Life with Frances

A few glimpses into our lives as of late.

Frances has more or less given up napping, but she still has "quiet" time in her room for an hour every afternoon.  (She's actually having quiet time as I type.  I just sneezed and Frances said "Bless you, mama"  from her room.)  The other day, I went to get Frances from her room after quiet time and found this:

Frances, sans pants, in a sea of books.  I'm sure pulling books off shelves is very restful.

And then, the other day, I opened the refrigerator to find Frances's horse.  I feel compelled to say he was just chillin'.

Mark later found the horse in the freezer.

I really shouldn't have indulged Frances with this picture.  She was being very naughty this day.

She repeatedly grabbed my fork from my hands as I was eating dinner.  I eventually got fed up with her and put the fork out of her reach on the counter.  Frances retaliated by standing on one of her small white chairs to get to the fork.  This annoyed me.  I countered by putting her chairs up on the dining table.  Frances then moved her table to the dining room, used it to get up on the dining table and then sat in her chair.  I gave up and took her picture.  Not great parenting, but it had been a long day.

Have I mentioned that Frances is starting nursery school this summer?

An Ras Mor 5k

Another miracle!  I ran my third 5k.  Frances participated, too, so we started the day with some stretching.  We did all our regular stretches and Frances seemed to be enjoying herself, so we added a few more.  First we did some Cat/Cow.

And we finished up with some Pigeons.  Frances then asked to do some Fireflies, but I don't know that Yoga pose and it was time to go.

I had enough to do just getting myself through the race, so our good friend Dave Ahouse pushed Frances, his own daughter Sophia, and the double jogging stroller - at least 70 pounds.  Twenty-four minutes and forty-fours seconds later, Dave had them all back, safe and sound.

And then I dragged in at almost 32 minutes, about a minute and a half better than last year.   I'm the one in the purple top.  I didn't feel close-ups were necessary.

Dave says his goal for me is to beat him.  I say as long as he keeps pushing the girls year after year, eventually I will beat him.  Maybe by the girls' tenth birthdays.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

To celebrate the Vernal Equinox, Frances and I did some planting.  Frances tried to select several different kinds of seeds, but I wanted cilantro, so cilantro it is!  We gathered our tools (and Frances practiced dipping the spoon into the water).

Then Frances helped with the dirt.  She did a good job actually, not at all as catastrophic as I'd feared. 

We got the seeds into the pot and then...

...we hoped a whole lot.

The seedlings came up about a week and a half later, and despite an emergency pot transfer (a small person was enjoying moving the first pot around a bit too much and it shattered), they seem to be doing great.  When the plants are looking nice and hardy, I'll put up another photo, unless I eat the plants first.

A little stripping at the Arnold Arboretum

The title pretty much says it all, but to elaborate: We've had a very nice Spring here in the Boston area.  The Hayward-Uptons took advantage of the nice weather recently with a visit to the Arnold Arboretum.  Frances started out in this outfit:

Then we found a pond and a stick.  Frances's pants got rolled up immediately.

Then I noticed the bottom of Frances's shirt was getting wet, so first I held it up while she played and then...

...I took it off altogether.

Then, of course, Frances slipped and sat down in the water, soaking her pants.  Her pants came off and her shirt went back on. (Apologies to all the mothers whose children saw this wardrobe change and immediately started stripping off their own clothes; children are such copy cats.)  Then Frances wandered the Arboretum in just a shirt...

...and pontificated from rocks.

Way to pontificate, kiddo.

If it ain't broke...

Since we're ignoring truisms around here (see the post about Lent and ignoring "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"), we decided to test out "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Frances has never asked to be in a "Big Girl" bed and she's never climbed out of her crib but her parents decided the crib had to go.

Thanks for your service, ol' buddy.

Frances "helped" daddy take the front off the crib.

And - ta-dah! - we'd moved on to a new era.

I cannot totally explain why us parents were so ready for this change; it's got something to do with wanting sleeping flexibility when we travel this summer.  Frances seems unfazed.  She's not napping nearly as much, but that's been a trend around here regardless of what she's sleeping on.  And no napping means she sleeps past 6:30 a.m. which ain't so bad.

Frances on the farm

After a major act of consumerism (it involved a new-to-us car!), we headed to the Natick Community Organic Farm to wash away that sinful feeling.  The Farm, as its people refer to it, is a  "nonprofit, certified-organic farm providing productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education for all ages, year-round."  And it's free!  Most of the usual suspects were represented: cows, goats, rabbits, chickens, sheep and a cat.

Frances took a gander at the rabbits.

They are so much more pleasant in big open pens than in the wooden boxes I'm used to.

Some lovely chickens (no Frances in this picture; I just liked it).

Frances was pretty sure she could pet a chicken, but no chicken took her up on her offer.

Frances's favorite was the barn cat.  I pointed out to her that we see cats around the neighborhood everyday, but she wasn't dissuaded.

