Saturday Morning

My son gets to watch television once a week on Saturday Mornings. These shows have been pre-screened by my husband and I to be suffeciently and consistently safe. During this one three-hour stretch, we extend our bunny ears, pull in a station -- I don't know from where -- and Willy watches a series of shows that have little lessons embedded in exciting little tales. He loves it.

To describe how much of a ritual this is, and how important it is to my son, I'll tell you this. Willy learned the days of the week in order to determine what Saturday meant. It was that mysterious day when the cartoons would be on and he'd get to see something we just didn't have in our video collection. He'll tell you all about it, starting about ten minutes after cartoons are over.

Today is Saturday. Tomorrow is Sunday. Then, today is Sunday, and tomorrow is Monday. Then, today is Monday, and tomorrow is Tuesday. Then, today is Tuesday, and tomorrow is Wednesday. Then, today is Wednesday, and tomorrow is Thursday. Then, today is Thursday, and tomorrow is Friday. Then, today is Friday, and tomorrow is Saturday. Then, today is Saturday, and I get to watch cartoons!

We go through this a lot. At least once a day, everyday, starting at whatever the day happens to be. First, Willy confirms the day, then goes through the littany. Now, we didn't expect this. Willy started watching cartoons on Saturdays a while ago. Yet, the pattern of it became predictable. As his awareness grew, he started to be able to understand the time concept. Granted, it was later than his "typically" developing peers, but he's finally got it down. He understands days.

Now, hopefully, once school starts and we tell him that tomorrow is Monday, and he has to go to school on Mondays, he won't say, "No, I don't. Tomorrow isn't school."

We'll see.

For now, I'm just tired. Because my school is on-going, and somehow my days and nights got reversed. I usually like being a night-owl, but this is rather ridiculous, because I didn't try to be a night-owl this time. It just happened. However, if we're to go to church on Sunday, I have to get my days and nights switched back, at least for a little while. How? By staying up for most of Saturday, including last night.

Usually I would have gone to bed before now. It's been a while since I've listened to Willy's joyful exclamations at whatever surprises his cartoons hold. But now I can hear them loud and clear. It's a wonderful ritual that has taught our son time-concepts that were otherwise a struggle...yet it doesn't help my head not to ache.