My first birthday

Finally I am a big boy now. I have already had my first birthday! I can walk now, when I have something to hold to. I am able to feed myself with my own hands and if necessary I can also lift in my stroller and stand there… and of course I can give my parents quite hard time.

The celebration of my first birthday was fine. My grandparents came, mom made me a very good cake and I got many presents. At first I unwrapped a large package, which was from my grandparents. There was a large and colorful box full of cubes. Immediately I imagined great games and how I would throw them all around the floor and back into the box. Than mom and dad helped me to unwrap other package of the same shape. And guess what! There was the same colorful box with the same cubes inside :-). But I didn’t mind, more cubes, better!

I enjoyed the cake too. Before mom recollected I already had both hands full of cream. Very elegantly I took off the cream from the whole half of the cake. I had it everywhere, on my hands, face and I think it was even on my ear. Mommy too enjoyed it as I was sitting on her lap the whole time.

My other grandparents gave me some fancy clothes and a yellow stuffed animal. Well, I am not sure what kind of animal it is – may be a squirrel or some hamster but it has very suitable nose. It is round and hard, very good to chew on it. Sometimes when my favorite zebra is gone, I use this one instead. On the other hand I already got a bit angry with my yellow friend so I put him on a course behind the staircase we have at home. The plushy boy spent whole day sitting there in the corner and praying for somebody to find him there. Finally daddy discovered him and saved him. May be next time I will try to put Ája there and see if she too could hold there for so long :-).

When daddy beat mommy

Easter is really inconsistent holiday. In contrast to Christmas, which is peaceful, full of tasty things and presents, Easter makes event the kindest daddies into wild beasts and mommies, who are usually calm into hysterical women.

At first, I thought Easter would be fine. It all started with baking mazanec (very good Easter bread with raisins and almonds). I did not help to bake it but I definitely help eating it, although they steal my raisins and almonds, it still tastes very good. I can feel as a big boy because they let me eat “adult” food.

About a week ago mommy hung some colorful eggs on our apple tree. At first it looked funny but in a few days slowly leaves started to appear and it all makes our “egg tree” pretty.

Than about three days ago I saw daddy coming from a walk with Ája. He brought home some twigs. The twigs disappeared in the wash room so I stopped taking care. Yesterday daddy took the twigs and braided them into a larger and thicker stick called “pomlazka”. Mommy added some colorful ribbons and than they put it on a table next to a bowl with colorful eggs. Ája walked around and kept taking a sniff. I have to say she is very keen on twigs and wooden sticks of any kind.

Up to this point I would not really mind Easter. But today in the morning something terrible happened. The morning started as usually. Well, not really as usually because I had gone to bed late yesterday so I let my parents sleep late up to almost seven. Than I was ready to get up and we went to have breakfast.

After breakfast mommy cleaned the dishes and than suddenly daddy appeared from somewhere with pomlazka in his hand. He waved it wildly so I could hear the ribbons swishing and daddy screamed something about eggs and feasts. Mom started to yell at him and run, daddy run after her and when he caught her, he beat her. Mom cried some more and Ája was very confused in what to think about it. I too was confused and started to cry. My parents went crazy, poor me!


Daddy stopped beating mom. She conjured up from somewhere one chocolate egg and gave it to daddy for all that hurting. Than she lifted me from my bed and I snuggled into her arms. Daddy still held pomlazka so I didn’t even look at him. When he put it away, he asked me to go to him, but I didn’t dare. I am not the one who talks to brutal people. I clasped on moms arms even harder and hid my head into the ankle of her neck and shoulder. Daddy tried to talk me into going to him, but I didn’t. I held my mom like a tickle till daddy left for a walk with Ája.

Later, I decided daddy was normal again and let him take me for a walk too. We went to my grandparents’ house. Daddy took that pomlazka with us but I found out too late when I had already been fastened to my pram. We came to my grandparents and daddy beat grandma too. He was not so cruel so granny did not cry like my mom. For that he got a bag with sweets and eggs. As I was with my dad, I got my first “koleda” too. One little chocolate bunny and a big banana I am going to have for snack today.

I hope this is the end of Easter. I don’t want to come to any harm like mommy.

Bacilli

Just to make sure you keep being used to read something from me from time to time… :-). Guess what! My daddy was in Russia. He said they had cold like in Russia there. And to not forget Russia he brought one remembrance with him. Some sort of bacillus.

Russian bacillus is much more stubborn and durable than the Czech one, that is clear. It knocked down my dad for more than a week. He coughed a lot, and had runny nose, and didn’t look very well at all. I could tell he was not greedy last Friday. He shared his bacilli with mom and she too got ill. With her eyes swollen, hot forehead and out of voice she handed me to my grandparents. It was just on time because at that time I was till all right while my parents were not. I could still remember how unpleasant feeling it was when I had runny nose and had to take the nose drops. That was a feeling I didn’t want to repeat.

