Talking

Frankie is saying so many things lately, I know before I know it he will be saying full sentences that we can actually understand! A few cute things lately... he says 'help please' all of the time if he needs help with something but it actually sounds like, 'heppeee' and if he thinks it's urgent he'll say it over and over really fast. The word 'closed' is still a favorite when he closes doors... still working on open. Just in the last few days he's saying 'stuck' a lot but it sounds like, 'cuh'. Just now he said it while trying to get the exercise ball out of the office - he had to roll it over the elliptical and through the doorway. At bedtime he has started saying 'goodnight' if we prompt him and it's super cute. 'I love you' is cute as well but only when prompted.

Jay has been a little miffed that Frankie still sometimes will look at him and say Mama or Mommy (or 'Ommy') but he has been a lot better and using the appropriate name. Makes Jay very happy. :)

Christmas is right around the corner and Frankie is becoming a little boy. He loves cars and trains. Choosing gifts has been pretty hard when he has so much already. And more than anything it is hard to decide what to 'retire' and switch out. It seems that as soon as I choose something to put away he starts to play with it again. The house is only so big though! Sure enough he is taking over.

We are having our first Christmas at our own home this year, which will be the norm going forward. We are really excited to open presents with our son in our own home on Christmas morning. We only wish that we were closer to Jay's family so we could see them around Christmas - at least we got to see some of the Terrells at Thanksgiving (trip to GA was great!) and have a trip tentatively planned for San Diego to see Bebe and Pete in February. The Smith family will be coming over for Christmas Eve to live on the Pinto tradition and hopefully that will become an annual occurrence as well. Enjoying the Christmas spirit and chill in the air until then!

Fall

Things got so busy during the summer and this fall that I forgot to post! Frankie is more like a little boy now, it's so crazy! He is saying all sorts of words and it's really picked up in the past weeks. I said to him the other day after he looked at me and said a full sentence that I couldn't understand, "Frankie, I don't understand anything you just said. But keep talking to me honey, I'll understand you eventually!" What a sweetie.

The summer weddings turned out great, vacation to EI was awesome as usual. Frankie enjoyed the beach so much this year, no fear - good and bad. :) We set up a baby pool up near our chairs and the umbrella to try to keep him in the vicinity - my fear was that he would take off running down the beach, but that didn't happen thank goodness.

Lately Frankie is loving reading books more and more, he is getting close to walking down the steps facing front whether I like it or not... he has a great appetite and is getting good at using his spoon and fork. He will give kisses and hugs which I love. We signed him up for Little Gym after he enjoyed the summer session and even though he misses some Saturday morning classes once in awhile due to our MD football games, it's well worth it to see him have so much fun in there.

I can't believe tomorrow is Halloween and Thanksgiving is around the corner! We will be making the trip down to GA for Thanksgiving which will be a lot of fun - ONCE we get there lol.

Big Boy!

Schedules and routines change all the time, but we've got a pretty good one down recently. When I get Frankie up in the morning and start to change him often is arching and trying to twist around to see if Daddy is there, sometimes saying his name. :) For what seemed like a couple of months he was only saying Daddy - now it seems like the tides have turned and with the exception of that morning call to Daddy and maybe a couple in the evening, Mama is the word! He even calls Jay Mama sometimes. What a sweetheart. (The only thing I don't like is that he also calls Christy, our day-care provider, Mama sometimes as well - she corrects him though!) Frankie loves his milk, has mastered the sippy cup, and we did a water boot-camp for a few days, only giving him water instead of the watered-down juice we were giving him. He used to make a face but now he drinks it up fine if he's thirsty. Even though watered-down juice was fine, I wanted to make sure he wouldn't refuse water and it's healthier! He has been on a vegetable strike for quite awhile but I have recently been able to get him to eat chunks of sweet potato - I was so happy! Give him peas, he'll squash each one individually with his index finger. Give him anything else, he'll totally ignore it or push it aside!
Frankie has, count 'em, 13 teeth now! His top molars and top canines have popped through and are still coming in but he has gotten his appetite back and I am getting glimpses into the future. Amazing that a 15 month old boy can eat 4 chicken nuggets when a few months ago I would make 2 and he would usually only eat 1!
After dinner relaxing before bed is my favorite time with Frankie, for the obvious reason that we get to hang out. He loves his rocking cow and if he's feeling feisty will take every toy from the shelves and throw it on the floor. He loves when Jay lets him up on the couch to jump. He's getting so tall, grew 2 inches in 3 months, and is close to being able to get onto the couch himself. Scary! We are finally trying to teach him to go down the stairs backwards which will come in handy for the couch as well.
Jay and I were so relieved that he enjoys the pool again this summer. He also is loving the kickball games, even when I hold him back from running on the field. Frankie throws little tantrums now but a little redirection usually works. He will sit in the dirt or gravel, pick it up, run his hands and arms through it, try to eat the rocks - such a boy. He definitely keeps me busy when we're out! But it's worth it because he has a great time.
The family is traveling to Connecticut in a few weeks for Cousin Sarah's wedding which we are very excited about! Frankie is in the wedding and hopefully won't throw a tantrum in the Church! Mama would like to witness the entire ceremony! Keep your fingers crossed! As always, we feel very blessed.

Winter

Wow, a lot has been going on in the last few months! Frankie started walking for real in mid-January, taking laps around the first floor and being VERY proud of himself with Jay and I cheering him on. We got him some big boy shoes towards the end of the month and at first he refused to walk in them. After a day or so he got the hang of it and had them scuffed up pretty quickly! I think we got a comment after 3 days, 'wow, he's really worn them in already!' Once he started cruising Jay started pretending to chase him around the kitchen and then acted like Frankie was chasing him - laughter filled the house, so cute! Since then Frankie loves to run around but has picked up a bad habit of putting his weight on his toes. Hopefully he'll grow out of that but we're keeping an eye on it.

Frankie only had one snow day this winter because Mama forgot to buy a snow suit before the big snow that we had... but the day we did go out he seemed to like it. His hands got very cold because we were out too long (he would have pulled the gloves off immediately) so I don't think it's the best memory for him - oops! :) He did enjoy looking out the glass door to the back yard at all of the snow though and putting his mouth up to the glass - I think he liked it because it was cold because he would say, 'oooooohhhhh'.

Our big boy turned 1 on March 8th! I think the best way to describe my feelings were what an amazing and heartbreaking day - amazing because the past year went by so incredibly fast just like everyone says... he has grown so much and brought so much joy to our lives... and heartbreaking for some of the same reasons... the stages have gone too fast! I didn't ever think about how crawling only lasted a few months, there was no way to know that he would be so independent and refuse the spoon so soon, I didn't think the transition to sippy cups would feel sad because I know the nighttime bottle and bonding time will be a memory. The changes are wonderful and sad at the same time.

Since turning 1, Frankie has gotten a cold and Jay is trying to stay healthy as well. So far I only had a few days of feeling crappy - it sure has been a tough winter in terms of health! We can't wait for Spring!!! In the days where the temps were above average, Frankie has loved running down the driveway and fast-walking up and down the street in front of our house. He's not too sure about the grass, but we plan on spending a lot of time in the backyard when it gets warm. Jay has taught him to play with the soccer ball and Frankie loves it, whether he's rolling, throwing or kicking it. I'm sure it will be a must-bring to the kickball games that are going to be starting up in the next month or so - GO TEAM BUD LIGHT!