A walk with Lupcke

I had a nice chat with Mr. L today as we walked along the row of buses in front of the school. Last time I was in the classroom, I noticed a bin with socks for erasers that looked really terrible. Today, I brought him new socks to use as erasers. I told him I felt a little guilty because the socks all had pairs, but were from N's deployment and have not been worn for a very long time. They still have the tags on them from the overseas laundry. He thanked me and said now he could throw the old ones out. These are nice, heavy socks.

He brought up how he has come to realize the way Five is about getting dressed to go outside. His observations were that Five always asks to have the Velcro around his wrists put as tight as possible. He also needs to have every snap, snapped and the zipper all the way up to his chin. I said yes, those are all unique Five habits. I then told him about how two years ago, before we moved to MI, Five didn't wear clothes for the last two weeks in MN. Our first summer here he would rotate four pieces of clothing. I had asked the Dr if this was enabling Five, but he said yes, but I also have my sanity to consider. So, we just took it one day at a time and eventually Five started to add more items to his wardrobe. I really can't complain now. Besides the unique tight, complete habits, he does wear a variety of clothing and has gotten much better. It's all about how it feels. He even went through a time of wearing jeans! That was a major breakthrough. Although I still have a hard time with negotiations, he does accept my suggestions on occasion. We have parent teacher conferences in less than a month. I am anxious to hear what he has to say. In some ways, I am afraid I have failed Five in working more on his letters and reading. I have to admit, it's just been so hard to motivate him to sit down and do it. When we do, it is great. I feel so good about his progress. When we don't, I feel like a failure. I need to make it more of a priority for him. He is doing really well, but I am sure I can improve. After being in school all day, it is a struggle to get him involved with school work at home. I tried having a system with a reward at the end, but like most things, it did not last. They have bins in the kitchen with their name on them. Each bin contains learning activities specific to that childes level. If they do five things in the bin, they get to mark a slip with five x's and get a kit kat bar. Six really went to town and completed many slips. Five did maybe half. Three was just too little. I had to make things simple for her. She had to sing the days of the week song or do an alphabet puzzle, etc.

Guess I need something more meaningful for motivation. Think, think, think. If you come up with something, we take suggestions or recommendations. : )