The lil' guy

Twenty-ten has come and gone and here's what Rawly is up to:
Mmm! food: bananas, bread, and any paper that he can get to faster than Mom or Dad can
Favorite song: anything Dad sings or he can dance or drum along with
He says: mum, bahl (ball), dahd (dad)
Rawly language includes words for: food, dogs, cats, look
There's always time for this book: Little Quack Counts
He signs: all done, more, please, *perro (Ken thinks he's just slapping his leg by chance), *touch down (Rawly sign, not ASL), *that (the sideways point has given way to a normal pointing motion)
ASL that Rawly understands: Dad, Mom, banana, food, water, cat, apple, change, Nick
Toys we couldn't live without: Chancho (the pig), Perro (the dog), spoons, plastic bottles, drum sticks
Activities that occupy the majority of his time: putting lids on containers, drumming, laughing at himself or others, peek-a-boo (called cuc-coo in Russian)
New sources of joy: finding belly buttons (most recently), walking, kisses, roaring
Touched sand on the following continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America
Has a stamp in his passport from: Ukraine, Italy (technically we left three days before 2010-but close enough), Egypt, Poland, USA, Canada (well, no official maple leaf only because we didn't want to wait in line), Greece, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia (also no stamp because we were already in an EU country.)
Game his life wouldn't be the same without: KABOOM!
You can oftentimes find him: helping with laundry--slam dunking clothing into the hamper: clean or dirty and sharing: food or toys

Christmas in Vienna

There's nowhere like home for the holidays--except when you have to deal with a jet-lagged toddler!   After we had decided to spend Christmas with the Stocketts in Vienna, we opted for the direct flight option.  All systems were a go as we headed out of our new apartment on the 23rd, a few minutes late in typical Chapman form, but nothing to worry about.  The elevator opened to four maintenance men water pipes in hand. We loaded ourselves on with Rawly in his stroller and our two bags.  The ten flights proved to be the typical awkwardness that generally ensues when you know that you're in close confines with foreigners. Then it happened. The elevator plummeted--so maybe it was only an inch or two--but that difference cost us catching our flight.  Luckily a nice lady helped us get on a later flight and we were in Vienna by evening!

Holiday market and huge advent wreath in front of winter palace

We opted for the speedy city tour because it was so chilly!

Krammer was great and put up with all of Rawly's antics!

All together--Sophie's first Christmas

Oh yeah!

These are for you Mom!

Riding a (very clean) trolley

Entertaining Rawly at the summer palace