Our fairy-tale princess contemplates her next move... will she grant a wish or cast a spell?!?

And with this wave of her wand, Lydia made me vanish...

Absence makes the heart grow fond-less

The Renault and I are going to continue our seperation for a while longer. The "bad sensor" has been replaced. Guess it wasn't "bad" after all since when the repair guys took it for a test drive yesterday, the warning light still came on and the transmission was still acting up. They're going to keep the car and try to find out what else could be wrong. I told Brandon to encourage them to take it out on another test drive and hit something... really hard. But only if it's enough to total the car. Since I doubt my suggestion will fly, I will prepare for another week and a half without my wheels.

Magic Beads

Monday was an interesting day. Who knew that the Czech Republic is famous for its glass beads?!? Two ladies from the Wednesday morning Bible Study were taking a two-hour road trip to Jablonec, a small town in CR that is known for bead production. It was intriguing to me so I signed up to join them. I wasn't able to find a babysitter, so Lydia came along as well. I wasn't sure how this would go since we would be perusing beads in a very small space, where the beads just happen to be at toddler eye level! I never knew there were so many kinds of beads or that they could be so unique. Brandon actually coined the term "magic beads" and told me I was not allowed to come home until I found some. He was also surprised at how funky these beads can get.

I bought some things with good intentions of trying my hand at jewelry making, but about halfway through the trip I decided I may just be better off skipping the bead part and just buying the finished bracelets, etc. in the stores in Prague. Oh well, I have a Tupperware container full of some pretty nice beads! I'll store it right next to those untouched scrapbook supplies upstairs...

Lydia did pretty well, even without a nap. She was full of "ooohhs" and "wows". I'm not so sure the shop owners were as excited about her enthusiasm!!! Although she did manage to get a free ladybug bead, a chocolate-apricot snack cake and a lollipop... more than I can say for myself!

Lydia's Magic Ladybug Bead... made from glass and sold at a price of approximately $2... but for a squirmy, blonde toddler??? FREE!

Back in the shop with ye!

The Renault (a.k.a My Car) is back in the shop. The engine light was still coming on causing the engine to lock into 3rd gear. Contrary to Mr. Service Man's assurances, the car's computer hasn't managed to "recognize" the new signals it was receiving from the rebuilt transmission. I now tell people that my car actually lives at the service station and just comes here to visit me once in a while. Mr. Service Man says he has now found and fixed the problem; it was a bad sensor. I think this is all a big game for him to keep us coming back with the car until his 1 year warranty runs out and then it's "Nashledanou" (Good-Bye) to us! Since Wednesday is a Czech holiday, it looks like the car will come to visit me again on Friday. We'll see how long our house guest stays this time.

Lydia just LOVES sushi! She can't seem to get enough of the raw fish and ginger. Pass the wasabi please. This is at least her 7th piece!

Ok, ok. Not so much of this is true -- Brandon put me up to it. Pictures sure can be deceiving, can't they?

Am I hearing things?!?!

As Mommy is struggling to speak Czech, Lydia finally seems to be speaking a few words!!! Now I'm wondering if she's been talking all along and I just never understood her? She recently began to correctly identify a picture of a fish ("dish" in a high-pitched voice); Following my prompting of Ready, Set... she responds with "doe"; and I'm pretty sure that when I counted some rocks with her last night, I said One, Two and she said "Deeee". Now, this may all just be an anxious mommy's imagination but I still pour forth the praise and affirmation. I guess I should be careful what I wish for, huh? Next thing I know, she'll be telling me she doesn't like the pink slippers that I bought for her (Right, Shanna?!? :-)

Nova Ucitelka

That means "new teacher". I re-started Czech language lessons today... I am committed to giving it "one more try" before I throw in the towel and resign myself to Only-English-Speaking-Foreigner Status. Today we started over with Lesson 1 and practiced pronuciation and using vocabulary words in combination with the words for "this", "to have" and "to be". My teacher, Hana, told me at one point that I have good pronunciation... I'm not so sure about this since (1) Earlier this week I was adamantly corrected by a Czech woman in our church fellowship for my poor pronunciation of a common Czech word; and (2)We happened to have our Czech lesson in a very crowded, noisy KFC. I'm not sure she could actually HEAR my pronunciation! Oh well... her compliment served the purpose and kept me motivated for at least one more week! Now if she would just start giving me smiley stickers for doing my homework...

IS THIS IOWA?!?! No... it's the 52nd World Ploughing Contest. I've never seen so many tractors in one place. Okay, okay... except for at a good ol' Iowa tractor pull.

Quality Time

Today we went to a nearby community center/cafe for a free trial class: Mum and Tot Exercise Fun. Basically it's a class where kids 9 months to 3 years can go with their mommies and just have fun playing with big exercise balls, running on mats, jumping, crawling through tunnels and practicing balance. I was hesitant to take Lydia since I never know what mood she'll be in. She did pretty well... she had her moments of course, but for the most part she happily joined in the activities. Sometimes she didn't do the activity until the teacher was ready to switch to the next one. If nothing else, it was another opportunity for her to interact with other kids and begin to learn to follow a teacher's instructions. And I had fun playing with her too!

