Leone
Leone is absent-minded and forgetful and generally unreliable. He is like a whirlwind coming through the room, dropping clothes, possessions, etc. along the way. He's okay though, I like him. Today I helped him with this homework, which was writing a few sentences in english for a “journal entry.” Of course he at first tried to get me to write it for him and of course I did not do that. I told him to write it and I would underline the mistakes. After doing this, I realized right away that he has most trouble with vowels. He'll often try to spell words like terrible as “terribol” or but as “bat” because, for example, the letter A in italian is always pronounced like the U in but. The good news is that he is very susceptible to harmless bribes and he sets himself up for them easily. Whenever I am trying to get him to do something that he doesn't want to do, he'll immediately look for a distraction. That distraction becomes the new bribe! For example, after I'd talked him through each of his spelling mistakes on his homework, I took the homework in my hand and started asking him how to spell certain words that he had missed. He immediately was agonized and moaned loudly. Then, seeing an opportunity to avoid more homework, became suddenly interested in my iPod sitting on the table. I responded that I would gladly let him look at it if he would play along and spell the words for me. He consented, and I managed to squeeze a few more minutes of learning into the anxious and easily fatigued “school zone” of his head.
The bad news is that I have to bother him constantly to do anything, and he doesn't have hardly any responsibilities of his own. Some of the more ridiculous things that I have to make sure get attended to: Leone must drink water every night before bed (he forgets to drink water, according to Caterina (I say don't remind him and see how long that lasts)), Leone must be properly dressed according to the weather that day, Leone must have his schoolwork done and his backpack and locker at school organized. These are all my responsibilites, for Leone will not do any of these things unless you ask him 4 times and then stand there looking at him until he does them. I keep thinking once when I was about his age, going to middle school, and my alarm didn't go off and nobody in my family even noticed I was still sleeping until I woke up at about noon and walked downstairs. By the time I was his age I was waking up on my own, making breakfast, getting dressed, walking to school, doing all my homework and everything else by myself.