Work

It's been awhile. Things have been stagnant with our son. Most things have been in "maintenance" mode with everything in our lives lately including our son. I am lucky to have things to maintain. It provides me with work. I have had several friends ask me if they could help me because they are out of work. So I know I am lucky just to have work. We all need some work. I often what if any work my son may be capable of in the future.I have been behind in the garden. As a result I am always in a hurry and frequently working on it at night when my son is being watched or is in bed. So he has not been around much to help or get involved. I saw him watching me from the window one night so I asked him if he wanted to help and he said "yes". So I told him I wanted him to help but had a hard time figuring out what he could do. Well the other night I came up with a simple task. I needed to throw out extra plants that I had sitting around on the patio (about 200) in flats. So I had him help me empty the paks and stack them. This may seem like an easy task but it was a challenge for him. It is difficult for him to stay on task. The cell paks were different sizes so they require some matching skills. Also the dirt is just so darn sensory what with its texture and bugs that it can be a distraction. This worked out very well. I set it up so it would be easy for him and keep him in one place. All he had to do was pull the plants and rootballs, throw them in the wheel barrow for compost and then stack the cell paks. As long as I kept providing the flats before he ran out and had a chance to be distracted he stayed on task. So I decide to mix the cell sizes and provide a challenge.He did a great job. Stayed on task and really seemed to enjoy himself. I kept verbally rewarding him and when he was done I gave him some money (though he can count it and his school takes him on small field trips to buy things, we are not sure he really makes the connection on what it is and does). He seemed generally proud and I told him at bed time I was proud of him being such a good helper. I have a short video of him helping but I am not sure if I can embed it.I will be looking for other tasks for him.