Easter in Burgundy

What better way to spend Easter than with our friend Cynthia who is packing up her beautiful mill for adventures in the states. So it was with great pleasure that me and my family headed to Burgundy to engage in a little Easter egg hunt a la Bourgogne. A simple affair, but in a poetic setting complete with babbling brook, potager, mill, and fabulous wine and food from the region and our wonderful friend, Cynthia.

Lucas of course only has eyes for cars at this moment so needless to say the Mercedes station wagon which Cynthia arrived in caused not only my son to stir but my husband to start to enjoy the comforts of a nice leather seat and a smooth ride. Arriving at the mill I was reminded of the many weekends that I had spent there and the glorious morning wake up calls from the local bird and cow communities and the sound of running water. We spent the rest of the day relaxing while Cynthia scurried around taking care of her home in light of her vide maison that would take place in 2 weeks. Relaxing being a relative word as Lucas moves at a mile a minute and he just does not have any sense of fear - wanting to climb every wall and descend every staircase no matter how steep. We had our work cut out for us but we were overjoyed to offer Lucas a look into the country life. Passing by "moo moo's", viewing beautiful local "tweet tweets", of course a few "ney ney's came trotting through and we were able to show him apple blossoms, tulips (actually growing in the ground), grass without the fear of dog excrement, and general pure fresh country air. Easter morning was upon us and we offered our little monkey a cute little blue bag complete with chick and a small brown stuffed animal bird. Perfectly lovely start to the easter egg hunt which was as mucvh fun for Lucas as it was for his giddy parents.

I did miss going to church, I think next year will call for a traditional Easter complete with Easter hat for Lucas and I.

Jan-Feb-Mar.....Now we're in April

The months have passed by so quickly and as I have grown (a whopping 11.5 kilos to date) so has my vocabulary. I started with Daddy, went on to Maman.....car....carro....banana.....bubble.....bye bye.....au revoir....truck.....bus....kitty cat....vovo.....bisous....pish (pesce et fish rolled into one) and I haven't stopped babbling since. Mom and Dad are quitre attentive to my stories and seek desperately to understad what I say. I've been enjoying the creche where I spend my Mondays and Tuesdays and every other Wedensdays. I've started going to Gymboree classes on Thursday mornings where I'm known for my fearless leaps and jumps and my front rolls that mommy taught me. I'm a big dancer and although a little stiff I'm slowly getting my bottom half to join my top half. I've been watching baby Einstein videos every once in a while - my favorite part is the catepillar who arrives at the beginning and I get REALLY excited when I see him that I almost loose my breath. I recently visited the acquarium with mom who currently is playing "stay at home mom" while she looks for her next career. Daddy has been working hard and has recently gotten another new project accepted which makes him the most powerful super hero in my eyes. Mommy and Daddy kiss alot which apparently makes me laugh...we're a happy family. We hope that all of you will come to visit us in Paris one day soon! May will prove to be quite fun as well as Grandma and Grandpa California are coming to Prague and we'll fly over to meet them and we're headed to the land of Big Ben to partake in the wedding of Lara and Edward. We wish you a lovely Easter - if we don't talk to you before then. Big kiss from Lucas!

