Separation

Part of the idea behind the grandma week is that parents get some time off while the kids are staying with their grand parents and cousins out in the country.  Since Magda has never really dealt all that well with separation (esp. this winter) we were looking forward to that part with some dreadful anticipation. Her away-time with G and Buelito in Ft. Worth this spring went well, but she can communicate with them and adores them both.

Magda tends to be drowned out in larger crowds. Dropping in on a bunch of boisterous cousins that know each other and speak a language she can't really communicate in was quite a tall order.  And doing this while being sick is didn't help, either.  But things turned out quite well.

Magda had been looking forward to seeing her Swiss cousin Aline, who, in her mind, is just the coolest thing in the world, though she really only knew her through pictures. As it turned out, Aline wasn't there wen we arrived at Staňkov because she was delayed by a bug of her own, but she did show up a day later - just as Magda was starting to get sick.

So the first couple of days, Magda spent around the house or on the porch, often napping, while the kids were doing their thing.  During Monday's treasure hunt, we had to carry her a good portion of the way because she fatigued so quickly.  By the time she got better, I was afraid that she had passed her chance to properly integrate.

But during the hike to Valdštejn she perked up and after lunch really wanted to walk hand in hand with Aline, but just didn't know how to approach her about it.  I suggested to simply ask her - helping her with how to say it, but she just couldn't.  Eventually she asked me whether "she could just take her hand without saying anything", and I assured her that would be cool, too.

And so she did.  She got her courage up, took Aline by hand, got a big smile in response and they spent the rest of the hike walking together.  The expression of happiness and delight on Magda's face was priceless.  Aline was really good about being there for Magda from the beginning, despite the fact that they couldn't really communicate, except through the cousins from Dallas.  And so Magda got to sit on her lap during our stops, walk with her and otherwise enjoy being a younger sister.

After that, Magda would join the kids on her own down at the pool at Čeperka, the village volunteer fire department hall/pub/community center, or to watch the girls playing basketball at the hoop on Čeperka's wall.

When it was time for us to leave on Wednesday, it seemed a bigger deal for Jfer and me than for her.  She gave us hugs and kisses and walked with grandma down to Čeperka to wave us off.  No big scene, tantrum or tears.

When we called that night to say goodnight, she was fine.  Although later we got a tearful (and not unexpected call) when it was her bed time, wanting us back, etc.  But she was good about hanging up and slept with her cousins Kačenka (speaking English) and Aline (bestest big cousin ever).  Next day when we called, she told us she "didn't want us to come back to pick her up, ever"!  She still had tears at bedtime, and waiting for us on the last day was hard, but overall, her three days and nights without us went way better than anticipated.