Upside down

After Izzy's Parent/Teacher conference, I could see the areas that he really needed to practice and numbers was one of them. He can count pretty high for his age, but has a problem recognizing the numbers by sight. After just a couple of days of practice with a numbers puzzle, he know all of his numbers with confidence except 6 and 9. When it gets to these numbers, he takes a long pause and then just starts guessing. So I tried to think creatively and give him something to remember like 9 stands on its tail and 6 stands on its circle. Last night Marcus and I helped him with this again for about an hour and he is such a perfectionist, he wouldn't let us stop until he got it perfect. Finally, it was bedtime and I just had to make him let it go. I promised we would practice again tonight and he would eventually get them right. As I am tucking him in, he says, "Mommy, I don't like those upside down things." (After a few minutes of questioning, I realize he means #6 and 9) "I don't like them because they are too hard. We should just throw them in the trash anyway because I think they are broken. Then I would know all of my numbers!"

Oh if life was just that simple. If only we could just toss away the things that give us a little trouble!

We are going to keep up the hard work, and hopefully soon he can feel proud of himself for accomplishing a task that didn't naturally come easily to him. Until then, anyone have any tips so I don't find poor #6 and 9 in the trash can? =)