I was thinking today about my son and his serious issues concerning his sense of time. I do realize that small children really cannot understand the concept of "time" when it comes to things like weeks and months and years. I am thinking that at around age four, you ought to be figuring out the simple concept of "tomorrow" and "later" and "in the morning"....things like that, no?
LittleJuJu has even gone as far as to invent his own terms for different times of day. He is only beginning to catch on that breakfast occurs when you wake up, lunch is in the afternoon and dinner (or supper) is the evening meal. Instead of saying "tomorrow" he will say, "in the next morning" :
"Mama, can we go to the mall?"
"Maybe tomorrow, we are too busy today."
"You mean in the next morning?"
"Tomorrow, yes. The day after today."
"oh, ok. In the next morning."
He will smell dinner cooking and wander into the kitchen:
"What are we having for breakfast?"
"Well, you had waffles for breakfast already."
"Is this lunch?"
"You had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, remember?"
"So this must be dinner, then. When do we eat breakfast?"
"You will eat breakfast again tomorrow, right after you wake up."
"In the next morning?"
*sigh* " Yes LittleJuJu, in the next morning."
"Can I have a cookie?"
"Maybe later if you finish your dinner."
"No! Not later...today...please!"
"Later is still today, it is just not right now."
"Later in the next morning or later right now?"
"No, later today but not right now."
" After lunch?"
"Oh lord, forget it."
I do have a favorite new one though:
"Mama, when will the baby come?"
"In about 7 or 8 months..."
"...blink....blink..."
"How long is 7 or 8 years?"
"No honey, not years. MONTHS"
"Oh, months. In the next morning?"
This is where my eyes tend to glaze over and I slip into a coma-like state.