Folks, We Have a Walker!

YES! Cole started walking yesterday with Chris in our living room. Today on our trip to the park, he bee lined straight to the swing and I captured it on video. The best part is that Omi, Aunt Jane, and Grandma Jean are all here to witness it!



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BREAKTHROUGH!

Cole was so sad that he cried when Chris left for work this morning.

You may remember Chris's sad blog post a few months ago...so this is BIG!

Fun with Omi & Grandbob

Omi and Grandbob came for a visit last week. While they were here, Chris and I spent a weekend in Paris! Cole had a great time with my parents. They gave him a new train for his birthday, which is coming on the 26th, and taught him some new words. They went all around downtown Vienna together, and Omi and Grandbob braved going out to dinner with Cole. Wow! He now knows where to find the star, drum, car, light, and Elmo. It's really fun to watch him learn. He's pointing at things, too. Yesterday he was so fascinated with some flowers in the kitchen that he didn't touch his snack. Oh well!

dinner with friends

Our friends, Ares and Katharina Kaftalli, came over for dinner this past weekend. We hadn't seen them since before Cole was born! It was great to catch up and hang out.

Cole can KICK!

Cole learned a new skill tonight when some friends were over for dinner. He kicked a ball across the living room! If only he could walk by himself...soon! He's pretty good at walking just holding my one hand, but often gets frustrated and wants both hands so he can motor along, like he's doing in this video.


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Stuff It!

The other night we had pizza for dinner. Cole had already eaten, yet didn't skip a chance to grab for Chris's plate. Chris gave him a few bites, which only left Cole wanting more!

In other news, we are pretty sure Cole understands a couple words now: ball and water. He and Chris have been practicing. Fun!

Stair Climber

Yes, Cole can now climb stairs. Unfortunately, it's probably only safe (and time efficient) for him to climb a few at a time, which means I still need to carry him up when we get home. But at school today, he and Chris practiced while I was at chapel, and I was lucky to get a picture!

Let's Sing!

Each Thursday, as you know, I go to VCS and speak at elementary chapel. It's a perfect way for me to stay involved at school at still take care of Cole at home. Chapel is a weekly thing where kids grades K-5 come together to sing, watch drama, and hear about practical ways to grow in their faith. So this semester we've been learing about the fruit of the Spirit, and today's fruit was goodness. I tried to capture a moment of singing from the back before it was my turn to speak. The big screen in the front of the room is an overhead with words, and the fifth graders lead the songs and motions up front each week. Enjoy!


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The Cat in the Hat

Book Month is upon us at VCS! Each year during the month of March, the VCS library hosts a bunch of events for readers of all ages. Kids play charades with favorite book titles, read books for a Battle of the Books competition, and have a reading race among other fun things. This year's reading race for lower elementary kids is a race to help the Cat find his Hat. And who is the Cat in the Hat this year? Our own VCS Business Manager...Chris Frank! He made his debut today at elementary chapel with a poem. He even had an accent. What fun!

P.S. Sorry for the bluriness of the photo...I didn't use a flash. The flash made the picture too dark!

4th grade Geometry Fair

If you were a patron of our blog a year ago, you may remember that the fourth grade classes, one of which I taught up until Cole's birth, put on the first annual VCS Geometry Fair.

Well, Cole and I had the chance to visit this year's second annual 4th grade Geometry Fair today. Cole learned about circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares! There were lots of new activities, and the kids were really excited about the crowds of people who attended. Above you see Amina (Nigeria) and Anna Maih (Philippines) teaching some kids about geometric word puzzles.

Avocado Patience

When we returned to Vienna in August, Chris decided to plant an avocado pit. He saw that our friends the Griffices had done that when we visited them in San Antonio. Now, for those of you who don't know, Chris is the best plant care taker that I know. He loves plants, waters them multiple times per day, and does everything short of talking to them in order to keep them thriving on our window sill. He even dunked one of our plants in our full bathtub once to revive it. It worked! So Chris first suspended this avocado pit with 3 toothpicks in a glass jar full of water. He made sure the water levels remained just so for months and months and months. Nothing happened. Until just recently! As soon as Chris noticed a sprout from his avocado seed, he transfered the pit lovingly to a real pot with soil. Now the thing is growing like crazy! Ta da!

