Happiest Toddler on the Block

Who said money can't buy happiness? I'm here to tell you a consignment shop and a little dough can bring a lot of happiness, especailly when Frances and a tricycle are involved. Mark and I have been contemplating a bike for Frances for a while, but we finally found one for a good price. We brought the bike home and hit the streets.


We took it down to the hardware store to replace a single screw, and then...

...headed down to Memorial, which is closed to traffic on Sundays.

We think Frances was pleased. Now, before she goes to bed at night, she waves at her bike and says, "Bye, bock."

Newport, revisited, again

Our friends, the Ahouses, had us back down to Newport, RI, for a visit. The kiddos made the most of it. Frances and Sophia dug up the beach.



Frances made a break for it. I think she liked the beach.

"Hey, guys, anybody watching me?"

Michele, Sophia, Frances and me.

There was a carousel right at the beach. We mounted them up, belted them on and stepped back. Neither of the girls blinked an eye when her mount started moving. Natural born equestrians!

Her first time on a carousel!

The girls' favorite activity? Running away. Really. All four parents were occupied with doing his or her own thing, each assuming that one of the others was watching the girls. Mark could hear them talking to each other and eventually realized that their voices were getting really distant. When he finally caught up with them, they'd made it out the front door, down the steep brick rail-less steps and half way down the block, happily chatting away to each other. Mark said Frances was not at all pleased at being reined back in. Parenting Points were lost. Not sure we're going to let these two hang out as teenagers. Too dangerous.

Frances being Frances

Sooo pleased with herself!

Twenty-One Months of Toddler Frances

No big changes to report this month, but she also changes every day.

• Language: New words for the month include off, bus, bath, apple, bee and choo-choo for train. The new sign of the month is cookie. She'll make the sign when she wants a cookie and when she sees a picture of Cookie Monster. I'm pretty sure she's a genius.

• Locomotion: She's still not 100% steady on her feet, but I no longer worry about her wobbling over when she's running, which is good because she runs all the time. And she's gotten much more stable on the stairs. She used to need two supports, usually the railing and my hand, to use stairs. Now she usually only needs one support and sometimes none if the steps are shallow enough.

• Firsts: Frances now makes song requests. "Yo-yo" is "Old McDonald had a Farm" (think about it for a second and it'll make sense) and "Baa baa" is, of course, "Baa baa, black sheep."

• Favorites: Frances's favorite books this month are A Teeny Tiny Baby, by Amy Schwartz; Head to Toe, by Eric Carle and Down by the Station, by Jennifer Vetter. The first two books I would recommend, the last not so much but Frances loves its pictures of trains, planes, trucks and buses. Favorite food: blueberries. Frances isn't going to have an oxidant left (isn't that the point of antioxidants?). She's also fond of apples, but only the first bite of the whole apple. I frequently find apples with one bite removed in handy places like under the sofa. Frances's favorite activity is playing chase, preferably with boys named Zach - heaven help us.

• Frequent comment: Usually in this section I only report comments people have made about Frances. For example, this month one complete stranger in Harvard Square said Frances seemed "mindful" and then said something about the inner Buddha; I love Harvard Square. But this month, I'll add a conversation that Frances and I have a lot. It goes like this:

          Frances: Mimi?
          Me: Mimi is on a boat in Canada
          (Repeat ad nauseum.)

        You see, Frances's grandmother is sailing around Prince Edward Island. Mimi came to visit us right before setting sail. Frances is now very concerned with where Mimi might be. Come home, Mimi, so I can stop having this conversation over and over and over.

• Greatest Aspiration: World Domination. If you're ever wondering where to sit, what to eat, where to walk, what to read, how to hold her hand, what to sing, etc., just ask Frances. She will be more than happy to show you how to do anything. I once saw a saying about just stepping back and letting toddlers rule the world. I get it now.

Frances at Drumlin Farm

The Mass Audubon's Drumlin Farm, a working farm and wildlife sanctuary, had a free day a couple weekends ago. I love free, and I've wanted to see the farm, so we headed on out. The first display, an American crow, worried me a bit, but things got more interesting. Frances was very pleased with the owls; she hooted at them.


Mark was really impressed with the goats.



So was Frances. She told them what was what.

Frances checked in with the sheep, but we hurried her along to the small mammal showing we'd seen advertised.

This was the small mammal. Frances was pretty sure it was a dog. It wasn't.

Next, we stopped in at the nicest pig barn I've ever seen.

This was their mama pig,...

...and this was Frances's face when she saw the mama pig.

We finished up in the horse barn, where Frances tried out an English saddle.

There was much too much to see before Frances needed a nap, so we'll be heading back soon, free day or not.

