Another Opprotunity to Teach

Yesterday before we went to the library Brogan drew a picture of the library, then a picture of a little girl frowning. I asked him what each picture was and he explained,
"It's the library and a sad little girl."
"Why is the little girl sad?" I asked.
"Because I kicked her."
My nervous response "Do you like the little girl to be sad?"
"No."
Relieved, I then discussed with him how hitting/pushing/kicking/biting would make a little girl or boy he wanted to play with very sad and NOT want to play with him.
To further the point I went on to physically show him how little girls/boys like to be touched and what he could say to someone he wanted to play with instead of the abuse.
He then took his picture of the little girl, erased the frown and drew in a smile.
I asked him why she was smiling and he replied, "I'm a nice boy."
Wanting to implement the words of advice as soon as possible, we headed over to the library and into the kids area. Brogan immediately picks out the smallest child there, crouches down, strokes her arm gently and asks,
"Do you want to play, little girl?"

*heart swells, a little bit of foggy-eye*

I can't say the lesson will stick. Or if we'll have to talk about this a dozen more times before he really gets it. But for that one moment in time, it was absolutely precious.

Dry Erase Boards

What do you MEAN I shouldn't draw on my face?!?!

Don't be mistaken, I'm a genius (even as I spell that word wrong) - but sometimes it takes me a little bit of time and a little bit of money to catch on.
As displayed, Brogan loves to draw and write. It's possibly his favorite thing to do other than go on long car rides. To indulge this love of his we were going through around a ream of paper every other week to keep up with his demand. He wasn't being wasteful either - he'd use up the whole paper, both sides - then put the papers he didn't want me to display in the recycling bin.
When Kimberly was over for one of her In Home Training sessions a couple weeks ago she brought out one of her "personal size" dry erase boards and had him do some of his lesson on that.
*Bing!*
Lights went on in my head - of course! What a cost effective way to allow Brogan the freedom to draw to his hearts content, but save us some money, some mess and at least half a forest of trees.
Don't get me wrong, if Brogan is ever in the proximity of paper he's scrambling to find a pen/pencil and going at it like mad. But he's also very content with the dry erase boards.

Once again, without knowing it, Kimberly saves the day.

They're Missing

Brogan brought these pictures to show me this morning, thought I'd share the laugh:

SantaMissing SantaMissing Ms. Kimberly

Making Decisions

I think making decisions is a pretty important life skill, so I almost always give Brogan at least two options to choose from in as many situations as possible. The other day he decided to use that method (to a great extent) with me to get what he wanted.
"Mommy - go to the library or play Lincoln Logs?"(pointing to each picture as he asks) I really didn't want to do either, I wanted to finish the laundry... but knowing this was him employing a method I have been using with him I couldn't turn him down.
Lincoln Logs have been a great teaching tool with him. After helping me build which ever structure he has decided on, he will grab which ever animals and people he wants us to act out in that moment and then we play out scenarios, ie: The alligator wants to play with the dog and mom but he keeps biting them, so the mommy will say,
"Do you want to play with us, Flossy (he came up with the name, I have no idea where it came from)?" Asks the mom.
"Yes, I want to play!" replies the alligator.
"We want to play with you too, but we don't like it when you hurt us. That makes us sad. You can play with us if you don't hit, bite or push us, okay?"
Alligator pauses for longer than I had anticipated, then, "Okay."
Then play continues - with the alligator not attempting to eat the other characters again.

I'm a little crazy about this kid