She's Got the Whole World in One Room

It's been a gorgeous past 36 hours in the city--I think. We've been indoors the whole time ever since Fiona came down with a fever on Tuesday. She's on the mend now--today she's been running around playing and is only a little more tired than usual, but yesterday she spent most of the day on the couch watching Pooh videos and trying to suck her thumb for comfort and then getting frustrated because she was having trouble breathing through her nose. In a sign of progress, she can now tell us what's bothering her ("my nose hurts," "my tummy hurts"), although that's probably small consolation to Fiona since our advice mainly consists of stuff that doesn't help her in the immediate present that all toddlers live in.

So, we've been cooped up. Fiona has noticed each of the past few days that a) she's home; b) she's dressed; c) she's not at day care and d) Daddy's home. To her that can only mean one thing--it's the weekend and time to go to the playground. I had to break her heart several times yesterday when I told her we couldn't go outside because she needed to get her strength back. Of course, the fact that she was coughing heavily and rubbing her eyes when she asked to go to the playground made my decision pretty easy.

Yesterday afternoon when Fiona started feeling a little better, we were playing in the front room and Fiona kept asking me "do you want to go to the playground?" I kept repeating that, no, that wouldn't be possible.

Finally she started telling me to ask to go to the playground. I thought maybe she was setting me up for a Bugs Bunny-type trick where I'd ask to go to the playground and she'd say okay and start trying to get her shoes on to get out the door. But instead she ushered me behind the door to the morning room. I quickly realized that this was the "playground."

Since then I've discovered that the coat closet is Fatty's (Fiona's favorite restaurant), and we've spent a lot of time going from the playground to Fatty's and back again. And my favorite moment is when Fiona tells me to ask to go to the playground, I say "I want to go to playground," and Fiona replies by putting an arm around me and telling me "it's too early to go to the playground, we go later." It's always a riot to hear your own frequently used phrases thrown back at you. At least it's a riot to hear them from a toddler.