Progress!

There was an issue at recess with Lee one other boy Dylan and Rylan. It ended in Lee getting written up for punching and Dylan being written up for punching as well.

I contacted the school counselor to explain the situation and to see if she had any input. Actually  she had some fairly positive feedback about Lee's progress!

We still need to keep working with him on talking about feelings in a constructive way instead of acting on them. But it is so wonderful to hear from someone outside of the situation say that he has been making such progress!

Here is the email I received from the school counselor:

I’m sorry boys had rough recess but how sweet that Rylan wanted help Lee by reporting Dylan. Also, what a progress Lee has made. Asking for alone time and asking Rylan to use different word since “his fault” could be his trigger word.

You guys have done amazing job.  Not many 1^st grade kids can verbalize these things.  I know he is still using his hands and hurtful words but he is becoming more aware of his feelings and triggers.  J

Soo Chin

School Counselor

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Another thing we are working out with the boys is how to spend time playing alone sometimes. Michael pointed out pretty early on that it seemed like Rylan needs some time to play whatever he wants after school for a little while before playing with Lee and "compromising" on games to play. Part of it is that Rylan is obsessed with making all kinds of games up on his white board calendar. He writes all kinds of math equations and point systems ect..on it and uses magnets for all different types of games usually his games have some sort of video game spin to it. Lee has been going back to trains a bit lately and Rylan is pretty over trains at the moment. I think mostly it is that Lee likes to lead in games and Rylan wants to lead by playing by himself sometimes. But it seems like Lee always wants to play with someone else. It is very rare for him to choose to play by himself. It started to become a problem because Lee would get angry at him if he didn't want to play right away. And we had to explain that it is ok to not play with each other all the time. That it is normal since they play with each other so much, ( It is exciting to think that if we end up sharing property with my parents at some point each boy will be able to have their own room!)  Now Lee doesn't get upset with Rylan he just tries to entice him with all different compromises, deals and ideas. It is pretty cute if he doesn't get upset when Rylan declines. He will try to entice Rylan by letting him bring whatever it is he is playing with into his game or by offering up a toy that he doesn't normally like to share.  Today when he was trying to convince Rylan to play his game instead of what Rylan was playing he started to whisper. Sometimes that isn't a good thing so I asked what they were whispering about in a curious light hearted voice and Lee said, " Oh nothing just just man talk...kid-man talk I mean!" hehe 

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The snack drawer in the fridge that is dedicated to only the kids is still probably the greatest idea I have ever thought of! Right now it is full of baggies with carrots, celery, bell peppers, grape tomatoes, broccoli, some mandarins and apples. Whenever the kids want a snack (sometimes because they didn't eat all their dinner or we are making dinner and they smell it so naturally they become hungry and can't wait) we tell them they can have a snack from the drawer and most of the time the snack turns out to be healthier than the dinner anyway!

Lee idiosyncrasy: He loves to eat grape tomatoes and recently decided they taste better if he sucks all the juice out of them first. Normally this would gross me out but if that makes him like grape tomatoes even more so be it!