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October 5, 2007 Frances Friday: She really is a big school girl 
I was sitting on the couch, reading, when Frances walked up to me with a pad of paper in one hand and a red crayon in the other. "And how do you spell your name?" she asked, all pint-sized officiousness and solemnity. I could see the scene she was role-playing, a teacher or other official school-type person, approaching students, clipboard and pen in hand, to sort them for one activity or another. I smiled and put the book down. "A. N. D. R. E. A." And down she copied every letter. OK, the D looked more like a lopsided O and the R needed some restructuring after the fact to lengthen the legs so it wouldn't look like a Q, but there they were, all more or less on a straight line, all recognizable, all by herself. "Look at you!" I said. "You're making letters! What a big girl. That's great, Frances. Can I give you a hug?" She smiled one of her nuclear-sunrise smiles, and I gave her a big smothering hug. "You really are a big school girl," I said. "Yeah." She is also very popular. Caveat: she is popular because she is small. The older kids find her stature irresistible and are constantly approaching her to squat down, pat her head, and tell her how adorable she is. I hear them whispering to each other as we pass, "Frances is so cute! She's so small," so I know I'm not making it up. Nevertheless, Frances is very popular. The focus on her size does not seem to bother her (unlike the assumption that she is a baby) so I let it pass. But it's a bit like travelling with royalty. We enter the daycare room, and I hear a murmur of voices: "It's Frances! Frances is here! Hi Frances! She's so cute." And Frances stops, looks around at her admirers, smiles, and waves. One tiny little cupped hand, a sweep of the room. It reminds me of nothing so much as the Queen entering a party held in her honour. Every day. Needless to say, she is not upset at being left there all day anymore. Posted by Andrea at October 5, 2007 7:06 AM under Frances Friday EMAIL this entry (comments fields are below this section) Comments Adorable! And I can't believe she's writing letters that well...wow. I guess we should get cracking with Cael, considering he's not going to have a preschool experience at all... Posted by: Tanya at October 5, 2007 12:00 PM
Letters? Wow. And nothing wrong with a little royalty treatment . . . ;-) Posted by: ewe_are_here at October 5, 2007 12:42 PM
Our son gets the same thing. He seems quite baffled at his grade school that all these people know who he is and know his name - especially when he doesn't know them. I actually went to the grade 7s and 6s and had a talk to them about how he likes to be treated and that even though he looks like he is younger he can't stand being treated as anything other than a 6 year old. They've actually been pretty good about it and are all excited about asking him if he needs help and giving him high 5s and things like that. It is giving him a little bit of noteriety with some of his classmates! Posted by: Isabel at October 6, 2007 2:31 PM
I heart Frances and all things Frances, and I do believe Frances Friday is my favorite thing in the entire blogosphere. Posted by: yankeetransferred at October 7, 2007 1:45 PM
Awesome. My 3-1/2 year old recognizes all her letters, though she can't really write them independently. And she thinks it's funny that I have a name other than "Mommy;" she can't quite say "Sarahlynn" yet. It's such an amazing, miraculous age. Posted by: Sarahlynn at October 7, 2007 10:29 PM
I just caught up on reading your last 62 posts . . . yes, I haven't been around much lately. Life has been a bit crazy for us, as always. I'm glad you and Frances seem to be ajusting well so far to your new life. Posted by: purple_kangaroo at October 8, 2007 2:30 AM
That's adorable. I'm new to your blog. I enjoyed this one very much. Jillian Posted by: jillian at October 8, 2007 8:05 AM
Letters!! WTG Frances!! How exciting :D I bet your fridge is covered from top to bottom Andrea ;) Posted by: Dawn at October 16, 2007 10:55 AM
Go Berserk |
Change is God (Octavia Butler, Parable Series) “I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” Email Frances! frances AT athenadreaming DOT org You can email her mother too (that's me):
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