My favorite: daffodils!  

Spring is coming!

Twenty-Eight Months of Toddler Frances

Frances and I really enjoyed her twenty-eight months birthday.  We played with friends in the morning and then in the afternoon went for a jog around Jamaica Plain Pond.  It was an uncharacteristically warm and wonderful day in Boston and I couldn't resist getting out.  

Frances at the beginning of the jog studying the local wildlife:

And Frances at three miles later:

You may resist napping in your crib, kiddo, but no tired two-year old can resist the snooze power of a jogging stroller.

Looking at last month's review, I realized it was a little negative, so this month I'm going for Positively Positive.  Here we go:

• Language: After hearing Frances babble in the background of our phone conversations, both a grandmother and an aunt have commented on the improvement in Frances's language.
• Learning:  She's less and less focused on counting, but it improves anyway.  Frances makes it all the way to 13 before starting over at five.  She frequently gets her colors right and she's doing great with identifying letters.  She has identified A, H, I, K, O, R, T, W, and X repeatedly and several other letters occasionally.  We are totally impressed, I must say.
• Favorite books: She's "reading" One Red Sun, by Ezra Jack Keats, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr., and John Archambault, My Little Train, by Satomi Ichikawa, and The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper.
• Favorite game:  I've mentioned this in a previous post, but Frances loves to pretend to pick apples.  She'll find a bag and walk around the apartment filling it with apples for me to eat.  I really don't know why she's latched on to this, but I don't mind it at all and I can't wait to take her berry and apple picking in a few months.  Come on, picking season!
• Food wars:  She has added a new food to her repertoire: hard-boiled eggs.  I don't know why she deemed that acceptable, but I'm not complaining.  I've realized there is a plus to a kid with a small appetite: I never have to worry too much about feeding her.  A few crackers and she's happy.  Not that giving her a few crackers as a meal makes me a proud, satisfied mom, but I must admit it makes life easier.
• Sleep: Almost every day, Frances wakes up around 6:15, naps from 12:30 until 2, and is back down by 7.  And she's not hard to put down, either.  We read two books, sing four short songs and that's it.
• Firsts: Frances and daddy had their first day and a half alone while I took a little trip to Brooklyn!  Mark said Frances did really well except for a little hiccup around 3 a.m., but she recovered nicely.  I had a marvelous time going out to a grown-up restaurant (no chicken fingers in sight!) and talking to grown-ups (close enough) about important grown-up things (like Downton Abbey).  I don't know why I haven't been doing this on at least a semi-annual basis.  Mark may make his own friends in New York or some other far-flung place just so he can give it a try.  Highly recommend it.
• Obsessions: Still obsessed with names, ol' Frances.  We list family members, kids at the gym nursery and TV/movie characters over and over.  It's a funny little quirk that I'm hoping can be used to help her learn even more letters of the alphabet.

So there you have it, many positive things about Frances with only a dash of snarkiness thrown in for good measure.  That was so easy, I might try it again next month.

TV vs. Lent

Lately, Frances has been watching TV. A lot of TV.  It started with a few innocent minutes of distraction while she got her fingernails cut.  But then, I had an apartment to clean for prospective renters and then an apartment to pack.  Then a condo to arrange.  Then a case of insomnia that left me disinclined to entertain a two-year old during the long cold Massachusetts winter afternoons.  And so on, until Frances was watching a lot of TV.  

For my spiritual challenge this Lent, I decided to cut back on the TV.  Frances still watches a little while we're trying not to wake daddy in the morning and then there's usually some drivel playing at the gym's nursery, but that's it for the day.  I was a touch petrified that this would mean long afternoons of elaborate projects to pass the time, but it really has not been so bad.  Here's some of the things we've been up to over the past few weeks.

Stickers and crayons are very popular.

It may not count as "crafty," but it gets us through the afternoon with smiles.

We've been cooking together. With some help from daddy, we made a flour-less chocolate cake.

Frances even ate a bite or two.

I bought her the magnetized letters as a distraction and they've been quite a hit.  Frances can even identify a few, surprise, surprise.

And the ever-popular "Picking Apples"!  Frances spends a lot of time picking apples around the back door. We do not know where this fascination comes from.  We've actually gone apple picking only once in the kid's life, but she pretends to go apple picking almost every day.  On this particular day, apple picking required her sweat shirt and hat.

So far, the experiment has not been nearly as painful as I had feared.  Frances is asking to watch TV less and doesn't seem to mind when I tell her we can't watch TV.  The pile of clothes waiting to be folded is nearly as tall as I am, but I'm sure that "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" thing has been overstated.

Fashion Forward Frances

Frances has a new way to wear her hair: three barrettes on each side.  I just love getting it out of her face.

"I look gorgeous, no?"

Yes, Frances, dear.

She will leave these in for a whole hour. Progress!