Frances Friday: Toys That Talk

We were home on Monday, playing in the basement, when Frances turned on the radio with the remote. I can't remember what was on, but it was horrible: loud, overly sexual, poorly done.

"Do you like this, Frances?"

"No."

"What would you rather listen to?"

She paused; then excitedly said, "I want to listen to Frances on the Radio!"

"We haven't made any new shows for a while. Would you like to make a new show, and then we can listen to that?"

"Yeah!"

"What would you like to talk about on your radio show?"

"Toys that talk!"

So here it is. I should mention that it's more "Toys that Sing Row Row Row Your Boat" than "Toys That Talk," but it's still way better than whatever that atrocious song was. And before I hear any complaints: listen, you have no idea how many renditions of Row Row Row Your Boat were removed from this broadcast. Enjoy!

You can listen to it here (click on the above link) or find us listed on iTunes (under podcasts) or Bloglines as "Radio Free Frances." Happy Easter, everyone.

~~~~~

Bonus Conversation:

I requested some information packages on different insulin pumps, and the first one to show up (Cozmo) came with the requisite dvd movie about all of their fabulous features. I popped it in on Monday when I was home with Frances, just to see what it was all about. Then, on Wednesday:

Frances: I want to watch the insulin pump movie!

Andrea: What?

Frances: I want to watch the insulin pump movie! I LOVE the insulin pump movie!

Andrea: Umm... what? The insulin pump movie? You don't want to watch the Lorax, or....

Frances: No! I want to watch the insulin pump movie! Let's watch the insulin pump movie!

Andrea: Umm. OK. You're sure?

Frances: Yeah!

Andrea: Here we go.

Frances: Yay! I LOVE the insulin pump movie!

I can't wait to see how excited she is when the new insulin pump (whatever it turns out to be) actually shows up!

Posted by Andrea at 6:56 AM | Comments (14)

Frances Friday: That's Frances on the Radio!

As part of our bedtime routine, Frances asks to snuggle on the Big Bed (aka our bed). Sometimes we say yes; usually we say no, it's getting late and you have to get up early tomorrow.

When we do say yes, Frances asks to hear Mummy and Frances on the radio--or, in english, our podcast. I dial it up on the iPod and plug it in and for a few giddy seconds, Frances is the happiest child on earth. She laughs at her own jokes. She sits still and stares at the magical white box. "Is that Frances? Is that Mummy and Frances talking on the radio?" She asks. "Yes! It is Mummy and Frances talking on the radio!" She answers.

The original deal, last winter when I started this, was that you, my Dear Readers, could determine the content of Radio Free Frances by asking her whatever questions you would like. I would record Frances's answers and put them on the air--or web, or whatever--for you. It goes on the podcast (which, by the way, you can subscribe to via bloglines or iTunes if you're interested--url is http://www.athenadreaming.org/radiofreefrances.rss) and I put a link to the file here, too, for whoever wants it the older-fashioned way.

Well, we're out of questions. Except for the snow one, and even though the forecast called for snow last night, I am resolutely ignoring it. Dear Readers, the future of this exciting innovation in radio programming is in your hands: What would you like to ask Frances?

You can visit the Radio Free Frances category in the drop-down menu on the left sidebar if you want inspiration; or you can ask whatever you'd like, within the bounds of reason and good taste. (Don't ask me to define those, ok?) Leave the question as a comment here, and someday soon, the whole world (or at least a few hundred people) will be able to hear Frances's insightful answer.

Posted by Andrea at 7:27 AM | Comments (6)

Radio Free Frances: Shoo!

A new episode of Radio Free Frances is up: we reveal our ages, talk about blue skies and what can be found in them, change Max's diaper and scare off a few monsters. As always, you can get it here via the above link or you can download it by subscribing to the podcast via iTunes or other podcast subscription service. If you get it via podcast then you've had it since Monday, when I uploaded it.

Enjoy!

And yes, I checked and iTunes does have Radio Free Frances now. Search by name or by rss feed, which is http://www.athenadreaming.org/radiofreefrances.rss.

Sorry today's post is late; computer access is a bit harder to come by here, plus, well, I'm busy. But I didn't want to make you all wait for your Radio Free Frances episode when I've been promising one for at least a week now.

I can't wait until I get home and get to hear her myself.

Posted by Andrea at 4:21 PM | Comments (9)

Radio Free Frances: Knock Knock!

Frances has discovered the joy of knock knock jokes. I suppose all kids go through this stage. Right?

But the thing is, she doesn't really get them yet, so it's more like:

Frances: Knock knock!

Andrea: Who's there?

Frances: An orange!

Andrea: An orange who?

Frances: Weah!

Or alternately,

Andrea: Knock knock!

Frances: Who's there?

Andrea: A finger spider!

Frances: A finger spider? Oh! I thought it was a finger spider.

So on Sunday I managed to catch some of this comedic gold on the microphone, just for you. Enjoy!

By the way, those of you who have tried to subscribe via iTunes recently and have found it doesn't work--we disappeared from the directory. I resubmitted it. It should be listed again later this week.

