Sailor suit photo shoot

Frank has a picture of himself as a toddler wearing the cutest little sailor suit.  His mom sent us the sailor suit, and we finally got around to photographing Frankie in the sailor suit.  Thank goodness we did it now, because it was almost too small for him!  He looked so cute, but he did NOT want to sit still to take pictures.  This is the best we could do...

Potty!

On Wednesday, Frankie's day care teacher told me that he seems to be ready to start potty training.  He apparently says "Frank potty" and pulls his pants down at certain times during the day.  He has also really been resisting diaper changes lately.  We have not done any sort of potty training at all with Frankie yet, other than letting him watch us go to the bathroom.  However, we bought a training potty and just set it up this week.  Tonight, Frank walked in the bathroom, said "Poop potty," and then proceeded to poop on the potty!  I am so amazed.  I was not planning to have to work on this for several more months, so I really haven't even read anything about it yet.  They told me at day care that they are not well equipped in his classroom to potty train, but that when he moves to the next class they will really start working with him.  I think we are going to just follow his lead for a while and see how he does.  I don't feel any pressure to have him potty trained quickly, but at the same time it sure would be nice to quit buying diapers! 

My "baby" is growing up so fast these days!!  He is extremely talkative, and he literally repeats everything we say, including short sentences.  Yesterday he repeated the "s-word," after Mama said it...oops!  Luckily he has not said it again since :) 

Shout out to all the single mamas out there

These last two weeks have been hard.  Frank has been in Washington DC with his brother, so I have been with Frankie on my own.  Frankie started at a new day care, so we have both had to adjust to a new place, new teachers, and new routine.  Throw a super crazy couple of weeks at work on top of that, and I have been living on the edge.  My skin is a mess, and I had to quit my super crazy insanity workout schedule (I am still doing it, just not every day like I was).  It is hard enough to be a working mother, but to be a SINGLE working mother is simply amazing.  I completely admire all of the women out there who do this all the time, often with no help.  Work finally slowed down a little bit at the end of this week, so I took Friday off for some "mommy time."  I have never done this before, and I often feel guilty if I do ANYTHING during time that I could be spending with Frankie.  But, I have to say, I loved having my day off.  I slept in, went to the gym, finally got the brazillian blowout I have been wanting to try forever, and just enjoyed taking my time and doing whatever I wanted.  It is literally the first time I have put Frank in day care when I did not absolutely need to and not felt guilty about it.  I think it is so easy to put pressure on ourselves as working mothers.  I know I do.  Even though I am not at home with Frankie all day every day, I am still his mama while I am at work.  I am still the person who takes care of him when he is sick, who comforts him when he is sad, who puts him to bed every night, and who teaches him the ABCs.

Frankie is at such a fascinating age right now.  He is so adorable and I love watching him learn.  These days he loves to play "Rosies," loves watching his "movies" on the ipad, and still loves the hose outside.  He is also at an age where he wants to do everything himself, and he is very demanding and exhausting.  I took him to Chuck E Cheese for the first time tonight, and he was all over the place.  He was running around, climbing on things, trying to play other peoples' games.  It was exhausting keeping up with him, but he had a blast.  We have enjoyed our two weeks together, but we are ready for Daddy to come home tomorrow!!

Sweet, sweet singing

Frankie has been "singing" for awhile now, but I never really knew what song he was singing.  Now, I know that first song was "Twinkle, twinkle, little star."  He sings this song, "ABCs," and "B-I-N-G-O."  He has the sweetest voice ever when he sings, and he is SO proud of himself when he sings a song.  I captured this video of him singing the ABCs last week.  He usually says the "now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me!" part, but this time he stopped after Z and said "boom, boom, boom." 

NACKS!

 This little cutie and I have spent a lot of time together this week with Frank gone to visit Monte.  He is giving me a run for my money!!  He is in a stage right now where he repeats everything I say, or at least the part of what I say that he can say.  Like if I say, I am going to make pancakes in the morning, he will say "pancakes in the morning."  It is usually the last 2-4 words that he says.  It is so cute to hear him talking so much.  However, his favorite words these days seem to be "nacks" (snacks), "chips," "cookies," and "grapes."  He will SCREAM for these things multiple times a day and will not be happy without my working super hard to distract him from his obsession.  I made the mistake of giving him graham crackers in the car one day this week after day care, and now every time we get in the car he yells "nacks!" "nacks" "NACKS!!!" over and over and over.  I am trying hard not to give in to his demands, but sometimes nothing seems to calm him down, and even time out doesn't always work.  When he is in one of these moods, I will start singing all of his favorite songs, and he will say "No ABCs," "no bingo," "no....etc."  Basically, no to everything.  And then he will start saying "Nacks nacks nacks!!!" again.  Hopefully this is part of his acting out because Daddy is gone and he started his new day care this week.  Only time will tell....  

"His lips and fingers are purple"

I have impeccable timing.  On the same day that Frank left to go to Washington DC to visit Monte, Frankie started at his new day care.  The whole point of the new day care was for Frank to be able to help out more with drop-off/pick-up, and, of course. Frank is going to be out of town for the next two weeks.  The transition has been hard on Frankie, which I expected.  The teachers said that he was good in the morning his first day, but he started freaking out during the afternoon when other mothers came to pick up their kids.  I got there at about 4:30 on Monday and Frankie was crying and his face was bright red and splotchy.  They said he had been crying for about 10 minutes straight, and I felt HORRIBLE!  But, hopefully he will get better every day.  Fast forward to today.  The day care calls me at 10 a.m. to tell me that Frank's fingers and lips turned purple while they were outside playing in the splash park.  They said that the water was not cold and that none of the other kids were cold, so they were concerned.  I called the doctor immediately and she told me to bring him in asap, so of course I freaked out.  I left work, drove all the way back to the day care, and drove to the doctor.   She checked his pulse, blood pressure, and heart.  She said that everything looked and sounded normal, but she told me to keep an eye on him and that if it happens again we may need to take him to a cardiologist.  I am thankful that he seems fine, but at the same time, I am a little concerned that there might be some underlying issue that we will have to address later.  Anyway, I am glad that the day care called me and erred on the side of caution.  Frankie was miserable when I dropped him back off (in the middle of nap time), and he was not happy when I picked him up.  It has only been one day, and I am already ready for Frank to come back home!!  I have said it before, but I will say again:  I have so much respect for single moms, and I have no idea how they do it.

Update on Monte

Monte is back in the USA!  He arrived at Walter Reed medical center in Bethesda, Maryland last night, and his sister Stella arrived last night and was able to spend the night with him.  She has reported that he was in and out of consciousness.  Frank is flying out tonight and cannot wait to see his brother.  We are all praying for his recovery.  Please keep Monte and his family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.  We truly appreciate everyone's support, prayers, and kindness.

We are also starting up a website and have established the Bernardo Recovery Fund to help raise money for Monte and his family.  We will keep everyone posted on fundraising efforts in the near future.