Sophie has been battling a bad cold for the last couple of days. She stayed home from school yesterday and missed a special showing of “Oz the Great and Powerful” in the city today. It’s a funny coincidence that the two times she’s been sick since school started in September have resulted in her missing outings to New York.

Sophie claims not to like New York because it “smells.” She is more often than not a reluctant voyager to the Big Apple. She didn’t really seem to care that she missed today’s fun. She slept late, did a little bike riding later in the afternoon when she felt a little better and crashed again tonight as the cold got the best of her again.

Although I always worry when the girls are sick, there’s one upside when little Sophie is under the weather. Her vulnerability brings me back to her baby years. When magic kisses and lots of cuddles were all it took to make her feel better. That remedy is still an effective one, even though she’s much older now. When I see her scrunched into herself, looking tired and pale, and gazing up at me with her big, weary brown eyes, I can’t help but want to squeeze her tight and sing her lullabies.