At my grandparents I was enjoying myself very much. I would say it was better than at home. Here my parents put me into my pen to not be able to explore and discover. On the other hand my grandma and grandpa let me go everywhere I want. I can throw my tea behind the sofa, I can pull on everything etc. Sometimes all I have to do is to give my granddad just the look and he takes me, rocks me and talks with me… oh yes, grandparents are fine! Mom and dad too talk and play with me but not all the time :-(

Luckily mom and dad did not die on those terrible Siberian bacilli so on Monday I would ho happily home. I could not stay at my grandparents for too long because my parents would get used to the quiet and peace… well you have to admit, that it would not be the best idea. Welcoming was fun. Ája too was happy I was back home and I was looking forward to playing with her again.

Something has actually changed a little. I am a big boy now. I keep standing at the furniture or fencing of my pen like a king. When you put me on the floor I crawl faster than a panther runs. Ája has troubles to run away from me. I showed her today. Daddy placed a fence before the steps so I would not fall down to the kitchen. Thanks to that mom lets me run around – from living room to the work room and back. Ája was sad because she was behind the fence and we all were here so mom let her in. In just a short while she was whining again. This time she wanted to go away. I kept crawling to catch her, she was running around me like crazy and mom kept telling her to not step on me and to me to not pull on her hairs. What a fun! Daddy did not enjoy it as much as we did. He had to catch the work he had missed when he was ill.

After that mom put me into my pen and we chatted. I was so focused on her telling me about my new teddy bear that I forgot to hold on the fencing. I stood there and watched my mom. Than I fell on my back. Soon I got up again and stood on my own. This time I let go on purpose and lifted my hands above head so mom would see too. In a while I was on my back again.

I got tired of standing up and sitting down in some while but I think I am on a good way. As my aunt Jaruš says, I will probably run away from my first year… :-)

Ten months

I have already celebrated 10 months of life. Such big event can not be overlooked. Part of the celebration is of course also a visit at the doctors. I must know how I grow and gain powers.

Mom and I had an appointment with the doctor on Wednesday. The waiting room was quite all right – warm and not too crowded. At first we saw the nurse who measured me and weighed me. Afterwards we met the doctor. My doctor is very curious. She always asks how I am, what do I do, what can I do, what do I eat, how do I sleep… Than I have to, like a trained monkey, reach for some toy and may be also put it in my mouth. Afterwards I get chilled with stethoscope and have to show my teeth (I already have four of them).

This time I was little cold so in addition the doctor stuck a piece of wood in my mouth. I didn’t like it at all and cried at her. She didn’t care. She turned me on my belly (have to note that I was still naked) and placed some toys in front of me. I grabbed one rattle. Than something funny started to tickle me in my belly. In the morning I drank lot of tee. Suddenly it didn’t only tickle inside my belly and I felt warm on my belly. The doctor’s office got flooded :)

Mummy dried me fast and dressed me so I would not get colder. I even got back my completely dry diaper :). The doctor was smiling saying it didn’t matter. Well, it did matter I think because before we left she advised mom to buy me some nose drops. At first I though I would be fine to sleep without full nose. Well I was wrong – that was real vendetta of the wet doctor!

In the evening, before I drank my last milk, mom protected me totally from any movement. She even involved daddy into the torturing – he held my head. Than I felt water in my nose; I cried and called for help but nobody came to save me. I didn’t get quiet before I had my dinner. I fact I slept much better with my nose empty but the torturing was not worth it.

Trident

Do you know what does trident mean? Trident is that funny fork which Neptune, the lord of oceans, uses to threaten naughty fish. It is also great tool in a mouth. Now I have it too! It is cool. It grew on its own. On the jowl there are 2 teeth and on the upper jaw I have one more. It is much better than can opener.

As soon as mom found out I had it, she started to hide things which I could start opening myself. For example that great rattle, which she made for me from an empty tube of vitamin and a few peas. When she saw it took me only a few seconds to open the lid of the tube she was afraid I would make her count the peas like Cinderella had to so the toy was gone. I also lost my favorite blow-up red ball, which hole for blowing up was secured with white tap. I haven’t managed to take the tap down yet but mom saw my friend Ben how skillful he was. Ben visited me not that long ago with his mommy Shelley. He is a nice boy, he brought many nice toys with him and –the most important, he already has four teeth and showed me how to use it.

The teeth grow on their own but I make progress also on other fields. I keep practicing standing in my pen. I am still not strong enough to keep the balance and stand without holding on something but sometimes I can use only one hand to hold myself. I also found out when I stand by the pen fence, leaning on it with my belly. It has one big advantage. It makes my hand free so I can use it for something else – to throw the toys out of the pen or to play. My mom and I we play that nice game – I call it “who stands more” and to be honest mom is loosing so far. I lean with my belly on the fence, start crying – big tears falling down my face – and wait for mommy. If she does not seem she would like to take me out of the pen and hold me, I use heavy armor. I reach my hands for her. Usually it is enough to make her take me with her.

