Another month zipped by featuring Frank’s new love for Dr. Seuss. It all started with The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Frank would use the hat sign and we have to read that story again. Mom soon got the first page memorized and as we say “he only had one hat” Frank would hold out one finger. He eagerly flip through the pages and we rarely got to read it from start to finish. He likes the trumpets and horses that announces the arrival of the king and makes loud noises on that page. For awhile when we get to the executioner page, Frank makes gorilla noises. The picture does look like it.
Then he discovered Horton Hatches the Egg and that he would let mom read word for word from beginning to end. We read that over and over until daddy showed him Yertle the Turtle. That rhymed so nicely even mom liked to read it until we were reading it over and over and over. And Gertrude McFuzz gets read mostly just the first page as Frank indicates the sad face for Gertrude who has only 1 tail and happy for Lolla-Lee-Lou with 2. We tried showing him How the Grinch Stole Christmas but he won’t let it go pass the first few pages. Oh well. Set in his ways. Oh now our favorite is The Lorax. Both mom and dad has now read that so many times we have Bar-ba-loots, Truffula Fruits, Gluppity-Glupp and Schloppity-Schlopp stuck in our heads throughout the day and into the nights.
Some other new favorites include Bats at the Beach and Animal Snackers. Since our Carmel trip, Frank still uses the sign for peach to indicate beach. That is what he does to demand Bats at the Beach. Dad now also talks in rhyms and mom is going batty.
He is very focused on saying words. He looks at our lips and tries really hard to make the sound. He says something that sounds like “Moon nie” as Mercy Me! We say that lots here. And somehow tennis rachet/ball is “la-ka la-ka”. Whenever we put toys away, Frank sings kean-da kean da (as in clean up clean up). He also says bibi for baby. Yesterday we forced him to say yogurt instead of pointing at the fridge whenever he wanted a Gogurt and he said e-ah. Say gurt, Frank says guo, say yogurt, Frank says e-ah. He also says moon.
Bathtime is now with mom in the big tub and Frank loves it. He requests it by stretching his arms out far apart indicating big. Small is pinching the thumb and forefinger together. Somehow he took megablocks with him one time and had the best time filling it with water and dumping it. Now he has some small cups too to pour from one to the other and then on mom. He loves the water and holds himself up with just arms and the rest of his body floating and he kicks his legs making big splashes. He keeps his head up but now dad taught him to blow bubbles into the water. When he swallows some or gets some in his nose then he needs to wipe his face on mommy’s towel before starting again. We are definitely looking at swimming this summer.
More water fun includes learning how to press down on the water hose in the backyard. Now if we turn it on he will water the lemon tree along with the side wall to the house. He also got dad from behind once. He also likes to help wash dishes in the sink.
As for counting, Frank does 1, 2 (1 finger on each hand), 5 (whole palm), and 10 (both palms open). So how many more do you want Frank? 1 more book. 2 more cookies. 5 more raisins. 10 more jumps.
That afternoon dad went to get Frank and we introduced him to his new little brother Timmy. Frank was very gentle and even gave Timmy a kiss on the cheek. He played in the room spinning around in circles, fiddling the blinds, hiding in the closet, and sitting on mom’s bed looking at baby Timmy. Dad and Frank went home for dinner and sleep as left mom in the capable hands of the hospital staff. The next morning they came back and everything was going well so we checked out at 11am. Zoom in and zoom out :). Now we are a family of 4.