Dual DS's

Last October, we had our first round of parent-teacher conferences, at which time, we were informed by Isaac's teacher that he was doing great academically, but that he was really struggling socially. He was having outbursts, like snapping crayons and smashing others' projects. He was also not playing with others, generally speaking, and had pretty much made zero friends at his new school. I spoke at length with the teacher, both then and in subsequent conversations. We tried to find things that we could work on together to help Isaac make progress in the areas where he was struggling.

One of the things we did at home - well, pretty much, Lucas did (and I totally agreed with, but it was just really an Isaac and Daddy thing) - was to give Isaac some pretty big incentive. For those of you who know Isaac at all, you know that he is completely and totally motivated by electronics... wii, PlayStation, computer, and DS. One thing he has been wanting for quite some time is his own DS. So Lucas sat down and talked with him about his behavior. He told him that if he would work really hard through school, change his attitude, stop acting out at others, make a true effort at making friends, etc consistently for the next few months in school, then he would take him to get his very own DS.


Well... last week we had our second and final parent-teacher conferences of the school year. Again, Isaac was doing very well academically. Reading at a high second-grade / low third-grade level, doing great in math and science, and writing very well. All great! But the best part was that his behavior section had all positives! No outbursts. No tantrums. No attitude. And he has been really opening up and making friends, interacting with others, and so on. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was, and I could just see Isaac's face light up as we were talking about it at the conference.

That night, after conferences, we went home and he got to talk to his daddy on the phone. And FINALLY, after six long months of hard work and consistent effort, Isaac earned his DS! So yesterday, amid other things (like a trip to the movie theater to watch Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D.... sweet), we took a trip to Wal-Mart, where Isaac got to pick out his DS. He chose a red one. He was sooooo very excited! And he should be! He definitely worked hard for that sucker! The first thing they did when they got home (after the movie) was find a game that they could play battle-style with their 2 DS's.