Death by Stairs

Folks, our stairs are killing me. All 79 of them have a plot against me, I'm sure of it! A couple times each day I travel (Yes, travel. It IS a journey.) up and down these stairs with Cole, my 25 pound and ever growing hip attachment. Often, I have a bag or two of groceries in my other hand (THAT is a whole other story) and a backpack containing some life essentials on my back. You know...diapers, wipes, sippy cup, snack, wallet, kleenex, and of course, a couple toys for the ride.
The upside to this is that my leg muscles burn each time I reach my front door and I get my heart rate up to fat burning levels. It's a wonder I get the key in the door. There should be a warning at the bottom of the stairs! You'd think that after 2 and a half years of doing this I'd be in better shape, like those who live at high altitudes.
So let's pretend that Cole & I leave our apartment 2 times each day, which means we return home 2 times each day, too. That's 79 x 2 = 158 stairs per day. Then, that's 158 x 7 days per week = 1106 stairs per week logged on my legs carrying 25 pounds plus each time.
My only hope is that Cole will soon be ready to walk, which means he can start climbing those stairs HIMSELF. Whew!

The Cole Man

The Cole Man

babble and laundry tubs

So today while Cole was eating a snack I decided to record our conversation. The funniest part of our talk was when I said, "Cole, say mamamamaama!" and immediately he says, "dadadadadada." I couldn't get that one on video, though.
We decided to be creative with Cole's laundry tub, too. Instead of buying a little car that Cole can ride on and push around, we figured out that the laundry tub works just as well! Cole stood up today, too, for about 15 seconds all by himself, and we can tell he has the urge to walk. Fun!



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Smiley Boy!

My Chocolate Status

This is exciting!
I read a book called The Chocolate Connoisseur by Chloe Doutre-Roussel recently and loved it. It was light-hearted and very informative and I highly recommend it. So the book taught me a lot about the history of chocolate, various companies, specific tasting methods, a few recipes, health benefits of chocolate, etc.
Anyhow, I got the idea to look at her website recently. She used to be the chocolate buyer for Fortnum and Mason (some kind of top of the line grocery store in London) but now has left to do independent chocolate things. In looking at her website I thought I'd try emailing her a couple questions I had about good places to get chocolate and her recommendations. I was thinking, "I hope some employee of hers actually sends me some kind of response."

But, lo and behold, what did I find in my email inbox after only 2 days? An email from Chloe HERSELF! I guess this isn't impressive to probably any of you, but it was very much so to me. Her email was actually longer than what I wrote her. She gave me ideas and her opinions, specific brands, stores, and even a few links to some companies she was talking about. How great is that?

It makes me think about how much I want to hang out with and ask questions of TRUE chocolate MASTERS like her.

Please add a couple points to my Chocolate Status Card, thank you very much.

Once again, LAUGHTER

It almost sounds like Cole is pain and anguish - but he's really just laughing cause Anne was crawling up to me. The most random things make him laugh. I had to catch it fast on the video so I forgot to turn on the light - but I think you really will just want to hear this one.




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Sledding...Frank Style

This week is Energy Week or Ski Week for most schools in Austria. That means a week off work to enjoy winter, snow, skiing, sledding, and the like. There is no snow here, though, which is a bummer. It's actually been a really mild winter. I've been hearing about all this snow in the midwest and I'm jealous! So Cole & Chris made up their own version of sledding last night. Enjoy the video of Frank style sledding!


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Go Colts and Go Mike!

Check out this link on You Tube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jVaCqwAnS5M

It's a video with photos from this year's Superbowl. The lyrics and music were written by MY BROTHER, Mike Luginbill. The song is titled Dreaming in Blue. If you're interested in more of his music, check out http://www.myspace.com/mikeluginbill or go to iTunes and type in Michael Luginbill.