I Guess She's Feeling Better

Fiona has a cold, and yesterday she had a fever so we kept her home from day care. She got to watch The Little Mermaid for the first time (twice!), so the day wasn't a total loss. It was her first non-Pooh Disney film, and she didn't get scared at all, which made me wonder if she really understood what was going on. She watched the movie once with each of us, and every time Ursula was on screen we asked Fiona if she was all right, and she said "I'm fine" in a way that made it seem like she wasn't bothered at all.

She had a rough night last night, since her nose was very stuffed up. She was up and down all night from 3am on (we wound up letting her sleep in our bed for a few hours as a sick kid treat). When she woke up this morning for good she didn't seem as warm as yesterday, and she actually ate her breakfast, but at the same time she was very cuddly and tired.

So we weren't sure what to do with her -- on the one hand, we wanted her to rest up and get better, but on the other hand if she was doing better we didn't want to have to do half-days at work again while we tag team parented. So I put the question to Fiona: "Do you want to go to Rita's today or do you want to stay home?"

Fiona's first response was "stay home," to which I said fine and went to talk to Andrea about how we'd split the day. But within 20 seconds Fiona had jumped off the couch and shouted "I want to go to Rita's!" And then she ran into her room and started getting dressed and finding her shoes (to the point where I had to tell her we weren't going to Rita's right that second).

So apparently the prospect of another day stuck with her parents was enough to make Fiona desperate for her friends, since I've never seen her so eager to leave the house to go to day care. More likely, she just liked the idea of it being her choice to go to Rita's. Unfortunately, I can't really use that tactic most days, since sooner or later she'll call my bluff.