April 2007 Archives

Magda's got a ton of dolls, but her favorite is Plastic-Hair Baby. It's the first doll she ever owned -- a gift from the Hsues which came with a matching pink baby stroller. I'm not sure how she ended up with the name, since most of her dolls have the same kind of molded plastic hair, but that's what she's called. At this point the doll is filthy and without clothes, but Magda couldn't care less.

For some reasons, Magda doesn't pick real names for most of her dolls. most of them reflect where she got them. There is Hawaii Baby, which Rita bought her in Waikiki and Kačenka Baby, which she got from my cousin's daughter and Ikea Baby, which she found abandoned on top of some children's furniture at Ikea. She's got Special Baby which she received around the time she heard about the concept of a "special toy" (one which you do not have to share). And then there is the revolving cast of Toy Library Babies which is what she calls whatever she checks out at the local toy library. The only dolls that have names are things like Dora (the Explorer) and Oki (a Groovy Girl). And then there is Felicia, but that's a purple rat, and thus not really a doll.

Anyway, Plastic-Hair Baby has got a special place in Magda's heart. At some point in Plastic-Hair Baby's young life, Rose used her as a chew toy and gnawed off half of her hand. Magda was always very empathetic about that injury -- even before she could express herself with words.

Well, last Saturday, I went with Magda to her second gymnastics class and she decided to bring Plastic-Hair Baby along. I didn't hear the original conversation, but somehow another two-year old must have noticed the hand with the missing fingers and Magda must have explained. Because there was this little girl with consternation on her face repeatedly asking about Rose chewing off the fingers. I tried to explain about puppies and such, but it definitely made a huge impression. After the class was over, the little girl once again wanted to see Plastic-Hair Baby and inquired about what exactly happened. Luckily her grandma was amused about the whole thing.

I kind of hope that Magda didn't mention that "Rosie is a Pit bull" the way she sometimes likes to announce.

I used to go to the Enchanted Rock almost every year, but I hadn't been there since, at least, before Jfer got pregnant. With the wet spring and the wildflowers all over town we decided that it's been too long.

Jfer skipped her Sunday morning swim and we headed out towards Fredericksburg. The weather was a bit foreboding since it drizzled most of the way there, but by the time we arrived it was dry, but still overcast. The weather improved and it was partly sunny by the time we left for Austin.

We unpacked the stroller and the dogs and headed down the Loop Trail (counter clockwise) only to be stopped by a stroller-impassable descend about a hundred feet away from the trail head! Well, we didn't get too discouraged and found an alternate route. Let's just say that ER is not very stroller friendly, but once you make it past Buzzard's Roost trail fork, the Trail Loop is actually very nice with a jogging stroller.

Magda had a good time both in and out of the stroller and we got to see lots of neat wild flowers, some cool bugs and even a Road Runner. The park is very green right now and it looks like the Prickly Pear Cacti are getting ready to start blooming in the next couple of weeks. So now is a great time to visit. Homer and Rose really wanted to explore, but we were good and kept them on their leashes.

The trip out to ER took longer than I remembered, but that was partly due to the route we took (short on miles but not as quick). We did get to drive through some loose-livestock areas and Magda loved seeing the cows and other animals up close by the car.

During the trip to the park I was speeding along a country road and we went over one of those hills where you become weightless for a second. Magda loved it, remarking that "it tickled my bottom".