Imitating Instructions

Fiona's getting excited for Halloween. We've been watching the Pooh's Heffalump Halloween video on a regular basis. One of her favorite new games is to say "boo!" to one of us and then burst out giggling when we say "eek!" She loves to point out the ghosts on display in front of various houses as we walk around the neighborhood ("ghost" can refer to ghosts, goblins, witches, skeletons--pretty much any of your typical Halloween bric a brac). She also points out every pumpkin we see. If you ask her to point to a pumpkin, she will, but she prefers to cut to the chase and just call pumpkins "Halloween."

So the other night I bought a small pumpkin to put out in our living room, assuming I'd eventually move it to the window. Fiona got very excited when she saw it and wanted to pick it up and carry it around. We let her, but instructed her every time she picked it up to be careful not to drop it. Now Fiona carries the pumpkin around the apartment repeating "careful, careful."

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With the colder weather has come Fiona's first cold of the season. And with each cold comes her inhaler, as we try to keep her coughs from devolving into full-fledged asthma attacks. Fiona has to take six breaths through a spacer in order to get her dosage, and we count the breaths off with her. When Fiona sees the spacer, she immediately says "four, five, six..."

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With the colder weather, we've also started using a space heater in the living room to augment the "heat" our landlord gives us through the radiator. The first day it was out, Fiona asked what it was and we told her it was a heater, that it was hot, and that she shouldn't touch it. Now whenever she sees the heater (which is often), even when it's not running, she shouts out "don't touch! Hot!"