And so it is

It's now official: Sava has gone from a child who barely ever watched television to a junkie who craves and demands Elmo and Thomas the Tank Engine around the clock. His being sick the last few days has made play dough of our powers of judgment, and when he whines that he wants to watch either the disheveled red monster or the big-eyed blue train, we find ourselves quite unwilling to say "no," which would mean living with a crying unhappy boy. We say to each other that it's a phase which will pass, and once he no longer has fevers every four hours, we will recover our wills and be firm in distracting him from the television with more meaningful activities such as teaching Bob the Builder how to inspect the tires of his cement truck. For now, we're thankful that there's something in the world to keep him from acting as miserable as he feels, and we choose to believe the obvious untruth that somehow as soon as his health gets better, Thomas and Elmo will disappear from the world.