Trains, trains, trains!

God bless advertising.  Back in November, I saw an ad in "The New Yorker" for the New York Botanical Garden Holiday Train Show.  Our resident two-year old happens to be fond of trains.  There wasn't anything in particular that Mark and I wanted to get Frances for Christmas (that's what grandparents are for) so we decided our Christmas "gift" to her would be a trip to the train show.  I am so glad we did.

We had such a good time.  We drove down after Mark's work on a Friday night, arriving around 11 p.m.  Frances stayed awake almost the whole time and was shaking like a leaf by the time we arrived (that's what she does when she's really tired).  But she was up and ready to go at 6:30 Saturday morning.  We met up with our friends Beka and Dan and headed to the Bronx.

The train show was in the Botanical Garden's conservatory.



I'd say almost a dozen trains were going around the room, winding their way amongst replicas of famous New York City buildings, recreated from all natural materials, like bark, twigs and leaves.  The buildings were fantastic.

There were also two (or three?) large bridges spanning the room, again replicas of actual New York bridges.  I'm not so good on my bridges, but this may have been the George Washington Bridge (Dan, Beka, Dad - am I right on this?)

Here's Dan, bonding with Frances.

Here's Beka, doing a little better with the bonding.  (See, Dan, you hold the child's hand.)

And here's the reason we came: to watch Frances, giddy with happiness, waving at Thomas the Tank Engine.  And she didn't just do this when she found Thomas.  She waved at him every time he came around the bend.  Every ten seconds or so.  Until her mother lied to her about going to look for a Percy train.  In my defense, I thought I heard another mother talking about a Percy train.  In retrospect, she may have been lying too.

That's Yankee Stadium in the bottom right corner.  Bark was used in the stands to suggest the crowds.  It's surrounded by a waterfall and miniature pepper plants.  The vegetation around the trains and building replicas was my favorite part.  I had worried that the dioramas would be showing their age after about two months of display, but the vegetation was completely lush, full of miniature peppers and tiny Christmas cacti.  And I don't think Frances was too traumatized by being tricked away from Thomas.  She was willing to wave at anything on tracks.

And then we loaded Frances up in the car and she slept all the way home.  I'm so glad we went.  I bet we'll do it again for Christmas 2012.  When, exactly, do kids start remembering all the wonderful things their parents take them to?  Surely, by the time she's three...

Twenty-Six Months of Toddler Frances

Running...

 ...running...

...and running!

I've been putting off composing this until I had some peace and quiet.  I'm giving up.  Here it goes:

Twenty-Six Months Fun Facts

• Counting: An on-going project.  She's gotten very clear on five through twelve, but somehow counting one through four still evade her. She can identify two objects. For instance, she knows she has two colors of play dough and we talk about the play dough a lot. Which brings us to...
• Obsession: Play dough.  We generally have a ball of it with us at all times.  It even goes to the play ground with us.
• Language:  She tries to sing along with us to familiar tunes like the Alphabet Song and Ring Around the Rosie. She's convinced there's a song for everything - a play dough song, a daddy song, a snake song - so I've been making up lots of awful ditties. She's using longer phrases, but I think it would be hard to follow her without context.  She went through a fleeting stage of saying "Thank you, mama," usually for no particular reason.  It made me sooo happy.  She could have asked for anything and I gladly would have given it to her just to hear her say, "Thank you, mama."
• Locomotion: See pictures above.  Frances still has a touch of the toddler-stiff-legged run, but she's getting more and more nimble.  And faster.
• Frequent Conversations:  "No eating play dough."  She reminds us of this frequently.  I think our friend Michele told Frances that there's no eating play dough.  It made an impression.  Sometimes Frances will even say, "Chele says no eating play dough."  Such wisdom.

Frances, The Organizer

The other day, I walked into my bedroom and was met with this:

That would be six balls of play dough lined up on my floor.  I was pretty sure I needed a picture.  Frances was pretty sure she needed to be in the picture.

This picture reminds me of a big game hunter and her quarry.

And now the play dough is organized.  Check an item off the to-do list.



The Last of Christmas

And, the final reasons (I can think of) that humans go on reproducing:

1. Everyone needs their bowls arranged; two-year olds are happy to help:

2. Even two-year olds aren't all bad:

And then Frances and I flew home to Boston, again with very little drama.  We had a wonderful Christmas.  Thank you to all those who made it possible.

