As part of Isabella's school work, once a week she draws a random picture and then writes a (very) short letter about it. She then decides who she wants to send the picture and letter to. It's a great way to motivate her to write and is the same exact technique we used with Kyle when we wanted to get him writing on a more regular basis.
As soon as she decides who she is going to send her mail to I have Kyle write a letter to the same person - so they're both getting lots of practice with their writing skills. Last week Grampy (my Dad) was the lucky recipient of mail from his Vargas Grandkids. Kyle wrote about the "Big News" and told Grampy how excited he is about being a big brother for the 3rd time. Bella wrote that she missed him and wanted to go play at his house. We sent the mail out on Friday. On Tuesday a package arrived in the mail addressed to Kyle. Bella was sitting right next to him when he opened the envelope. In it was a letter from Grampy along with one of Kyle's favorite magazines - Popular Mechanic. Immediately Bella said "Why didn't Grampy send me a letter back???". Unable to come up with a quick answer on my own, I told her maybe she should call him and ask him why he didn't send her anything...hahaha Poor Grampy was put on the spot when he answered the phone and Bella said "Hi Grampy, This is Bella. I sent you a letter. Why didn't you send ME a letter? Why did you only send KYLE something??". Suffice to say, not 2 days later!!, she received her own package in the mail from Grampy...and boy was she excited!!! Grampy sent her a short letter, a pencil, an eraser and a special locket with a teenage picture of yours truly in it! Bella was literally GLOWING as she carefully looked through all of her new "treasures". That night, much as I'd done with Kyle when he was a little older than she is, we sat down & made her a "Letter Box":
After she was done decorating it, she carefully folded her very first letter from Grampy and placed it into the box...and then she excitedly said to Kyle "Do you want to write me a letter so I can put it into my Letter Box???" hahaha So cute!
I'm sure Kyle will write her a letter, providing he can squeeze it into his busy schedule, haha As many of you already know, a couple of weeks ago I decided it was time for him to start doing his own laundry. He's been helping me out with the laundry for quite some time now so I knew that it wouldn't be hard to teach him how to do it on his own. I placed a small basket in his room that is just big enough to hold exactly one full load of laundry. When the basket was full he carried it down to the basement and then I "shadowed" him as he proceeded to wash, dry, fold and put it all away. I'm very proud of him and the spectacular job he's doing with his newest chore!
With Bella turning 5 this summer I really need to step it up in the chore department with her. I had her doing some small tasks a few months ago but I didn't really follow through with anything, probably because it's just easier (and quicker) for me to do them myself. That being said, just like with Kyle, I want her to understand that doing chores is one of the responsibilities of being part of a family.
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