Hoping Her Parents Stay Out All Night

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Franz Waxman Cabaret at MOMA, in honor of the composer's 100th birthday (one of my closest friends is Franz's grandson). We explained to Fiona before her nap that when she woke up her friend Miriam would be there to babysit, but that we would be back in time for bedtime. Fiona nodded, so unperturbed that we wondered if she'd heard us at all.

As we expected, Fiona slept through Miriam's arrival and our departure. When we returned after the show, we found Fiona happily drawing at the table with Miriam. But when she looked up to see us, she suddenly looked crestfallen.

"Go away, Daddy," she said. "I don't want to go to bed yet."

Apparently she understood "back in time for bedtime" to mean "as soon as we get home we'll put you straight to bed."

Yet another look into the mind of a toddler.

An Endless Birthday Loop

If you ask Fiona how old she is, she'll hold up two fingers.

Ask her how old she'll be on her next birthday and she'll hold up three fingers.

Andrea's birthday is on Saturday. When I told Fiona that Mommy was going to have a birthday, she said "Mommy's going to be two!"

So I asked her how old Mommy is now. Fiona replied by holding up three fingers.

So there's your toddler theory of aging: sometimes you're two, sometimes you're three, and I guess on each birthday you switch to the other one.

Does that mean every other year you get to be terribly two?

The Fat Bearded Guy is Going to Get Off Easy This Year

Daddy and Fiona are talking about Santa Claus and how he brings presents to good boys and girls. Daddy remembers how last year Fiona went to go see Santa but got so scared when the big moment came that she just clung to her parents and they never got a photo of her on Santa's lap.

Daddy: Would you like to go see Santa this year?

Fiona: I could show him my room!

Daddy: No, we would go see Santa at a store. Santa lives in the North Pole, but sometimes he goes to stores so that boys and girls can tell Santa what they want for Christmas.

Fiona: I want to see Santa!

Daddy: And you can tell him what you want.

Fiona: (holding up her cup) I could tell him I want more juice!

Whisper Rules

As the advent season gets underway, we decided it was time to resume our search for a church, so we headed up to Pelham on Sunday morning (that may sound far away, but it actually takes us less time to get there than to most spots in Manhattan). On the way, we explained to Fiona that she had a choice: she could go to a special room to play with other kids her age, or she could sit with Mommy and Daddy but she would have to be quiet. Fiona chose the latter.

A few bathroom breaks aside, Fiona behaved herself very well for the hour-long service. When she needed to say something, she made sure to whisper, and when we told her she couldn't do something she didn't scream or cry, she just shoved her thumb in her mouth and lay on the floor. Nevertheless, we were exhausted; we gave Fiona the option this week because we hadn't tried a church in a while and we didn't know if we would like the church or not (we did). Next Sunday Fiona's going to the two-year-old room.

When we left the church, we thanked Fiona for behaving as well as she had, and promised her she wouldn't have to whisper for the rest of the day. And boy is she holding us to that promise. When she was playing before her nap, I leaned down and whispered to her that in five minutes we were going to have to get ready for her nap, she looked at me and said in a loud voice "we don't have to whisper any more." And she's been repeating that refrain for the past two days.

Well, that and "are we going to bake cookies now?" But that's just because we stupidly promised her that we could bake Christmas cookies next weekend, and now we have to make a toddler understand that she has to get all the way from Monday to Friday before the weekend will be here. You'd think we'd have learned by now.

Business Trip

I had to go out of town for 3 days this week on business. The night before I left, I told Fiona that I would be gone for 3 days (we counted them together), but that I would think of her all the time.

Fiona said "I want to go on the business trip."

"I don't think so, honey," I replied. "You'd be very bored."

"I want to be bored," she replied.

Before I left, Fiona made me promise I'd bring her back a present. I said I would. She said it should have mermaids in it.

While I was gone, Andrea informed me that the present I was bringing back (according to Fiona) had transformed into a book about a mermaid and a bear who have a very convoluted adventure together (I need to do a post soon about how Fiona has started making up her own stories). Andrea told me she couldn't wait to read it herself.

I found a Little Mermaid coloring book and a book about a bear whose father can't find him after the father puts the little bear on his shoulders. Since I play that game with Fiona all the time, it seemed like a good pickup.

A little bleary-eyed after a red eye, I staggered home this morning at 5:30 a.m. and grabbed about 90 minutes of sleep before Fiona arrived in our room. After lots of hugs and cuddling, I gave her the coloring book (I'm holding off on the bear book for bedtime). Fiona loved it, and we read it together several times.

A little later this morning, Fiona announced that now she was going on a business trip and that she'd be back soon, and that I couldn't follow her. Thirty seconds later she came running back to the kitchen carrying a pillow from the couch.

"I got you a present! It's a new pillow!"

Imitation is everything for Fiona.