Post-Exercise Mirror Time

Lydia's favorite part of the class: the gigantic exercise ball.

Burgers and Fellowship

Our church fellowship group was invited to our home on Sunday afternoon for a barbeque and some fun. We invited several of the regualar attendees as well as several Czech young people that have been visiting the Sunday afternoon fellowship times we have in the park each week in the summer. We fired up our new grill (purchased in the Czech Republic and appropriately named the "American 2E")and welcomed 15 people to our home. We spent some time talking and eating on our terrace. Brandon set up a game of croquet in the yard but a ferocious storm hit before anyone picked up a mallet. The rain forced us all indoors where we had a great time playing pictionary and eating comfort food (i.e. very gooey brownies). Although our Czech friends didn't always understand the pictionary phrases that I had come up with (Muffin Man, Big Bird etc.) they were really good sports and played along. Maybe next time we'll have to play Czech Pictionary... eek.

The American 2E gets a workout... Kudos to Brandon for successfully managing this much beef! (photo courtesy of Jon Stone--thanks Jon!)

Three of the interns that recently arrived in Prague to help with Project Antioch (our church group) and Milan (on the right), a Czech man Brandon providentially met on a train from Poland to Prague.

Party at our place... Rain or Shine!!!

Lydia wraps things up with a salute to the fall of communism and the arrival of capitalism a.k.a. "Coca-Cola Light" in the Czech Republic. (Don't worry Grandma... the can is empty! )

Celebrating Eloise

We were invited to Eloise's 2nd birthday party this weekend. It was a Dora the Explorer birthday party complete with the appropriate Mexican Fiesta foods... tacos, quesadillas and nachos. Eloise got her birthday wish of a chocolate cake with pink frosting and the look on her face when she realized all of the people in her house were singing "Happy Birthday" to HER was priceless!

A truly rare moment! Capturing these three beauties in a state of calm AND within one picture frame doesn't happen often... (L-R Lydia, Eloise, Lucy)

Lydia LOVES hats... especially PARTY hats!

Sure... only AFTER she's 18 months old and I've given the bouncy seat to Emily to use for their new baby, will Lydia sit willingly and quietly in it. Why didn't this work when she was 3 months old?!?

No doubt about it. Lydia is one strong little girl...

Lydia attacks Old Town Square.

Everything DOES have a price tag!

Have you ever heard that saying? Well, it's true. Apparently it is especially true when you are a desperate foreigner dying for "Just add water" pancake mix or a box of Cheerios! I have been hearing about a specialty food store in Prague that is a deli but also carries certain hard-to-find items. After hearing about it twice in one week, I decided to make the trek to find out what all the buzz is about. Apparently, "Culinaria" is the first (and maybe only) place to find Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Prague. I was on the hunt for some Bran Flakes so I could make Lydia some healthy breakfast muffins. WELL..... they had Bran Flakes all right. $7.50 for ONE box! Cheerios? $15!!! Yes. Also for ONE box! The Ben & Jerry's ice cream -- 1 pint for $10. Talk about a major guilt complex every time you take a bite of Chocolate Fudge Brownie (as if there wasn't enough guilt already). I left feeling as though my "Pam" find last week was a bargain, since it was $2 more at Culinaria. I didn't make any purchases... chalk it up as a fact-finding mission. Give me another year and I just may be deperate enough to fork over as many Czech Koruns as they ask for...

I found myself wondering what kind of a pansy am I? I will bet that there are millions of people who have never even HEARD of Bisquick, yet I would consider putting down the equivalent of 1 month of their salary for a box. Wow, am I spoiled.

A Reason to Celebrate! Today is Brandon's Big 3-0! He had been forewarned that in the Czech Republic he is expected to bring a "treat" to work on his birthday. This is also a common expectation on "Name Day" or "svatek". Every day of the year is someone's name day. As explained on the Prague foreigner's website: "The associations between the days and the names have arisen through many reasons, but primarily because the church held a festival for a saint of that name on that day. For instance, the church feast of Saint Michael was held on September 29th, and as a result the name day for Michael is on September 29th. In the Czech Republic, a person's nameday is treated with greater importance than someone's birthday, so be sure not to forget." So Brandon shares his birthday on September 6 with the Name Day for Boleslav. Unfortunately, Brandon's name doesn't make the Czech Name Day list. Lydia's equivalent (Lydie) is on Dec. 14th and I think I will take the liberty of TWO name days: Anna on July 26th and Marie on Sept 12th. Set your reminders now!

We are cramming 3 months of summer into the two weeks of beautiful weather that finally arrived in Prague! Today we visited another (more appropriate temperature) pool with more of our new friends. Here is Lucy with Lydia -- this is as close as I could catch them on camera! We enjoyed a morning of sun and lots of fun with Lucy's mom Shanna, Lucy, baby brother Clark, Shanna's babysitter Joy, Emily and Eloise.

