Flanagan Clan

Patrick has been very interested in spelling words lately, and we’ve been showing him how to spell different things that he asks me to write for him. Yesterday he wanted me to write “bow and arrow” and “bubble gun” for him so he could know how to spell them. Today I was finishing up a dress for a customer when Patrick came into the room with a marker and piece of paper and asked me to write Sammy’s name for him. I immediately wrote down S-A-M-M-Y. After I had finished, Patrick looked critically at my work and said that Sammy’s name did NOT have two M’s. He then left the room and came back a short time later with the letters, S-A-M-U-E-L written on the same sheet of paper and showed it to me. “This is how you spell Sammy’s name, Mama”. I began to wonder if Andrew had spelled the name out for him, so I asked him, and he said he’d show me how he figured it out. He took me to his room and showed me Sammy’s name train. “See, Mama, only 1 M”.

I can just see the obsessive compulsive and perfectionist behaviors from Andrew and I already having a huge impact on that little guy. What have we done?!!!