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October 4, 2005 The World Agrees: Frances really is the World's Best Baby Ever, Bar None 
Yesterday, one of the student workers at Frances's daycare asked Erik if she could write a school paper on Frances (not using her name, of course). Erik asked why, and she replied, "Well, Frances is the perfect subject. It's her first day in the toddler room and she already knows all her colours." I don't know why that makes her the perfect subject, but it sounds like a compliment to us, so of course we said yes. Also, the daycare manager confirmed for us something that we have long suspected: Frances is her special favourite. So much so, she said to Erik yesterday, that the other daycare workers often refer to her as "Cathy's Frances." We are not planning on sharing this with the other parents, who might understandably be upset. But it makes me happy to think of her getting extra hugs and snuggles. Yesterday was my compressed day, and I had so many errands to run--library, shoes for Frances, groceries, scrap store (shut up!), tidying the house, calling the pediatricians, making a doctor's appointment for myself, blathering about genetic counseling and eugenics--that Frances went into daycare for the whole day. It was sad, but I couldn't see any way around it. But it was productive--our kitchen is stocked, Frances has new blue running shoes and a pediatrician, and I picked up a book from the library called In the Little World about a reporter who attends a Little People of America convention to do a story in Esquire and ends up writing a book about it. As those who live in the GTA will already know, yesterday was unseasonably warm; so when Frances and Erik got home we went for a walk to the park. On the way we filled up the treasure basket (also known as the basket on the stroller) with red maple leaves, acorns, and various fall flowers. Frances especially liked the red leaves, which she would continually return to the treasure basket to pick up and walk with, exclaiming "red leaves! red leaves!" She now makes requests by attaching "time" as a suffix to what she wants. Thus when she's hungry, she says "snacktime!" When she's tired, it's "naptime." When she wants to read, it's booktime; and so on. Yesterday at the park, it was "slidetime!" "You want to go down the slide, Frances?" I asked. "OK!" she said. So we went down the slide a few times. Then it was "swingtime!" Followed by a few more "slidetimes!" Then she saw the big kids on the big kid swings--it must have been a daycamp or something, because there were several older teen girls in navy blue t-shirts with official logos and nametags on them hanging around watching, carrying clipboards. Frances was fascinated. She walked over and stared, walked closer and stared, walked a bit closer, and then the Official Girls noticed her. "Hi!" said one. "Oh, aren't you cute!" "She's so cute," said another one. "Oh, hello!" "Are you going to say hello, Frances?" I asked. She declined, but sat there between them smiling at them and looking quite pleased to be so admired. "Frances!" said the first one. "That's a pretty name. You are so cute! How old are you?" "She's 21 months," I said. "She's adorable," the second one said. "I wish we had a few more cute little babies like her around." She never got up the courage to say anything to them, but every minute or so she'd inch her way closer to them. It was like she was saying, "Keep going, tell me more, say again how cute I am." Also, yesterday she shocked us by saying "A B C D." Marla, you weren't kidding. Posted by Andrea at October 4, 2005 8:22 AM under Beanie Baby Brags EMAIL this entry (comments fields are below this section) Comments Yay! It's Francestime! I love Frances stories! She is so sweet. I really love it when kids ask for something, their parent repeats it, and the kid says, "Okay." Like, "That's a nice suggestion, Mom. I think I can go along with that." Posted by: Casey at October 4, 2005 9:50 AM
I love that she is their special favorite!!! Of COURSE she is, no shocker there. And no, I don't think you should tell the other parents either. They might be a wee bit jealous : ) More pictures of the little "timer"! I wish we could hear her say "swingtime" or "slidetime"! Posted by: halloweenlover at October 4, 2005 10:16 AM
Oooh!!!! It's definitely Francestime! BTW, speaking of booktime and Francestime, do you have the Frances books? Bedtime for Frances, Bread and Jam for Frances, etc? Posted by: liz at October 4, 2005 10:16 AM
Liz--we have two of them. Amazingly, we have exactly the two you mentioned. Good guess. Posted by: Andrea at October 4, 2005 10:28 AM
I love Frances stories! Just love 'em! Posted by: yankee transplant at October 4, 2005 11:45 AM
Well, what with Frances' fondness for naming body parts, the reciting of the alphabet was a logical step! I'm glad y'all had a great time - it's like re-charging a battery. Actually, we use the suffix -time for a lot of things around here, but not because our daughter is simply charming. It's to take the heat off us as parents/badguys. If it's simply time to do something, then I'm not just being a meanie. If we can't colour because it's "dinnertime", then it's dinnertime's fault. See? That goes for bathtime and sleepytime too. It's useful for preventing snitfits, since she's already learned to blame mommy if something sucks.
Posted by: Marla at October 4, 2005 1:21 PM
Francestime....love it! Make it a new category! ;) Don't blame you for being pleased...gotta lova having a daycare favorite! Posted by: Tanya at October 4, 2005 1:52 PM
Such a cutie! Posted by: Jen at October 4, 2005 2:47 PM
AW, what a happy, well-loved little girl! Posted by: Amy at October 4, 2005 3:23 PM
I love my Francestime. And it cracks me up that she has her own complimentime too. WBBEBNtime. Posted by: Running2Ks at October 4, 2005 8:45 PM
We dance around here singing "Pajama Time" (Boynton). Posted by: Running2Ks at October 4, 2005 8:46 PM
Marla--LOL That's a good life skill to have, blaming Mom. R2K--We have the book, and I keep thinking I have GOT to get the recording. It would be so fun. Posted by: Andrea at October 5, 2005 7:41 AM
Go Berserk |
Change is God (Octavia Butler, Parable Series) "If the writer is a socially privileged person--particularly a White or a male or both--his imagination may have to make an intense and conscious effort to realize that people who don't share his privileged status may read his work and will not share with him many attitudes and opinions that he has been allowed to believe or pretend are shared by 'everybody.' Since the belief in a privileged view of reality is no longer tenable outside privileged circles, and often not even within them, fiction written from such an assumption will make sense only to a decreasing, and increasingly reactionary, audience. Many women writing today, however, still choose the male viewpoint, finding it easier to do so than to write from the knowledge that feminine experience of reality is flatly denied by many potential readers, including the majority of critics and professors of literature, and may rouse defensive hostility and contempt. The choice, then, would seem to be between collusion and subversion; but there's no use pretending that you can get away without making a choice. Not to choose, these days, is a choice made. All fiction has ethical, political and social weight, and sometimes the works that weigh the heaviest are those apparently fluffy or escapist fictions whose authors declare themselves 'above politics,' 'just entertainers,' and so on." Ursula le Guin Email Frances! frances AT athenadreaming DOT org You can email her mother too (that's me):
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The title of this blog was taken from the short story "The Language of Nna Mmoy" by Ursula le Guin in her collection, Changing Planes. I won't tell you why or how, because I want you to read the story and figure it out for yourself.
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