Christmas and New Years in Brazil

For the holdays the entire Radimsky-Bonato clan came together in Sao Paulo. I was going to be able to see not only my grandparents, auntie Marie and Marcio but my uncle Mauritio who I had never met and who is my Daddy's twin. The flight over I was sooooo good, I slept, ate, pooped, and smiled my way into the hearts of every last passenger and flight attendant. "Oh he's so good", "Didn't even know that there was a baby on board" "Handsome young boy" "So charming" were phrases we often heard and so my reign as golden child was solid especially since I was suffering from an ear infection and a cold. We landed and we were greated by Mauritio, Ana flavia, his wife (who's also expecting!!!), My grandpa Sergio, his girlfriend and her son. Everyone clamoured to get me in their arms but I had one goal and that was to see Mauritio, as I love Daddy I knew I'd love Mauritio. My uncle Maurition is a sportscaster for TV and Radio and he's FUNNY, we never stopped laughing....lucky me. We headed directly to grandma's where we stayed for the first week before Aunti Marie was to arrive. I was fed rice, beans and manioc to my hearts content, so much so that in one month I gained 1.5 kilos....brazil is good for babies. My auntie arrived and yet another set of wonderful arms for me to play in....we spent Christmas at Mauritio's with Ana's family. We had a special guest, Tropical Santa claus and his trusted reindeer (who resembled a small white dog) dressed in appropraite attire. It was a very special Christmas and again I found myself surrounded by presents, presents, presents....I could very well get used to this. We ate a lovely dinner and I had an entire play area for me to try out my new toys. The reindeer/dog was terribly suspicious of me and thus he proceeded to pee on my playmat, bad doggie!!! Grandma and Grandpa California arrived the following day and that's when we really started to gain momentum, as we were whisked every which way top parks and museums, wined and dined in the most amazing restaurants and I even had my own "shoe"man, grandpa - every morning I'd bring my shoes to him and he'd kindly put them on. Oh to be young, adorable and dependent....New Year's was spent again around a big table in an Italian resto - Auntie Marie was already off to California but we enjoyed a lovely evening and I developed a real appreciation for "cheering" everyone with my plastic sippee cup. 2011 was officially here and it was so very special to have my family there to share it with me. Happy New Year to one and all!

365 Days later ...

I've officially arrived at my first anniversary of life. The day started out a little shaky as I had a little intestinal difficulties....but that wouldn't stop me from enjoying my party that my parents had kindly organized for me. Every guest donned a party hat and a smile.

As luck would have it I was surrounded by my amazing family and my parents' dear friends in our little nest in the sky. We offered our guests brazilian specialities and cupcakes which were a hit - although as usual mom ordered far too much food - made our building very happy as she did a tour de force handing out food after the party was done.....

I was spoiled by every last person and I felt so very special and unfortunately a little woozy which led me to sleep through most of my party but I came to just in time to blow out my candle and to open my presents.

Did I happen to mention that I'm walking? Yes sireee bob, since 11.5 months I've taken to two steppin' it throughout the house. At my party however, no one saw as I was swung from one set of arms to the next which was fine by me as I was a little needy that day.

Here's to my family and friends, thank you for making me feel so special.

(P.S Three days later I ended up in the ER do to dehydration, it seems that I caught a serious case of the gastro and nothing wanted to stay in me - and it was coming out both ends faster than mom and dad could clean change and pray that it would all be over soo. Thanks to Hospital Neckar I was up and about in no time.)

Eleven months already!

We've been remiss in updating this blog due to the sheer fact that I'm a handful. Charming and giggly but I move at a speed faster than light, I get into all sorts of trouble. To date, I've split my lip, bit my chin, bruised my head on several occasions. I've coughed, had stuffy noses which have inhibited my sleep but overall as healthy as a horse. I've been standing up on my own for the past few weeks and even finding myself standing without holing onto anything (which when I realize what I'm doing I promptly fall on my behind). Who needs t walk when you can crawl - and oh the things I find on the floor it's a literal buffet chez nous- drives mommy bonkers to see me with dust bunnies in my hand and with my mouth wide open to receive it. I've gotten on a great schedule, I wake up around 7 mommy or daddy gives me a bottle (with a little cereal) and then I either take a little nap or I play...then if needed a little sieste before lunch but recently I've been eating around 11:30 so that mommy can be assured that I've eaten as sometimes I like to sleep for 3 hours which screws up the rest of the day....after lunch I usually take a nap and then play play play. I've got my buddy Melissa, and then recently I met a new friend, Maya - who is half turk and half polish, she and I discussed the trials and tribulations of being trilingual.

