Frances Friday: Zoo

As you probably guessed on Wednesday, I took Frances to the zoo on my day off on Monday. With the new camera, of course. And let's just say that the animals must be feeling pretty good these days, because there were a lot of babies.

There were baby babboons, clambering up the fake-rock cliffs on the side of their habitat, and then careening off each other, at times bouncing off the plexiglass right in front of our faces. There was a baby reindeer, a baby giraffe, four baby cheetahs. And there were the baby horses, who were "sooooooo cute!"

And awkward-inducing:

"Look, Frances. The baby is drinking from the Mummy. Isn't that nice?"

"Yeah." Long pause. "They like to drink pee."

It took me a second to put that one together, but it could look like that's where they're drinking from, couldn't it? A nearby mother with her toddler laughed.

"Nooooo, sweetie. It's milk. The Mummy's making milk for the baby horse."

"Oh."

Later, at home, it came up again.

"The baby horse was drinking milk from its Mummy."

"That's right."

"Milk comes from cows!"

"Some milk comes from cows. But Mummy horses make their own milk for their babies. And cows make milk for their babies--and person-Mummies make milk for their babies, too."

A long, incredulous pause.

"Really. I used to make milk for you, you know."

Dear Readers, I will spare Frances the future indignity of the conversation that followed, which revolved around where exactly that milk comes from and how babies get it. By the time she's old enough to read, this entry will be gone anyway; but you might meet her one day. Let's just say that we got a little farther into puberty than I had really planned to with my three-year-old.

~~~~~

Today is Frances's last full day at the daycare. Her last part day will be next Tuesday.

Erik is taking three weeks off, starting tomorrow; and when his three weeks are over mine will be beginning, and after that she'll start school. So she'll have a nice long break with her parents while her world is falling apart (the guilt is never far from mind, Dear Readers).

~~~~~

My brother's wife gave birth to their first child today, a boy. Given that my brother and his wife are both over six feet tall we were expecting a giant, but the baby is a respectable but by no means enormous 20.5" and 8.something lbs. This morning, I told Frances after she had put on her shoes and was waiting to leave, that she now had a new baby boy cousin, named L, who was just a little baby and only this big--holding my hands apart the requisit new-baby-all-scrunched-up distance.

Erik came back in. "Are you going to tell Daddy what I told you?"

"I have a new baby boy cousin!" Frances exclaimed.

"You do? Wow! That's exciting."

"Do you remember his name, Frances?" I asked.

"No."

"It's L. And do you remember how big he is?"

She held a hand up to the height of her own head.

I laughed. "Not quite. He's only a little tiny baby right now."

So she cupped her wee hands together and peered into them, as if holding a newborn bird.

"Maybe a little bigger than that."

She'll understand when she meets him--which is a ways off yet, Dear Readers, since they live on the east coast.

Posted by Andrea at July 27, 2007 6:36 AM under Frances Friday

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