Fiona Says “No” and Means It

For example, if I ask her if she wants water and she doesn’t, she will tell me by saying “no.”

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a long time,  both John and I have been fighting the worst colds we have ever had. The congestion would almost be bearable if not for the constant coughing keeping me up all night. And twice in a row I’ve soaked the sheets because of sweating. Working and going to school have been uncomfortable, but the worst part is that I feel so yucky and it is affecting my ability to play with Fiona and pay attention to her. I can tell she misses me, but I don’t have any energy and I don’t want to cough all over her, so I am trying to keep my distance. I’m not sharing my food or eating hers, and she doesn’t understand why. It’s very sad.

So what else is new around here? Well, we caught the awful colds in Germany. We went to visit our friends Krista, Dan, and Sophie in Hamburg. Krista has been telling me about the northern German colds for several years, but I did not believe her. In California, if you get a scratchy throat, you gargle with salt water for a few nights and drink lots of tea and all symptoms disappear in a few days. In northern Germany, you get a scratchy throat and you are doomed to at least two weeks of coughing, congestion, soar throat and general misery that does not go away even with salt water. John makes fun of me because I am so rarely sick that I don’t know what to do with myself when I catch something. Oh, and my experience so far is that normal cold remedies – Sudafed, Nyquil, DayQuil, DM, etc., do NOT work on northern German colds. Only time works, and right now it is moving at a snail’s pace. I hope and pray that Fiona does not get this. :(

Now for photos. It’s been so long since I’ve blogged. We actually, finally, got rain. Two weekends in a row, and then again last week. It thundered and lightning struck, and lots of rain fell. Here is Fiona a few weeks ago in her raincoat. Because in California, when it rains, it’s still not that cold and you can go for a walk:

We hung a hook in her room so she now has a place to put her coats that she can reach on her own:

On her rocking horse:

She loves it! Rides it all the time! And when she rides it, it sounds like she is saying, “Happy, happy.”

We bought yet another new camera:

I really like this one and hope that  do not break it. It would have cost more money to fix the other cameras than it did to just buy a new one. I feel really wasteful, but also resentful that Nikon makes such a cheap product. It did not take much for the other cameras to break. I hope Canon delivers a better product.

Fiona and my dad:

 

For the record, she did not eat anything from Panda Express. She preferred some broccoli that I brought from home and some raisins. She is not a junk food eater, my little one.

Fiona dressed like a preppy and wanting out:

 

Sitting in her chair, getting ready to read:

Reading with Daddy:

Expounding on her philosophy of life:

Which is to say, something about eating and sleeping:

And playing dress up with her shoes:

She loves walking around the house in my shoes, and now she has a pair of rain boots that she wears as well.

Feeding a goat at the zoo:

Reading with Mommy:

Well, that was the end of our March. The next post will be all about Germany and after.

On the talking front, Fiona is really talking now. She started saying two word phrases like, “My mommy” “My daddy” Mommy shoes” “Daddy shoes” and the like, and “Help please” and “Up please” and “More dates.” She repeats everything we say. It’s excited but nerve racking at the same time. We really have to watch what we say and how we say it now. No more swearing in frustration for us!