Doctor's orders

What we have here is a failure to communicate. Sydney came to me Friday, wanting to play doctor, but she needed my help.

"Mom, I can't find my blue thing."

"What blue thing?"

"My blue thing for playing doctor."

"Besides being blue, what does it look like?"

"It's round, like a rectangle."

"Rectangles aren't round. How can it be round like a rectangle?"

"I don't know. I can't find it."

I started naming her favorite things to use when playing doctor. "Is it the stethescope? The band aid? The shotter? The doctor jacket? The thing to look in eyes?"

Each time she shook her head no.

I tried to distract her, suggesting another activity. "Would you like to play with the dentist Play-doh set instead?"

"Okay, but I need the blue thing."

Honey, I'm sorry I can't help you if I don't know what we're looking for."

"It's the blue thing I write on."

Ah ha! "You mean the clipboard?"

"Yes, the clipboard. I need the clipboard."

Well, you were right about the rectangle shape, but it's not round."

"I know. I was just kidding."

We have yet to find the blue clipboard. But luckily, Mommy just so happens to have several clipboards that she's picked up at promotional expos through work, and so I brought a couple home for her. The red one with a heart was her top choice. And so this morning, at last, the check-up began.

And then it quickly ended. Why? Because it's far more fun to draw doctors than pretend to be a doctor. "It's Doctor Day!" Sydney proudly declared after surveying her masterpiece.

I sum it up as a healthy dose of normal life.