What Season Is It Anyway?

In Aaron’s orderly world, the change of seasons presents………..well, change……….and change of any sort does not go unnoticed by Aaron.  The seasonal changes don’t upset him, but they do cause him to feel the need to discuss those changes – a lot.  He enjoys weather, anyway, so when he feels the temperature fluctuations and sees the trees changing then he will talk and talk about it. 

I remember back in the spring, or nearly spring, Aaron came outside to discuss this issue with me as I was pruning our Rose of Sharon bushes. It wasn’t technically spring yet, according to the black and white calendar that Aaron has on his wall, but he was somewhat flustered.  He had just come home from his group and it was a warm day in March.  He marched outside, coming over to where I was working, and said, “Mom, those kids said it’s spring.  It’s not spring until March 20!”  I explained, as I have so often, about how we talk about spring when it starts getting warm but that yes, spring doesn’t really arrive until that certain date that he knows is on his calendar……….in black and white………set in stone.  I thought that once again, after this same discussion over all these years, that he had for this spring……….for this moment………settled the “When Does Spring Really Start?” conflict. 

Silly me.  Later that evening, he walked into my bedroom and said, “So is it spring yet?  I don’t understand that.”  Ah, Aaron…………..seasonal ebbs and flows don’t match calendar dates, do they?  And that certainly doesn’t match your rigid view of the world, your view that is on your calendar, does it? 

It was no surprise to me when on September 21, Aaron came into the kitchen and asked, “Mom!  Is it fall yet?”  He knew it was fall because he had looked on his calendar, but I affirmed that today was the first day of fall.  And his response:  “So why is it hot?”  You see, Aaron also struggles with the fact that the first day of a new season doesn’t mean that there is an instant change in temperature.  This is just another anomaly that doesn’t compute in his brain. 

Our temperatures now have cooled down significantly.  Aaron is actually going to wear long pants today.  Changing his wardrobe every season, from shorts to long pants and then back to shorts in the spring, has always been a challenge for Aaron.  He gets used to one set of clothes and then he has to change.  This includes long sleeved or short sleeved shirts, too!  He would love living in a steady climate, like Hawaii, all year long!

Our cooler temperatures that we are now enjoying have not gone unnoticed by Aaron, of course.  As we played Skip-Bo last night, he said, “Mom, now that it’s cool, warmness is on another continent in the United States.”  He thought I was sighing because I needed air. 

So we discuss a little geography and a little science and a little about the seasons……..and finally just agree that he is correct, to some degree……….which makes him happy and off to bed he goes.  I never would have dreamed that something as routine as the change of seasons would create so much discussion.  But then I never dreamed that we would have an Aaron and that the key word in this seasonal thing is the word  “CHANGE.” 

If it continues to be cool, he’ll be bringing up winter any day now.  And if it snows before December 21, I will be sighing a lot as I once again explain to him how it could possibly snow before winter is actually here.  Seasons were so simple before we had Aaron.

But not nearly as interesting.