Equestriennes!

While the male members of the Hayward-Cowen-Upton clan did silly things like go to church or prepare for work the next day, the females went to my friend Linda Brown's to go riding!  The girls took to it like fish to water. 

First up was Cousin Clare on Count.  Cousin Clare has a major crush on all things horse right now, and she did great.  She even balanced with her hands up in the air.  Congratulations, Clare!

Cousin Nora got to ride Linda's very own hunt horse, Stray.  She seemed so comfortable on horseback and rode for quite a while.

Last, but not least, was Little Frances for her first time on horseback (not counting a Merry-Go-Round).  Frances did not bat an eye as I put her on 1,000+ pound Count, just acted like it was the most natural thing in the world.  I did have Jocelyn walk next to her because I was afraid Frances would lose interest and bail out without warning.  I think I worried needlessly.

I really could not have been prouder.  Frances was so unafraid and happy.

She spent the rest of the day saying, "Frances ride Count."  Which is, I suppose, why humans go on reproducing.

Tractor Fun Sir Thank You

Visits to Arkansas may require trips to Wal-Mart, but they also require rides on Sir's tractor.  Sir was very obliging.

It's hard to see, but, left to right, that's me, Frances, Auntie Jocelyn, Cousin James and Sir on the tractor.

I have a hunch Frances had a good time.  When I got her out of her crib the next morning, the first words out of her mouth were "tractor fun Sir thank you."  Which is, I suppose, why humans keep reproducing.

One Busy Day

On December 28th, I officially turned Older Than Ever.  The Hayward-Upton-Cowen-Weneck clan decided to really fill up the day.  In the morning, the Hayward-Uptons drove up from Van Buren to join the rest of the gang in Fayetteville.  Ring Around the Rosie was a very big hit with the cousins.  Here we have James, Zoe, Clare, Nora and Frances doing a round:

Then we opened Christmas presents from one another.  I won't bother trying to explain who all these people are, but altogether there were 13+ people and lots of commentary.

Frances got her very own copy of The Little Engine That Could .  James, also known as Sir Stripes, looked on approvingly.

Next, lunch, naps, a tour of my dad's new clinic and a trip to Crystal Bridges, the new museum in Bentonville.  This is much of the gang on the way to the museum.  Just imagine Todd doesn't have his back to the camera.

Then back to the house where we were joined by our friends Linda Brown and Bill Lindsey.  The kids were given some highly nutritious pizza.  That's Zoe, Nora of the Sunglasses, Frances, Clare and James.

Some cake for the kiddos, and...

...a little bit more Ring Around the Rosies.

The kids were then sent to bed and the adults breathed a huge sigh of relief.  But, really, it was a wonderful day.  We didn't allow nearly enough time at Crystal Bridges.  Maybe next Christmas when we remember to schedule events rationally?

Away we go

Frances and I flew to Arkansas on December 19th.  It has been a year since she's flown and I was nervous doing this without Mark, but it went very well, even after a 4 a.m. wake up.  She was a little tired when we finally made it to Mimi and Sir's.

She was not interested in really napping once we got to Arkansas, but she was very willing to fake it on Mimi and Sir's bed.

We may have an actress on our hands.  She was most interested in Claire the Cat, even if Claire wasn't all that interested in her.



After harassing the cat for a bit, we took her to Wally World.  No trip to Arkansas is complete without some visits to Wal-Mart.  She was so tired and out of it that she offered to hug a fellow shopper.  Very un-Frances like.  Mark joined us on the 24th and we went to Van Buren to spend Christmas with his family.  No photos of that, unfortunately.  I left the camera at my parents'.  But more Christmas to come.

Struggle

Frances's napping has been very tenuous lately.  Sometimes she naps, sometimes she doesn't.  I am not at all ready for her to give up her nap.  Not at all.  The other day she didn't fall asleep until so late in the afternoon, Mark and I were forced to wake her up to maintain her nighttime schedule.  This is what we found:



She must have read her book until she was too tired to hold it up.  I can relate.  She does seem to be returning to her regularly scheduled programming, so there is hope that we'll all make it to her third birthday unscathed.