word for frog. But after she had firmly established that was NOT what she wanted we finally realized that she wanted babovka (Czech pound cake). We'd brought home the left overs from our party Saturday and she loved it so much that was the only thing she'd eat for breakfast. We decided it was okay this one time because, after all, how often does Teta Simona bake a cake in our honor? Thanks, Simona! Your babovka was definitely a success!

Going away party

My dear friend Sunny organized our going away party on Saturday. She and Dot made this special "American" cake for us - with homemade icing!! It was super delicious and Magdalena is now really enjoying playing with the plastic airplane.
Dot (far left) helped set up and brought flowers to decorate, Sunny was the party coordinator (on my left), I was one of the "guests of honor," and Simona (far right) baked a babovka (Czech pound cake which was super tasty!). I will dearly miss my "girls" after we move.
Chris (in black tee) and Petr talked as Simona and I listened in on their conversation...Chris and his wife Laura (another of my friends), as jet lagged as they were, helped clean up afterwards - such servants!!
Magdalena and her favorite friend Natalie took advantage of the marvelous play room at the family center during the party.
Our pastors Basia (taking a picture) and Zdenek (with Petr) helped set up and provided a beautiful veggie tray. I'm gonna miss girl nights with Basia, Zdenek's kooky jokes and his inspiring sermons...

*Thank you all who came, helped out, and blessed us with your time. We'll miss you all very much. Also, thank you, Sunny, for the pictures!

Sweet strokes

Magdalena has taken to writing and drawing recently. It's so adorable to see her grasping the pencils and pens in her hands (notice I didn't add crayons - because she still eats them!). She even says "pen" now. And stretches her little body up as high as it'll go when she strains to reach the top of the microwave to get pens from their storage cup.

"Uncle" Pavel

Last year we went to visit our friends Pavel and Lenka for a weekend. We went again last weekend and had a blast! Magdalena took to her Czech Uncle and Aunt like bees to honey and called to them any time they left the room. Pavel had baby fever a year ago...and now it's even stronger! Here they are last August scooching around the floor together.It's amazing how much Magdalena has grown since then! Now she walks, runs, dances, talks, and works on her hopping skills every day!

Role play

Natalie, Magdalena's friend previously blogged about, gave Magdalena some of her outgrown pajamas. Last night Magdalena got to wear them for the first time and she LOVED them! She didn't want to take them off this morning. When I said we needed to go bye-bye, she put my shoes on over her jammies since her shoes are too small to fit over the footies.

Perhaps the color got to her (same as her new kitty cat toy in the background of this picture), but she pretended to be someone else today for the fist time. She pretended to be a cat! I was sitting down and she crawled around me saying, "mauw, mauw." When I asked her if she was a kitty she said, "jo" ("yeah" in Czech). Too CUTE!

Strange sitings

Alien UFO? If so, those Purple Martians really must be only one inch tall! And here's the evidence of an alien controlled mind - no one in his right mind would intentionally design a color scheme of such horrid results!

Going outside

"All ready to go, Mommy!"

Bed

We sold our bed on Sunday, so Petr and I have been sleeping on our pull-out couch bed. When I put away the blankets in the storage section, Magdalena discovered a fun hiding nook! "Hajej!" she exclaimed, saying the Czech way to "going to sleep" for babies.
I had to keep a close eye on her in the storage compartment that she didn't lift the lever to close it! And, oh, how she howled when I closed it and she couldn't play inside anymore...guess, in the future I'll have to put away the bedding when she's not around.

Moravian Weekend Part III: Returning to Prague

Magdalena didn't want to leave her Deda (or her Babi and cousin, the bike, and bunnies) on Sunday afternoon but we finally managed to strap her in the carseat...only for her to listen to her Tetris game music for about 15 minutes before she fell asleep. I greatly feared she'd fall asleep with it playing and wake up if I tried turning it off. But, she either turned it off or it turned itself off just as she was drifting off. The doggie next to her in the seat is her favorite toy (from "Teta" Pavlina) and goes EVERYWHERE with her - to bed, the neighbor's flat, the grocery store, the zoo, etc.

Moravian Weekend Part II: Bunny

Crazy how children automatically recognise one of their own kind - even in another species. Magdalena called this 3 week old rabbit "bnee" (bunny) and "mimi" (baby in Czech). After Deda returned it to the hatch she repeatedly asked for "minmin" (the Czech rabbit sound) so the next day he put one in a box for her and said she could take it home. Petr balked at that idea! I said, "sure! we'll take 3." JUST KIDDING!!

Moravian weekend Part I: Cousins

These girls have a lot of fun together each time we visit our Moravian family. It's nice that Adelka's family lives in the same house as Babi and Deda so that the girls get plenty of play time!

And you know that Magdalena loves her cousin when she lets Adelka play with her favorite toy "doggie." Let's just hope that Magdalena will be as sweet and gentle with Adelka's little brother or sister (due end of March) who will be a tiny infant when we come to visit next year!

"Teta" Simona

Simona and I started out as conversation partners for her to maintain her superb English skills. The few weeks prior to Magdalena ending eating jarred baby food, I saved all of the jars for Simona's dad for him to use in his workshop. He's a painter and needed the small jars for left-over colors. To show his gratitude, he sent this kitty in Magdalena's hands as a thank you. Life can't be any better than being rewarded for eating!!Magdalena called Simona "Teta" during our visit on Monday. Even though the fact is stored in my head that can aquire 2 first languages, I'm still amazed when Magdalena speaks in Czech and especially when she observes a cultural norm such as this "teta" business. It means "aunt" but all Czech kids refer to any woman between the age of their moms and grandmothers as aunt. Magdalena has yet to learn aunt in English. She's not yet had the opportunity to need it - but soon she will be with both aunts close by!

"Nataee"

Natalie is Magdalena's favorite friend - the first person other than family to be called by name and to be asked for constantly (every day!). And I must add that I enjoy Natalie's mommy's company too! You've been a God-sent friend, Joanna!

Last week, after some good old fashioned play time at a "local" playground, we all enjoyed mac and cheese (thanks, Gigi!) with hot dogs for lunch at our place. It was Natalie's first encounter of the blue-boxed kind. I think she liked it, but she and Magdalena are both true to their Czech side and preferred the meat!

Dolled up

During our breakfast tea, Magdalena was inspired to beautify herself when she saw my accessories from yesterday on the computer desk. I put the clip in her hair but she also wanted my necklace. So, as I worked the clasp, I explained that "this is a special necklace. It was a gift for Mommy from Daddy." She gently (gently!) cupped the crystal in her hand as she "ooh"ed over it. Then didn't touch it again the entire time she wore it - maybe half an hour! BTW Magdalena has on her new Hello Kitty pajamas in this photo. They are still huge on her, but she LOVES them. :)