Canterbury Shaker Village

Mark and I woke up on the morning of our fourth wedding anniversary and decided we needed to do something special. This is what we chose:


It's the Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire. Our fourth Shaker village on our fourth wedding anniversary! I've wanted to visit for a while, but I wasn't sure how to make the trip work with Frances's nap schedule. She obliged by falling asleep as soon as we got in the car. This is rare. We arrived at the village just in time to join a tour. That's the Meeting House in the background.

An unencumbered view:

Mark and I thought Frances could meander around the edges of the tour, entertaining herself, while at least one of us learned about the village. We were wrong. Frances tried to cooperate by taking this picture of the tour:


But that was the extent of her interest. She and I soon headed out to greener pastures, while Mark stayed with the tour.

Frances and I found ourselves in a children's room where Frances could practice her weaving skills, though to the untrained eye it may have appeared that Frances just bedecked herself in strips of cloth and marched around the room.

I now know much more about marching around with strips of cloth draped over my neck than I do about the Canterbury Shaker Village, but I'll share what I learned. This white building was the Laundry House, which was needed for washing the laundry of 300 people with little mechanical help.

This is some of the 3,000 acres that once belonged to the Village, most of it donated by a farmer who became a Shaker.

This is a Shaker rock, which Frances enjoyed throwing.

This is a foundation of what used to be the largest barn in New Hampshire. Sadly, it was burned down in the 1970's, I'm guessing by the owner of the second largest barn in New Hampshire.

Frances and I practiced waving from the top of one part of the barn's foundation.

The original shabby chic, this is the Syrup House, although syrup was never actually made here. Instead, the Shakers made a Sarsaparilla tonic that was supposed to be good for all that ails.

We weren't supposed to take any pictures inside, but we honestly forgot and captured this one of Frances helping herself to the herb display. That's a stem off to her left.

It was a perfect way to spend our fourth anniversary. I'm hoping we will have the opportunity to return many times, and maybe even hear the tour. They have special activity days for sheep shearing and sleigh rides that I would love Frances to experience.

Playin' Hookey

We were on our way to church, we really were, and then our friends Dave, Michele and Sophia kidnapped us and made us go canoeing. Being good sports, we decided not to resist.

This is Sophia getting her life jacket on and Frances supervising. The girls were really tolerant of their life jackets, surprisingly enough. More tolerant than their parents who couldn't be bothered.



All six of us hopped into the canoe and headed off down the river. There were bridges that echoed. Thanks for the sound effects, Michele!

And there was a bit of mayhem, like when the girls decided to rearrange themselves - repeatedly.

But we made our way along just fine. Frances and Sophia were born the same day. Can you tell? (That's Dave in the background, ably steering the boat.)

In a jiffy, we were out of the canoe and exploring the Old North Bridge, where the Revolutionary War began.

Mark carried Frances and Dave carried Sophia. It may be a little hard to tell them apart with their matching attire.

Sophia and Frances cavorted in this tripartite tree and then we headed for home.

Activity, a little communing with nature and a bit of history. We'll get to church next week, I'm sure.

Cider Hill Farm

I know I've said that Russell Orchards couldn't be beat, but I might have been wrong. We decided to try another pick-your-own farm called Cider Hill Farm. Not bad at all. We started in their raspberry patch. This is how to do a raspberry patch:


Frances took all her blueberry picking skills and applied them to raspberries without missing a beat. She'll come in very handy at Camp MimiandSir.

Hey, Frances, show us your raspberries!

She got quite the assortment - green, moldy and perfect. You must excuse the obnoxiousness of the Harvard hat. We couldn't help ourselves and you only get to celebrate graduating from Harvard so many times in this life.

After some luscious blueberry picking, we wandered into the "farm stand," complete with working bee hive. Frances was fascinated, even if Mom couldn't help worrying just a tad.

We parted ways with some dough (man, what a tempting farm stand), acquired some lovely goodies (salami and cider doughnuts are a good combo at 10 a.m.) and headed out to the picnic area.

The picnic area was right alongside their chicken coop, which sounds awful, but these were the cleanest, best smelling chickens I've ever seen. The chickens are hard to see in this picture, but they were to the left of Frances.

We bought a quarter's worth of chicken feed for Frances to give to the chickens. Someone forgot to tell her the drill though, because as soon as we put the feed in her hand, she put it in her mouth. Luckily, it was just ground corn. Why do I struggle to get this kid to eat? Never mind the salami and the cider doughnuts, all she wants is chicken feed.

Frances is fond of swings in general, and she was really pleased with these horses made out of tires. Some even had manes.

Mark and I wanted to see a bit more of the farm before we left, so we loaded Frances up in a wagon they provided and headed out. Frances helped herself to the raspberries.

A really nice way to spend the morning. I highly recommend it. We will definitely be back for apples in the fall.