It's Cooooool in Paris, fall seems to have brought bright blue skies but a chill that caused Mommy to rush out and buy two jackets for me. One that is brown wool with bits of blue and even blue stars on my elbows, and then a forest green jacket with orange silky material inside. I am a vision in both. I'll send pictures as soon as mommy can get me to sit still.

I'm looking forward to Christmas in Brazil! With both sets of grandparents and I get to meet my uncle Mauricio!!! My Daddy's twin brother who was in South Africa during the World Cup when the family came to Paris and Prague.

Sending you all big wet kisses!

Lucas

Three Generations of Bonato

All in one photo and all currently living under one roof. Sergio Bonato, Cleber's father and Lucas' grandfather is visiting us from Sao Paulo for a month and we had a great time dressing Lucas up in the various hats that Sergio brought from Brazil. Enjoy!

I'm crawling, it's official the house is no longer a nest it's a danger zone!

It's so much fun being able to zip around the house and entertain even more new sensations and toys. Love the way the rubber feels on my hands and I'm tearing the plus out of the wall and the plactic bottles of water that I try to lift with my bare hands, all very superman like as they probably weigh more than I do. Can't get enough of chasing after my ball and attempting to raise myself up on my legs but to date I've not gotten past the reaching up phase, but mommy's been great in giving me moral support.

I just got over the pain of three teeth when another three decide to appear on the scene! Causing me to wail and want mommy and daddy to help me ALOT. It's painful and I'm only a small child what do you expect!

I had my first taste of ginger just recently, mommy put together a little lunch of carrots, zucchini and ginger. Yummm! However when the results of eating blueberry puree landed in my diapers mommy was stunned by the results....who knew I could poop in blue?!

July 2010

After the rush of June which included my parents religious mariage and my baptism, it was onto July which was filled with the arrival of my three teeth. And three at one time is extremely "douleureux", painful, in whatever language it led me to bite everything in my path. I was almost dracula like yet I looked liked a pumpkin. I droooled and drooooled, everything that I wore seemed to fly off of me as mommy is not keen on a wet baby. Not to mention that I was beginning to show signs of crawling which sent mommy and daddy to various stores to ensure that all cables and breakable items were secure and out of reach from my strong and determined hands.

And then there was the fall. I managed to find the single moment in time when mommy didn't secure me in my stroller to lean over and eventually slide right over the side of my stroller, or my rolling throne as I like to call it. I ended up in the children's hospital for 2 nights and scared the living daylights out of my family who stayed by my side throughout the drama. I didn't even have a bruise, nor a scratch and thankfully other than a headache I came out of it as good as new and with about 6 new nurse girfriends. Mommy can't believe her stupidity but she wanted me to pass along a message to you new mothers': "We can therefore we do, so please do not forget to secure us before you turn your back because we might just be on the floor when you turn around"

Busy bee in June

As you can imagine with vovo in town I've been suuuuuper bizeeeeeee with entertaining her and the arrival of Marcio, my uncle, who has been a blast and has made me laugh as hard as Daddy does...June has been filled with family from all over the world as Mommy and Daddy were married religiously in Prague and I became a Child of God with my batism that same weekend. The weekend reunited my Czech family from Prague and Brno, my French family, my Brazilian family and my US family who were joined by wonderful family and friends ... I am a very lucky little boy and particularly well behaved child in restaurants and airplanes which has led granpa to believe that I am a perfect child. There are so many photos to share but where to begin. we are trying to gather them together and we'll let you know where to find them. In the meantime, here are a few to keep you entertained....

Vovo is here from Sao Paulo

My grandmother is here from Sao Paulo. She came just to see me, me, me.... It sure beats looking at her on a screen. That was getting rather old for both of us. I felt so comfortable with her from the start. She's got a lovely smell that I enjoy and she makes me smile with her songs and funny noises. It's been 23 years since she last handled a baby but she certainly knows what she's doing. She's been a blessing for mommy and daddy - Daddy's missed her alot, and mommy is thrilled to have an extra pair of hands to help her out.

We have 2 months ahead of us to play and I'm going to make the most of every moment.