Things Fiona Knows

Her Age

If you ask Fiona how old she, she holds up two fingers. Then if you ask her how many that is, she counts the fingers and announces "two." She still needs the intermediary step.

Her Birthday

A week of so ago Fiona announced that her birthday was in January. We hadn't brought it up, so I assume either Miriam or Rita at day care told her. Of course, she also concluded that that meant that all her friends at day care had birthdays in January, which would defy all sorts of laws of probability.

Realizing that she had January figured out, I told her that the date in January when she was born was January 7th. She spent a few days thinking that come January she would be seven years old (boy are we not ready for her to be in second grade), but not when you ask her what day her birthday is she announces "January 7."

Incidentally, before she thought she was going to turn seven at her next birthday, she was convinced that she was going to turn four. Three is right out, apparently.

How To Set The Table

We hand Fiona the silverware and can even give her some extra instructions -- for example, sometimes she gets a spoon to go with her fork while Mommy and Daddy just have forks (if Mommy and Daddy need knives we handle putting those out ourselves).

The twist is that one of the first times she set the table both Andrea and I were running back and forth to the kitchen, so Fiona did all the setting by herself and was then showered with lavish praise for having done it all by herself with no help from Mommy or Daddy. Which means that now she wants to set the table without us in the room every time ("I have to do it by myself"). So we'll have all the food and drinks out and realize that we haven't put out silverware, and when we hand it to Fiona she makes us go wait in the kitchen while she lays out the forks.

Our Names

A week or so ago the doorbell rang while I was playing with Fiona and Andrea was in the kitchen. Andrea wasn't sure if I was getting the door or not, so she started yelling "Bill! Bill!" before she realized I was already at the door.

Fiona heard this and finally made the connection. She started yelling my name in the exact tone her mother uses. We asked her who Bill was and she pointed to me. Then we asked her who Andrea was and she pointed to her mother.

I'm always Daddy when we're playing, but if I'm in the other room and she wants my attention, sometimes she'll start yelling out "Bill! Bill!"

And I always correct her and tell her that my name is Daddy. We'll see how this one plays out.

Alton Brown

When Daddy gives Fiona a bath at around 7pm, Mommy watches Good Eats with Alton Brown on the Food Network. When Fiona sees him, she excitedly says "it's Alton!" She likes the silly faces he makes and the campy screams he gives in some of the sketches between food segments.

This evening Alton was shopping and Fiona announced that he was at the grocery store. Then the next scene showed him in his kitchen. Fiona said "Alton went home."

Mommy agreed that he had.

And Fiona declared, "I want to go to Alton's house!"

Don't we all, Fiona. Don't we all.