Accentuating the Positive

This past weekend, my brother, Frankie's Uncle D, decided to leave his busy NY life behind and slow things down at camp for a few days. It was great for me to hang with him and I know FJ enjoyed her time with him as well. He came to Detroit to meet her a few weeks after we got home from China but everything was still a little new and a lot cuckoo so, understandably, he was likely wondering if a) she would remember him (not a chance) and b) if she would be into him (most definitely). In fact, I estimate that it took her approximately 2 minutes to warm up to him before he became her very own personal jungle gym.

Uncle D showed up just in time for the Camp Tanuga "Friday Night Dinner." As usual, Frankie was holding court at her standard "head of the table" position. She gave "high 5's" to kids and counselors alike while happily alternating between stuffing her face and throwing her food. No easy feat, I know, but nothing unusual for Fray J. She is a fun and happy kid and mealtime is no exception. My brother caught on fast and wasted no time calling me out: "She's awesome, Rob. Why do you give her such a bad rap on the blog?" I was totally blindsided.

I do? I give her a bad rap?

I don't mean to!

Well, sometimes I do, I mean let's face it--she's not awesome 100% of the time (who is?), but believe you me, I'd be the first to push her way up on the scale of awesomeness, if there was one. (There should be one).

My Dad used to tell me that when he was a kid, when it came to him, my Grandma would frequently highlight the negative and rarely accentuate the positive. I don't want to be like that. There is far, FAR more positive associated with Frankie J than negative.

She is awesome.

She's really funny, especially when she hears music and no matter what she's doing, she'll start dancing. She's sweet, especially when I ask her for a kiss and she leans her forehead towards me so I can kiss it (that's her version--I don't question it). She's sassy with her new-found whiplash abbreviated head shaking "No-ooo" when I ask her if she wants some water. She's cute with her shy smile and quick shoulder shrug when someone asks her how she is. She's smart when she goes to pry open one of my hands and then the other looking for the rest of her goldfish that I have actually eaten instead of holding for her. She's amazing that she passed Mommy's sleep training course in 3 days and now she can put herself to sleep at home and at camp... and if she doesn't feel like sleeping, she is happy to blow raspberries and babble in some language that has no English translation until someone comes to get her. She's girlie when she crawls around with lip gloss in one hand and mascara in the other. She's hilarious when she pushes her walker toy around furtively channeling Sophia from "The Golden Girls." She's expressive when we say "Frankie...Kar-ah-tay?" and she breaks out a karate move that is so funny, I promise, you will wish wish you were wearing her diaper because you will pee in your pants. She's clueless that she hurts my feelings when she prefers Daddy to me (not that I blame her, he is pretty freakin' cool). She's a trooper with the 3-3-1/2 hour drive we do twice a week and she's a gem that she adjusts to the cabin when we're Up North or to the house when we're downstate the second she walks (crawls) in.

...and those are just the things off the top of my head.

Bad rap? We can't have that...unless, of course, she's listening to it in my car and we all know she would never rat out her Mommy for that. She's too loyal.

Hey, add that one to my list.