Seventy-Two Months of Kindergartener Frances: She Turns Six!

Questions for Frances

• What is your name?  "Frances."
• How old are you?  "Six."
• Who do you live with?  "Mom, Dad and my sister."
• What is your favorite color?  "Purple" (after much contemplation).
• Who do you like to spend time with?  "Darby." 
• What do you like to do with your family?  "Ride ponies."  [We ride horses together once a year; we may need to up our game.]
• Where do you like to go?  "The park, the one down there near the train station." [We'll pretend this is like The Railway Children and not like "I like to play near train tracks."]
• What makes you sad?  "When Chandler bes [sic; she means "is"] mean to me." [And she gives as good as she gets, believe me.]
• What is your favorite toy?  "My horses."
• What is your favorite fruit?  "Is apples a fruit, 'cause I love apples?" [So proud.  Sob.]
• What is your favorite TV show?  'Tarzan."  [She's actually been watching How to Train Your Dragon II a lot lately, which I like so much more than Tarzan.]
• What is your favorite vegetable?  "What's vegetables?" [Mom gives examples.]  "Carrots!"
• What is your favorite lunch?  "The one that mom packs me."  [Pepperoni slices, bagel, fruit, salty carbohydrate and a cookie - the stuff of champions.]
• What are your favorite clothes?  "My horse shirt."  [Mom asks clarifying question.] "The green one." [Thank you, Cousin Clare.]
• What is your favorite game?  "Uno."  [Impossible to play with Chandler around, so we haven't played in months.]
• What is your favorite snack?  "Cookies and goldfish."
• What is your favorite animal?  "Horsies and giraffes and penguins and polar bears.  I like polar bears."
• What is your favorite song?  "Twinkle!"
• What is your favorite book?  "Rainbow Rocks."  [Summary of an entire My Little Pony movie; I tried to hide it in the basement.]
• Who is your best friend?  "Rosie!"  [This is Rosaleigh, a little girl from school.  I actually wouldn't have predicted that answer.]
• What is your favorite sport?  "Hockey?  Red Sox? And basketball?  And, what else?  What are you going to take me to again, Dada?  My other sport is hockey on ice."  [We've recently learned Frances loves watching sports on TV.]
• What is your favorite thing to do outside?  "Play with Ronan."  [The upstairs neighbor;  I think he's almost nine.]
• What is your favorite drink?  "Water."  [She gave up drinking milk several months ago.]
• What is your favorite holiday?  "I love Easter.  That's my best holiday." [I didn't remind her that Halloween and Christmas are also holidays; I feel that would have changed her answer.]
• What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  "Lovies."  [Mom asks clarifying question.] "Gorilla, and Hanger.  Hanger is my chameleon.  I also like Ducky.  He's a big duck." [He's enormous.  I've also hid him in the basement.]
• What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  "Bagels with cream cheese.  I just love bagels with cream cheese." [She recently has started eating breakfast at school.  I'm trying to see this as a sign of her expanding comfort zone, and not just a bid to get away from my food.]
• What is your favorite dinner?  "Ham with a little bit of chicken and then some rice." 
• What do you want to be when you grow up?  "What's a vegetarian again?  [Listens to answer.]  "I want to be a veterinarian."
• What is your daddy's name?  "Mark."
• What is your mommy's name?  "Your name is, um, Morgan - Morgan Elizabeth Hayward.  And my daddy's whole name is, um, Mark Elliott Upton."
• What is sister's name?  "Chandler Hayward Upton."
• Where do you live?  "Where do we live?  But, like, I don't know.  Hmmm, Boston?"