April 2005 Archives

Magda turned half a year old yesterday. We didn't really do anything special to celebrate, but did have a nice extended walk in Walnut Creek Park where we finally took the stroller through some off-road action. The stroller performed well, even on the narrower and bumpier paths. We also took the obligatory bluebonnet baby pictures, but we almost missed the boat, since most of the flowers are already past their prime and seeding.

Magda is becoming more and more amazing. She can now sit for extended periods of time and, if you are in the same room with her, can keep herself occupied with rattles and toys. That's great because you can actually get stuff done while she's awake.

I think that she and Jennifer have finally developed a routine for naps and activity, although the big nap sometimes happens in the morning and sometime in the afternoon.

One of my favorite parts of the day is her waking up in the morning -- usually between 6:30 and 8. She's still drowsy and start stretching her arms and body and kicking her legs and looking around, and then she gets this big smile whenever she sees you looking at her.

Another favorite task of mine is taking her to bed after she's fallen asleep on Jennifer in the evening. She stirs when I pick her up (not an easy task when she's wedged in the boppy and semi-attached to Jennifer in her rocker) but then relaxes completely as I carry her to the bedroom, arms dangling to the site and her mouth slightly parted. And she stirs again when I lay her down in her crib, but hardly ever wakes up as I tuck in her blanket.

Update: After a long hiatus, I've uploaded some new pictures of Magda I took over the last two or three weeks. The Bluebonnet pictures didn't turn out too well -- she was in her serious mood and most of them got overexposed or too contrasty.

I still remember how tiny and lost Magda looked in her bassinet when we first brought her home. Time flies and for the last couple of weeks, she has started bumping into the bumper pads, so it was about time to move her into a crib. Unfortunatelly it took a while to find and get her crib linnes online, but the last piece finally arrived during the week.

So today, I took her bassinet apart, added a couple of sections and converted it into a crib - the crib is well designed and fairly easy to convert. And now, Magda looks tiny in her bed again. I don't think it will be too long before I have to convert the crib into a toddler bed (that transformation will only take six screws).

Magda is making big progress these days. She can now stay sitting for several minutes before toppling over. She's enjoying her rice cereal, but so far has nothing good to say about bannanas. And just as they tell you, solid-food poop is definitely stinkier than what came before. But I much prefer its wasabi-like consistency over the mustard like milk turds. Much less chance of blow-out leakage.

I've been listening to news about the pope's accelerating decline with some melancholy and was quite sad when I heard of his passing yesterday. It's not like I am a good faithful Catholic following his edicts and, as a matter of fact, I do have differences of opinion on many thing he stood for. But really, the theological points are a moot issue for me. The man was a giant in so many different ways and his influence has affected countless people, and mostly in a very good way.

I was around 9 and still living in Prague when Karol Wojtyla he was elected pope. I remember being confused, since it seemed another pope had just been picked the other day. But I mostly remember the jubilation people around me expressed of having a Pope who was "one of us", a fellow Slav and someone who had experienced and understood the life behind the Iron Curtain.

As it turned out, the excitement and hopes laid in the Polish Pope were well founded. He helped the morale of people in the Eastern Block (both religious and not) and was a huge influence in Poland's move to peaceful independence, followed by other countries of the block, including Czechoslovakia.

I actually had the opportunity to see the pope a couple of times. The first time was in the early '80s when I was in Italy at a Czech Catholic summer camp. We visited Rome for a day and participated in a "general audience": basically watching the pope mobile drive through masses of visitors in the St. Peter's Dome plaza. The Pope actually walked for some of the way, greeting people that were pushing against the barricades. Our group was fairly close to the fence and I think I manage to touch the Pope's hand, but I do know that I got my hand kissed by some old lady thinking it was the Pontiff’s. It was a bit like a rock concert except without the moshing.

The second time I saw the Pope was during an altar boy trip to Rome in '84 sponsored by my church in Switzerland (and no, I don't have any scaring stories to report from my altar boy days). This time we actually got to be in St. Peter's Dome and saw John Paul II up close. I don't remember whether he celebrated Mass, but I do remember shaking his hand, as this old photo shows.

There are many things to admire about John Paul II, including expressing accountability and regret for the Church’s past mistakes, his drive for ecumenical openness and acceptance and his unambiguous and strongly expressed belief in human life and dignity. I guess the thing I admire the most about him was his unflinching championship for the poor and oppressed. As a liberal, there are plenty of things I do not agree with in Catholicism, but as a former Catholic, I am very proud of the fact that the church takes Matthew 25:31 to heart.

I hope that the church will select a worthy successor, though his shoes are mighty big to fill. I also hope that the dignitaries lauding the Pope as a "champion of peace, freedom and democracy" contemplate what that meant in his eyes.