When I learned to crawl, I had no idea how useful this is going to be. I realized that at the moment when I got out of my pen. Especially at “autnee” Ivana. She has very nice and also large living room with many interesting corners, where you can go to, lamps with pretty cables to pull on, glittering knockers on the drawers you can keep bumping with, fringe on the carpet to chew on… simply paradise.

I also like to explore at my grandma and grandpa. Their most interesting room is the kitchen. Right opposite the door of the living room, where I usually camp, there is the waste basket. That must have veeeeeeery interesting content because I am not allowed to even touch it. On the floor there is linoleum so it is nicely slippery. That is much better than the carpet from which I have my knees calloused.

At home I don’t really enjoy myself much. I spend most of the time in my pen 1.5 to 1.5 meters, which is in the living room or in my second bed which is in the kitchen. The bed has very high fencing so when I stand up, I just manage to rub my itching jaw on the top lath. They say the floor in the kitchen is too cold and therefore I cannot crawl there. In living room there are many cables and electric plugs so I cannot crawl unattended there either. The only plug within my reach is the one in my daddy’s work room. He lets me crawl there sometimes. The plug is secured with some piece of plastics so I cannot get to the two interesting little holes which are behind it. I am also attracted with all the cables, which are under my daddy’s table. Those were unfortunately hidden behind large pillows. Poor me! Because of these protections I must keep practicing my standing and walking. I hope to be faster and more lithe and therefore to be able to get over all the border and limits!

Sort of different dimension

My life got a new dimension. Not that long ago I rather lived in 2D space. I lay in bed or in the pen on my belly or back and I could play only with the toys I could reach.
Where there was no other way out, I just simply crawled to get the toy myself.

This week my life changed. Now I know how Newton felt when the apple hit his head. He discovered whole new world. I started to discover slowly. Mom was just placing something to the cupboard kneeling on the floor. I caught the edge of my bed, lifted myself and suddenly I was standing on my knees too. The weeks of developing my muscles on my arms, back and belly paid off in this one single moment and suddenly I was kneeling and – that was real surprise – looking down at her.

Mom turned back and was shocked. I guess she definitely did not expect me to look directly into her eyes. She run for the camera as daddy was not at home. I managed to keep kneeling so she had chance to take enough pictures and than I fell down like a pear.

That is not all. Next day I hung on the fence of my pen. Than my leg slid and I sat down on my other leg. I was surprised to find out that this was not going to be such a problem. I rolled on my belly, climbed back on my knees and sat down again. Awesome! My range changes completely when I am sitting. I have two free hands to play. It is as if toys are jumping into my arms themselves :-).

World is sort of different when you look at it from vertical direction. Of course this is not completely new for me because mom and daddy already kept me that way so I could have had good look at everything from the top. But I could not use my hands. So different now! I can crawl everywhere I need unless I am limited with some fence. I can also sit myself without any support so I have much more space to play. And, if there is something around I cold support myself I am also able to kneel. I just need one hand to help myself… so when I try hard, I can even tiptoe for a few seconds. I think good times are coming…

Very busy

The New Year has just begun and I have already been involved in work procedure. Mom and I went to her office in the morning. I lay down on a blanket and kept banging with my rattle to the floor. Mom meanwhile talked to her boss and took some notes. It lasted quite long and as those two talked about uninteresting things I was bored.

Soon I realized that this way it was going to take us hours to get home so I decided to put myself to work. I started with the cables. Every proper office should have cables correctly installed, accessible, and hidden at the same time so nobody would tumble over it. I had to admit that this was not a case of the office where we worked with my mom.

I started to crawl towards the table. Already from the distance I could see the first cable. I got to it and at first I pulled it down but the cable didn’t move. Mom’s boss smiled at me encouragingly so I continued. The cable led under the table so I crawled that way. I got up to the socket where the cable ended. Before mom managed to catch me, I started to pull on other cables. Most of them ended in a computer. Cables were tangled, dusty, and one or two of them were even not plugged in at all. You should see the mess! It was just on time some handy guy –just like me – did something about it.

Mom soon realized that unlike in China here in the Czech Republic children’s work was strictly forbidden. That must be the reason for her not letting me finish my job on cabling.

In a short while we left for home. It is a pity I didn’t manage to re-cable the office. May be next time. I will have to change my clothes for this work. Mom was not happy seeing me after the work I performed – she said I looked like a little pig and that she would have to put me into the washing-machine. I hope Ježíšek will come again soon. I will write him to bring me some overalls :-).