#36: Sesame Street has still got it.
Outside of the house, the moon was well into its shift. Inside, the minute hand ticked closer and closer to eight o’clock. Little Abigail sipped on the final ounces of formula in her last bottle of the day. Just before the bottle read zero, Abbie pushed it away, signifying a fully belly.
Her mother rose from the couch, and placed Abbie in the center of her unicorn mat. Littered around it were rings, shapes, and animals. All were destined to be placed inside of the little girl’s mouth.
After fifteen minutes of playtime, Mom would call out, “Can you check to see if she’s wet?” Like clockwork, Dad would rise from the couch and unzip Abbie’s pajama’s hoping to see a blue line.
“We’ve got blue!” shouts Dad.
Hearing his name, Blue, the family dog, would shoot up and run over to the unicorn mat, nearly sidestepping Abbie’s head. Dad would push him out of the way, “Not you, Blue. The blue line on her diaper!”
Mom and Dad would change her and transfer Abbie’s sound machine and surveillance system from the nursery to their bedroom. Mom would ask, “What does Abbie want to read tonight?”
Dad would ponder for a moment, thinking about last night’s selection while looking at the bookshelf. “She definitely wants to read Bear Has a Story to Tell.”
Mom, Dad, and Abbie would lay down together on the bed and hold the book high up above Abbie’s eyes. As mom’s arms cradled her, Dad would begin reading the first page. “It was almost winter and Bear was getting sleepy. But first, Bear had a story to tell…”
---
This is pretty much how every night for the last six months have gone for us. We decided early on to make reading together part of our nighttime routine, and it’s been a nice way for all of us to wind down from the day.
Morning routines are a little more challenging to maintain. During the week, we, along with both sets of grandparents, play musical chairs when it comes to childcare. Some days have earlier wake up times than others, but through it all, Abbie is lovingly cared for. The weekend, however, is different.
The weekends allow for all of us to rise naturally and ease into our day. After Abbie’s had her breakfast, and we’ve made our morning coffee and tea, a morning routine has begun to root. We sit down in front of the TV, fire up the PBS Kids app, and turn on the latest episodes of Sesame Street.
Sesame Street has been educating and entertaining children for over fifty years. The show, started by Jim Henson, features classic muppets like Big Bird, Elmo, and Cookie Monster. Reader, I am not telling you anything new here. Chances are you watched it as a child (like I did) and/or rediscovered it with your own children.
As I’m rediscovering through Abbie’s eyes, I must say: Sesame Street has still got it. The show’s aesthetics have been updated over the last half century, but its heart is still the same. As characters, new and old, appear on the screen, Abbie positivity reacts to each of them. She smiles and laughs as the characters sing about the letter of the day, and she cracks up whenever Elmo dances.
My favorite has always been Cookie Monster, and whenever he appears on screen, I sit down next to Abbie and pretend to eat all her toys like he does cookies. This, too, cracks her up.
What cracks me up is what Cookie Monster does on the show these days. He runs a food truck with another muppet named Gonger, and the two make meals for children that video message in with them. (Here’s the two of them making tacos together.) As the two of them go over the ingredients in the recipe, Cookie Monster gets a little too excited about them and inevitably eats one. This causes the two to have to go out and get some from a local farm. (This is where the education comes in.) By the end of each skit, Cookie and Gonger launch the finished product to the kids who called in, and I’m left holding my sides in laughter.
My laughter, in turn, causes Abbie to laugh.
Reader, routines are important, and our little family is very content in the ones we have cemented and the ones we are developing.
Thanks for reading.