April 2006 Archives

Thanks to Tim's reminder, we managed to make it out to this year's Eeyore's Birthday Party. The weather looked pretty threatening the night before, but it turned out perfect. Pleasantly cool in the shade, not too muddy but also not dust at all (at least by the time we'd left).

Magda got to meet Eeyore - except not really. Instead of the usual donkey, they had a miniature horse. Apparently the donkey got spooked by the storm the night before and took of, so they had to use an understudy.

I noticed yesterday that Magda as mastered posessive pronouns. When you point at a cup and ask whose it is, she'll say "Mama's" or "Tata's". Jennifer says that Meredith taught her last weekend. Now I'll have to work on teaching her how possessives work in Czech.

Speaking of which, I occasionally manage to get Magda to use the Czech term as her "primary" word for something. Used to be that she liked easy words, but now she enjoys "interesting" words. The most recent is "ananas" -- I think the repeated syllable is more fun than plain old "pineapple".

I just got back from participating in Austin's It's My Park! Day. I first spent some time replacing bench slats and then a whole lot of time stripping old paint from another bench. And finally fifteen minutes repainting it. FYI, stripping paint is not fun.

The turnout was wonderfull -- lots of people from the neighborhood and also some high school and college volunteers. All the benches in the park now look great, signs have been installed or repainted, and trash cans secured from the punks that sometimes mess with them.

The only thing that was a bit lame was the replacement planks that we got from the city. I don't know what kind of wood it is, but it's not pressure treated, so I wonder how long it'll last. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

The other night, Magda was poining out some moles on us (I've got an impressive one on my right hand that sometimes keeps her focused while I change her diapers). After she was done with Jfer, she noticed Rose laying stretched out on the floor like she's wont to do.

So Magda walks over to her and starts poking at the dog's nipples while proclaiming "mole", "mole"!

I think it's better if we keep her misinformed, less she tries nursing form her...

Magda turned 18 months old today, and I got to spend some quality time with her, since Jfer had some triathlon planning stuff to do.

This morning the three of us went to CJ for breakfast, where Magda uttered the word "crap" for the first time (AFAIK) after she heard Jennifer talk about getting rid of some of the "stuff" that we have to much of.

On the way to the car, we walked past a nail salon whose big lettering in the windows Magda always adores. The lady there cooed over her and asked Jfer if Magda was her grand daughter. Ouch! Jennifer corrected her before the lady had a chance to ask her what she was doing out there with her son-in-law. :-)

We then visited Target and got Magda a potty to put on the toilet. Later in the afternoon she wanted to sit on it three times, although I think without any actual output. But she does seem pretty excited about it.

And finally, tonight Magda did some real samersaults on the bed. She's been doing the "downward facing dog" for a while and occasionally we help her turn over. And tonight she managed to do it a couple of times on her own. What a big girl!

Whenever I grill, I usually include a couple of cobs of corn to have as a side dish. It's the easiest food, ever: take a cob, optionally soak in salty water, toss it on the grill (without peeling or wrapping in foil), peel off husk and hair when it's done.

Last Sunday, Magda ate some corn off the cob and seemed to like it. So when I was grilling sausage later this week, I made sure to include her very own cob. When I served it with dinner, she devoured her half-cob almost instantly and then strongly insisted that we share our corn with her. Jfer quickly polished off her corn so she could tell Magda that it's "all gone", but I -- being the loving and generous parent that I am -- did share my corn with her. It's amazing how wide she can open her mouth if she really wants to.

I mentioned to Jfer that she's going after the corn like it was crack. And of course, Magda picked it up and demanded to have even more "Crack"! I love shaping her vocabulary like that.

We attended aunt Felicia's birthday party in Houston on Saturday. As usual, it was lots of fun and the food was delicious. Too bad that it was still a bit too cool for the pool -- maybe next time we're visiting.

As is now tradition, there was a poker game going on. Despite my better judgement I participated, although Jfer and I were switching off for baby duty. As it turned out, I managed to win the tournament -- on a pair of pocket Aces, no less. I can't take too much credit, though, since I really had some good hands.

On Sunday we went with Elizabeth, Kayleigh and Kathleen to the Cockrell Butterfly Center. I think the girls quite enjoyed it, and the rest of us had a good time, too. Personally, I think the Insect Zoo is just as fascinating as the butterfly section.

Magda likes bugs. She was fascinated with the June Bugs (which are in the Scarab family, as I later learned) that I fished out of the pool. On Saturday, she also closely examined some tiny ants scurrying around. She then gave them a kiss and promptly squished them with her hand. Oh wel...