~~~~~

Her rejoinder to the knock knock joke, too, is a common element of all our conversations these days:

Frances: I want some apple juice! I want some apple juice! I want some apple juice!

Andrea: What do you say?

Frances: Pleeeeeeeeez.

Andrea: Ok. Here you go.

Frances: Apple juice? Oh! I thought it was a apple juice.

Just about any situation you can imagine.

"Max? Oh! I thought it was Max."

"The TV? Oh! I thought it was the TV."

"Macaroni and cheese? Oh! I thought it was macaroni and cheese."

I don't know where this came from, but it's SO CUTE.

SO cute.

Especially when she leaves the second half off, so it just sounds like pleasant surprise at getting what she's asked for.

"Cheerios? Oh!"

Whereupon Erik and I both laugh, while trying hard not to.

Posted by Andrea at 7:35 AM | Comments (8)

Radio Free Frances: Baby Eloise (with musical intermission)

EDITED TO ADD the music link--sorry! What a tease, eh?

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Next on the list was supposed to be Suze's question about playing in the snow. Then the snow melted. If we get more I'll ask it then--and there is almost always snow on the ground on my birthday (in a few weeks) so it probably will--otherwise, Suze, you could be waiting for a few months. Sorry about that!

So I proceeded to Rachel's second question: "Is Baby Eloise your favourite baby?" The answer is an unequivocal yes! Plus: counting, colours, and a musical interlude as Frances sings Sandra Boynton's Snuggle Puppy.

We make a pretty big deal about Baby Eloise's blanket, and if you look under the cut, you'll see why.

Necessity is the mother of invention. No pun intended.

Posted by Andrea at 7:50 AM | Comments (9)

This can't really be biological.

I've always discounted the girls+shoes=true love argument.

Until last night.

When Erik and I were getting Frances ready for bed, she got upset (I think it's her teeth). And we were looking for a way to cheer her up:

"It's ok, Frances," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, and we'll have lots of fun."

"Yeah, Mummy's going to take you shoe shopping!"

"I go shoe shopping!"

"Yes, tomorrow morning, I will take you shoe shopping. Won't that be fun?"

"Yeah! I go shoe shopping! I buy green shoes."

"You want green shoes?"

"Yeah!"

"OK then, we'll look for green shoes."

I left her to read a bedtime story with Daddy, and turned on the monitor when I got downstairs:

"So three little monkeys jumped on the bed, and one fell of and bumped her head! Mummy called the doctor, and the doctor said...."

"No more monkeys jumping on the bed! I go SHOE shopping!"

"Yes, you're going shoe shopping with Mummy tomorrow. TWO little monkeys jumped on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head! Mummy called the doctor; the doctor said...."

"No more monkeys jumping on a bed! I go SHOE shopping with Mummy! Mummy go SHOE shopping!"

Did it stop there?

Judge for yourself. You might need to turn the volume up a bit to hear it; I don't think I had the mic on high enough.

(Postscript: We went SHOE shopping, and bought her two little pairs of sneakers--4 1/2 & 5--but not green. Sadly, there were no green shoes that we could afford without taking out a second mortgage on the house. But Frances likes them anyway.)

Posted by Andrea at 1:10 PM | Comments (9)

Radio Free Frances: Yellow Books

OK, the thing is, Frances is still getting the hang of this microphone thing.

She knows what they're for. She likes them. She likes them maybe a bit too much. She likes to grab them, and rub them into her shirt. So the moments of static in this week's broadcast (which I mostly edited out, but I didn't get them all) are the result of Frances's fascination with microphones. Really it's pretty good, considering that it's a 26-month-old's first opportunity to speak into a microphone.

But she is actually getting really good at it, so I think next time will be even better. Consider this our trial run.

Anyway, our first question was: What is your favourite book, Frances? And Frances tries to answer it. Really, really hard. It's a difficult question when you're 26 months. We all agreed that Frances's favourite books are ... yellow.

You like yellow books, Frances?

Enjoy!

Those of you who have subscribed to the podcast will have received this last night, if you checked, when I uploaded the file. Everyone else had to wait until I got into work this morning.

I'm going to try to get one up every week or two, with excuses sometimes made for extended familial illnesses and having no time. You understand.

Posted by Andrea at 7:59 AM | Comments (11)