One of the things to know about Earlybird is, he looooves parties. Getting the house ready, preparing the food, welcoming family and friends - he loves it all. Happily for him, we host a lot of parties! And when we finish with one, the next day he's asking, "What comes next?" So of course, right after Christmas he was all ...
"When is Easter?"
So I've been planning a countdown of some sort for him in my head, but I couldn't nail down a firm idea ... I'd come up with something, but then it would seem too complicated. EB needs something simple and fun, easy to keep up with every day. (I do too!)
Recently I was at Staples and I found these border paper rolls on sale for $2 apiece. Some were plain white and some had this pretty blue sky pattern. I bought some of each as well as a couple of packages of big smiley face stickers (also on sale, but the price escapes me just now). I had some index cards on hand and colored markers, of course, and so a plan started to form ...
This is EB and me working on the chart before heading into the hospital yesterday. (Yes, I left this to the very last minute, but that's just how I roll lately.)
The wrap on his head was covering the electrodes and wires - the backpack he's wearing held the transmitter into which the wires fed. It still amazes me he wore all of this - and that he slept with it!
Later in the evening, once we were home, I got back to work on my project, with a few new helpers this time ...
I enjoy all my distractions, I really do. :)
With a black marker, I drew a curved line up the middle of the paper and with a purple marker, I wrote numbers alongside it, 40-1. At the bottom of the chart is the 40th day to Easter (Ash Wednesday) and so on upwards to Holy Saturday. Then Bill questioned me on the Sundays - where are the Sundays? Well, of course, we don't count Sundays as part of Lent, but Earlybird is a bit of a stickler when it comes to things like patterns and routine, and skipping a day won't sit right with him ...
So I made the six Sundays a separate part of the poster - in the form of pretty lavender index card crosses (one is pink for Rose Sunday) that sit off on the side. (I made these from index cards.) On Sundays I will write something special on each cross ~ a few joyful words of encouragement.
Here's how the poster looks hanging on the side of the liturgical bookcase ...
And here's a closer look at the paper and smiley face stickers ...
You can see where we started at the very bottom with EB's 1st smiley face sticker.
There are some notes about the days to come as we move up - feast days and natural events. More might pop up as the season unfolds ...
So at the end of each day EB will place a sticker over the day's number and so on throughout Lent, moving ever closer to Easter Sunday, and the top of the chart.
(And on Easter morning the top of the chart will sprout a giant rainbow and beautiful flowers!)
***
Now, Lent is about sacrifice, but for Earlybird, we're encouraging little acts of kindness/extra effort each day ... giving a little more of ourselves can be its own kind of sacrifice, after all. And really, all he went through this week with the EEG and hospital visits was a true trial ... I told him last night as he applied his sticker that he was very brave and did things he really didn't want to do. Today he has to let me wash his hair (to get more glue out) and I know he really doesn't want me to do that. But I will remind him that sometimes we have to give up a little of our comfort for a greater good. (It's a big and perhaps confusing concept for my little guy but it won't hurt to say it.) Tomorrow I'll suggest a kindness we can do for someone else and have Earlybird help me complete it.
Each day we'll do a little something and over time, fill our chart with smiles, and bring ourselves steadily closer to Easter.
:)
So that's the plan I finally decided upon, and I'm happy with how the project came out ... more importantly, Earlybird seems happy with it! I hope it helps him pass the time until our next family celebration ... and perhaps stretch himself a little as he gives a bit "extra" every day.
Thanks so much for stopping by, my friends ... see you here again very soon!
*❤*
