It's Fall!

We have been enjoying some beautiful fall weather here lately with days still warm enough to play outside without a hat on and gorgeous blue-skied, sunny afternoons.  The trees are all turning colors and some are already losing their leaves.  Everyone around us has been taking advantage of the last "good" days as well before winter hits and there have been a lot of activities going on and some fun crafts to do as well.  Just yesterday we went to an afternoon event at Jakub's pre-school called "jablečkovani."  I'll have pictures of it to upload later.  We enjoyed lots of activities and crafts to do with apples- including making an apple tree with paper apples, using apples as stamps to paint with, and making home-made apple strudle for the children to enjoy the next day (today!) for their snack.  It was a lot of fun and I'll write more about it when the pictures come in.

Here are some pictures of a craft Sofia and I did together after taking our morning walk.  She liked collecting the leaves and loved even more painting with her hands!  She was very patient for the whole project and very proud of the results.

We also have a beautiful rose-hip bush near our home and so we couldn't resist picking one of the last nice-looking buds before they are all gone.  Czechs enjoy this flavor of tea very much so they pick them from these local bushes and dry them at home to keep for the winter.  Sofia just likes permission to pick anything "pretty," so she was happy to bring these things home today for our project. :)

Here are a few more things going on around here lately:

We are enjoying some of the gifts Grandma sent us from the U.S. recently with some visitors who came to see us from Arkansas.  They are from our church in Fayetteville, and elder and his wife, who oversee and support our work here in Olomouc.  We had a blessed and wonderful visit with them, and they were kind enough to bring us a suitcase full of things from Josh's parents, who go to church with them and know them well.  Sofia and Jakub LOVE goldfish crackers- you can see Sofia thought they were finger-lickin' good. :)

Sofia loves bath time, as long as brother isn't in it.  Neither one thinks they have enough space when the other is there.  She recently has been learning, by herself, to put her face in the water and hold her breath.  You can see some picks of her trying, which she thinks is hilarious.  And of course I had to take a picture of her curls because I love them so much and don't know if they will stay or not.  I had similar ones and they are forever gone.  And she likes to like the water off of her toes.  Gross. ;)  And so adorable all at the same time.

Some other things she's doing now at 20 months:
- Repeating any word we ask her to and saying plenty on her own, not always clearly.
- LOVING to dance, especially with Barney and Baby Bop.
- Hopping around and trying to skip
- Practicing using the kid potty, but not regularly yet and with plenty of accidents
- Starting to eat at the table in a booster sometimes
- Going to bed well on her own (has been for quiet a while) and without much fuss or crying when we leave, if any
- Learning to be less picky with foods again and eat more if we eat it as well
- Trying to count to three and repeats after us well up to ten
- LOVES to play with and blow in her own bubbles
- Likes to play with other kids, especially girls, but gets really quiet while doing so.  Can be pretty social when she warms up and isn't afraid to play with others, but doesn't like to hear them cry and asks me why and wants to give them something to feel better, which is so sweet and tender-hearted
- Fights with brother like a big girl sometimes, gets mad if he won't let her do something alone
- Is very independent and wants to try things alone, won't let us help, and yells "no" at us sometimes if we try to help or have to do it for her
- Gives the best spontaneous hugs and kisses

And one last great picture to end with of both kids:

 

Sweet good-bye kisses before brother goes to school.  She calls him Bubo right now (boo-bow), which is her way of trying to say Kubo (koo-bow), the way Czechs call him.  So cute! :)

Let's Celebrate!

We're so cheesy-happy in this picture, which we took yesterday, because Sofia had just successfully used her kid toilet for the first time. :)  She has been showing interest in this for a couple, or maybe even few, weeks now, but I had not taken the time to help her except to let her sit on it with her diaper on any time she asked.  However, yesterday, I realized we had nothing to really do that morning except be at home together and it was time to give it a try and give her this attention she's been wanting.  So after 30 minutes or so of running around playing and talking about what to do, she then suddenly got wide-eyed, ran over to it and sat down, and within a few seconds was using it.  She had the biggest grin on her face afterward.  It was so sweet!  I took a ton of pictures with our still camera, and this one with the kindle.  It was a good start to this process and even though it's round two for us as parents, it's still just as enjoyable watching her go through her milestones and achievements as it was the first time with Jakub.  And it's also a joy to see how proud Jakub is of her when he founds out good news like this.  He hugged her and congratulated her as well.  So much love!!

And today there's another reason to celebrate as it's my Mom's birthday. :)  I wish I was there to celebrate with her, but hopefully some day in the future we'll share many more birthdays in person.  Today in Olomouc it's exactly her favorite kind of day outside, which makes me really happy to experience on her birthday.  It's gorgeous outside with blue skies, crisp cool air, and trees half-way turned in fall colors.  Thank you God for a good day on my Mom's birthday.  I love you, Mom (Nana).  Happy Birthday!