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("Jt %S r e or Mel.") <br /> Ou I n d oor pl <br /> How one mother teamed up with city officials to beat cabin fever. <br /> By Liz Rosenberg <br /> 4 4 <br /> y f k 4j�rs�► a <br /> >a 4 <br /> b B �2, a f <br /> fi t <br /> 1, <br /> V q yy <br /> W <br /> =ter <br /> y <br /> Binghamton children can now draw, read, paint, or tumble in the comfort of a converted schoolroom. <br /> T he winter our son, Eli, was to write. And here we were. entertaining himself and his mother? <br /> eighteen months old, he was Eli and I spent those first few We went to the mall. It was <br /> recovering from epiglottitis, a weeks playing peekaboo and empty packed with women and kids in stroll- <br /> dangerous flu that landed him in the the coins -onto- the -bed. We moved ers. For the first time, it occurred to <br /> hospital. He needed a few months to on to dancing and to reading stories. me that the problem might be wide <br /> regain his strength, and our. pediatri- Some afternoons, he would watch spread. What we all needed was a <br /> cian suggested we take Eli out of day me type. After a month, we had seri- playground— indoors. <br /> care temporarily. "I'm not saying ous cabin fever, and nowhere to go. <br /> you have to keep him in a bubble," I remembered long summer days Springing into action. <br /> she said. "He's healthy now. But his spent in the parks, where Eli was I called the mayor's office. "Do <br /> exposure to other kids should be lim- happy to be near other children play you happen to have anything like an <br /> ited. Can you keep him home ing -happy just to hear their voices, indoor playground?" I asked. I was <br /> It was January-the longest, dark And I was glad to see other adults, lucky. The woman who answered <br /> est, coldest month of the year —in new faces, even the trees. Was I the the phone didn't laugh when I ex- E <br /> Binghamton, New York. I wasn't only mother incapable of entertain- piained to her why I was calling. W <br /> teaching that semester; theoretically, ing herself and her toddler? Did I "That sounds nice," she said. "I z <br /> at least, it was going to be my time have the only toddler incapable of don't think we have anything like it, Y <br /> 95 <br />