Creating new habits

When Zach saw the eye doctor here in Little Rock in August, he "prescribed" patching Zach's good eye for 45 minutes a day. Because Zach was having a hard time at school and generally with the adjustment to Little Rock, this new routine had to wait until life got a little bit better for Zach. Since our New Orleans pediatric ophthalmologist didn't seem to think it made much of a difference and we haven't been patching for several years, I figured a couple more months wouldn't matter. At our visit this past spring with Dr. Balkan, he warned us that within the year it would be time to do a little plastic surgery on Zach's eyelid. His biggest concern was not his eyesight but that he was adjusting his neck and head to see more level. We figure it's nice to get a second opinion so we moved to Little Rock. Wink. Our next appointment is with the Little Rock Children's Hospital in early December. We'll see what happens then. At both doctors and the school vision screening, Zach showed signs that he couldn't see the images they showed him. I'm not sure if he recognized the rotary telephone in the picture or if he really was cooperating at school, but we're told that he needs some corrective lenses soon. Knowing what to do with his lazy eye is the step before that. When we ask him to see things far away, he says he can see them, so we're simply unsure about how his vision is affected. Answers will come soon.

Anyway, all that to say, we're patching again. And, we have a little pirate. We've started at 30 minutes a day and created a chart so that he can pick out something fun at the toy store when he fills the squares. I was surprised at how well he did with it today. It definitely took some self-discipline not to rip that thing off. I could tell it was aggravating him but he's doesn't complain about much. He colored, played a little, looked at some books, and ate dinner with the patch on.

Not to be left out, Sam has a chart too. He's learning so fast and so well in kindergarten. He's read several small books with mostly sight words and pictures since the first week, but recently he's been put in a reading group (with a workbook! Big deal for him.) and has been learning to sound out words using the sounds he knows. It's harder for him and he keeps forgetting to bring his book home to read to us for homework. The teacher in me wants him to learn responsibility for homework right away, so we figured a bigger reward than a lollipop is maybe what he needs to develop his "homework habit".

We haven't done sticker charts since the potty training days, so it may be just what they need for this stuff. Thanks, Renee, for reminding me about them. No chart for Eli yet. That kid is so darn smart, though, he might be pottying sooner than I'm ready for. He definitely knows how to produce on the potty if I catch him in the act. You should see the faces he makes. Oh, and how about he's the first of the boys to know how to blow his nose. Seriously. How crazy is that? He doesn't dislike me wiping it (yes, he's 18 months old) and he will literally blow, when I say, "blow". I'm fascinated with what he can do in comparison to the others at this age.