Zlute Lazne (Yellow Spa)

Today we visited the Yellow Spa in Prague. We were invited to join in on this adventure by Mirka, one of the other new mothers in our church fellowship. She has a 3 month old boy, Krystof. So Lydia and I hopped into the car with our friends Emily & Eloise and went exploring! We had such a great time. The park was first established in 1910 but underwent an extensive renovation last year. There were so many things to do like sand volleyball, paddleboats, foosball, ping pong and some other Czech games that are new to me. We spent our time in the Children's Corner -- it had really cool climbing toys and great white sand. However, the biggest temptation for Lydia was the wading pool with a little water slide. Never mind that the water was FREEZING cold; this was no obstacle for Lydia's Body O' Steel! Since we had not come prepared for swimming, Lydia promptly put on her "Czech swimming suit" (i.e. nothin') and got busy wading. I was amazed that she could bear the cold temps of the water... I wasn't even willing to put my toes in! We had SO much fun with our friends and are planning more of these mini-adventures to kiddie-friendly places around Prague... hopefully in the future with some of Mirka's Czech friends.

Lydia dons her "Czech bathing suit" and willingly participates in the Xtreme Arctic Swim Challenge.

Lydia and her buddy Eloise enjoy the plentiful white sands of Zlute Lazne.

Failed Urinalysis

We have survived our week of "home detention" enduring Lydia's mystery illness. When Friday began with the 3rd day of high fever I decided it was time to see the doctor. The nurse doing the initial exam suggested we try to get a urine sample. Let's stop and ponder that for moment... Question: How does one collect a urine speciman from an 18-month old non-potty trained child? That's right! In the Czech Republic you remove your child's "nappy" (that's a diaper in American-English) and attempt to "catch" the urine with a itsy bitsy teeny-weeny plastic cup. Hah! Very funny.

I will give the nurse credit. She did fetch a potty chair as well. I jokingly said, "Hey, maybe I'll potty-train Lydia today!". Upon placement on the potty chair, Lydia began screaming and writhing as if being swarmed by killer bees. I think it caused enough mental anguish that I can safely say that she may not be able to LOOK at a potty chair before age 5 without breaking into a cold sweat.

Back to the urine collection: The nurse suggested I give Lydia water to encourage her to "go". Meanwhile, the nurse exits the room, leaving me to speed along the kidney functions of my diaperless, disagreeable daughter. Yep. Within seconds, Lydia desposited her urine sample on the floor. Guess Mommy's reflexes aren't as quick as the Czech mommies.

So one failed urine collection, a blood test for protein levels and TWO strep tests later (keep in mind Lydia gags on mashed potatoes. Just imagine what a strep test does to her!)... the doctor suggested she may have Roseola. It's a fairly common viral illness in children under 2 that presents itself with a sudden high fever of 103+ for 3-5 days, suddenly disappers and then a rash surfaces on the body lasting a few hours up to a few days. There is no treatment. The only thing to do was watch a wait for the fever to disappear and the rash to appear. On Saturday morning our suspicions were confirmed when Lydia woke up with no fever and by night the rash showed up. I had mentioned to Brandon that Lydia seemed especially sweet and agreeable during the period of fever. I read today in my Dr. Dobson's Baby Care book that one of the strange things about the illness is that "a child may seem to be in surprisingly good spirits" despite the high fever. We knew Lydia was feeling better today. Let's just say she was no longer in "surprisingly good spirits".

Thankfully the weather predicitions look great so we'll get another shot at the beautiful week we spent indoors last week...

This is what happens when you can't read the words on the frozen pizza box... You notice a "fishy" odor when the pizza is baking and discover you have purchased a tuna and onion pizza! (ok, maybe I just didn't take the time to TRY to read the box, but who would've ever thought TUNA?!?!?)

Oh Do You Know the Beverage Man?

My new Swedish neighbor, Ulf, has hooked me up! Ulf is new to the neighborhood but introduced me to a great connection he had from his former neighborhood. Every Thursday, Jan the Beverage Guy, comes to our neighborhood selling a van full of any liquid you can think of plus some paper products. And if he doesn't have it in his van, I just need to give him my request and he'll bring it next week. He calls me on Thursday morning to confirm my beverage needs and then delivers it INTO MY HOUSE around noon for NO CHARGE! This is quite a find since we buy a lot of 1.5L bottles of water in quantities of 12+ each week. Lugging all of that water and a toddler away from the grocery store can be not so fun. Jan admits that his prices per bottle are slightly higher than the grocery store. Usually 2 or 3 crowns per bottle -- which amounts to about 10 cents! Yeh, I think we'll keep Jan comin' (along with his orange juice, and Coke Light, and jemne perliva (water with light bubbles).

And if we're ever so inclined to venture out and try some flavored water with grapefruit, lemon, or black currants or maybe even some pear juice, I am quite confident that Jan will save the day!