Repetition

We signed Nate up for some extra lessons at a Learning Center near our house. Don't worry, we haven't started scouting colleges yet, but we decided he needs a little extra help with his A,B,C's.
Since his ears work better for the teachers than they do for us, we thought this might be the best approach.

Last Friday was his first day. I was a little nervous based on the evaluation experience a few weeks prior. Luckily we had graduated from full sobs, to light tears. Today, being his second day, he had zero tears. Things were looking up.
The center works on a variety of skills, mainly letter recognition, and sounds in an attempt to give him pre-reading skills. Lately, I've been bribing him with a new toy in order to get him to cooperate for a variety of tests. Apparently just the thought of a new Star Wars lego toy can work magic.

Since he wouldn't let me leave his side in the one hour tutoring session, I sat through the lesson. It's actually very interesting to watch your child get tested, and how he responds to questions you think he knows the answer to, or even better the answers you are CONVINCED he wouldn't get. At other times it can be painful to watch. It's very repetitive. "What is this letter.....D? What sound does it make....duh? (No pun intended.) Then they move on to other activities and come back to the D ten minutes later. "What letter is this????? What sound does it make? When you hear the hesitation in his voice it's hard not to shout, "It's a D!" D....D.....D.....D.

So today when the hour was up, of course Nate tried to hit me up for a toy. My bank account can't keep up with his "learning activities". I figued I would substitute one addiction for the other.
"Let's get some ice cream!'
"Sure, Mom. Can I have Vanilla?"

Yes, it worked. No more $25 lego packs, a $2 kids scoop is definitely in my budget.
Then he said, "I want it in a cone." Mom, Can you say, cone?"

Well, there you have it. Our money is being well spent. At least he gets the concept of repetition!



P.S. On a totally unrelated topic, if you've been following my blog you'll remember we purchased a butterfly kit online. Here's the update. The catepillars are dead on somebody else's doorstep. I checked on the package, and it says it was delivered two weeks ago. Uh-oh.....no package here, so either somebody is enjoying our little science experiment or they are in for a surprise when they open the package with five dead bugs. I'm working on getting the matter resolved. Will keep you posted. Not off to a good start! (Especially for the catepillars.)