The Daily Routine

Every morning, I hear the same words.

"Mommy! It's so nice good to see you! I'm glad you came to see me! Let's go watch The Waltons!"

Miss and I have developed a tradition of watching The Waltons each morning while I nurse Master. We have the Hallmark channel included in our free cable package here, and I've found that this is a show I can watch with Miss in the room with no fear of graphic violence, bad language or other "adult themes" appearing in the plot. (This is more than I can say, by the way, for The Today Show or any other news program. I used to try watching the news each morning, but found that I had to be might speedy with my remote finger in order to avoid teaching Miss a new vocabulary and simultaneously giving her nightmares.)

This viewing tradition is only a few weeks old, and we seldom watch more than 20 minutes of each show, but it is already an important part of the daily routine for Miss. The comfort that little ones find in their routine never ceases to amaze me. Both of the children seem to be so much happier when they know what to expect, when they know what is coming next in the order of their day, and when they know that Daddy and I will be there to share all of these little things with them. One difficult aspect of Mr. Peanut's job is his ever-changing schedule, which causes our routine to vary somewhat from day to day. We are learning, though, to keep the routine alive for the children regardless of Mr.'s schedule, and that he can just join in for whatever part of the day that he spends with us.

We've yet to transmit to Mr. Peanut the enthusiasm over the Waltons, however. He'll have no choice but to catch on if Miss has anything to say about it. She is consistently calling me Mary-Ellen, and likes to proclaim "Good-Night, John-Boy!" every chance she gets.