No! No! No!

We had a 2 year-old boy with a Caucasian daddy and Chinese mommy admitted for Influenza A, and thus required to be isolated. As anyone who has handled active toddlers will know, it's hard to keep an active toddler happily entertained in a small room for days.

It's day 4. The boy was crying to go to the playroom this morning. Daddy called for the nurse to enquire if the boy could spend some time there since he was to be discharged for further management at home. Unfortunately, the boy was still not cleared to be de-isolated. Then, daddy tried to trick boy into drinking his milk (given his reduced intake for the past days) by making it a pre-condition to playing outside.

Daddy, "Do you want to drink your milk? You can go out to play only after you drink your milk."

Boy, "No!"

Nurse (me), "How about Ribena?"

Boy, "No!"

"Water?", "No!", "Milk?", "No!", "Apple juice?", "No!", "Orange juice?", "No!". And on it goes with the "terrible twos". Fortunately, daddy has patience and a sense of humour.

Finally, I teased, "How about some beer?"

Boy, "No!"

Daddy chimed in, "Champagne?"

Boy, "No!"

Daddy remarked with mock surprise, "You don't want some champagne? What a pity!"

We both laughed.