Where is your coat?

I seem to be reciting this a lot recently. Kaylen is constantly forgetting her coat wherever she goes. She's done it 5 times (plus 2 close calls) in the last two weeks!

#1 lost and found:
A couple weeks ago, Jock picked Kaylen up at daycare for me. When he got there, she couldn't find her coat. She first told him that I didn't have her wear one that morning, but he called me to check that story. Sure enough, she’d left it at school, and she came home with it the next afternoon. At this point, it wasn’t a big deal – one-time-thing, right?! Not so…

#2 & #3 lost:
Last Wednesday, it got cold fast after dark, so I sent her in her pink jacket to church. We came home without it – so it’s gone at least until Sunday. I probably should have remembered it when I picked her up too, but we just talked about not leaving our things places.

Thursday I sent her to school in her pink zip-up fleece. Thursday afternoon she didn’t bring it home. Now we see a trend forming here – not taking care of her things, could end up costing us money, irresponsible, etc, so we had a good talking-to that night.

Friday morning I sent her in her blue zip-up hooded sweatshirt. That one came home, but not the pink fleece that I’d told her to look for. Sunday we forgot to ask about her pink jacket at church – so we’re down that one at least until Wednesday now.

#4 lost:
Monday I sent Kaylen to school in her blue sweatshirt again. She came home with just the shirt on her back. Now we’re down three! Daddy gave her an earful again.

#3 & 4 found:
Tuesday, I sent Kaylen to school in her purple sweatshirt. She came home with the blue and purple sweatshirts and the pink fleece! :)

#5 lost, #2 found, #5 found, #6 close call:
Wednesday morning it was cold and rainy, so the sweatshirts weren’t going to work. So, I dug out the winter liner of her pink jacket that can be worn itself. That one didn’t make it home either. She knew the minute I walked into daycare that she was in trouble. Oh boy! I’d picked her up early that day, so we headed off to run errands before church. I gave her quite the earful, and she recited, “It’s my responsibility to bring my coat home,” half-way to Wal-Mart and most of the way home. Then when we got home, she wrote the sentence several times. I wrote it at the top, but still, no small feat for a 5-year-old that can’t spell or write letters very well. She got some good writing practice though, as I made sure she spelled them all correctly.

By the time she was done, we were running late for church, so we jumped in the van, with her chomping down her PB&J as fast as she could on the way. When we signed her in, I asked if they’d found her jacket, and they immediately asked if it was pink. Yep – that’s it!

Thursday we sent her to school without a jacket - she already had one at school, and she wasn't going to be too cold just going from a vehicle to a building. Jock took her to school since we were running too late for her to make the daycare bus. He impressed upon her again that she'd better come home with her jacket. She did - we're once again in posession of all her jackets! Although last night at our small group Bible study she almost walked out without it again. Mom saved the day.

#7 close call:
When I showed up to daycare today, Kaylen’s daycare teacher immediately asked Kaylen to tell me who saved her day. (This teacher is also her afternoon bus driver and had also witnessed the previous trials of lost coats when I’ve picked her up.) Kaylen just gave me this embarrassed half-smile, so the teacher told me that she noticed Kaylen didn’t have her jacket when getting off the bus. The teacher asked her where it was, reminding her to go back to her seat and get it. Lucky girl!

Now, I know it’s just fall, and it’s hard to remember a jacket when it’s cold in the morning but then warm in the afternoon. I also know that she’s having to learn fast to be responsible for her things. She’s always been dropped of, stayed in the same building, and been picked up. If there was something amiss, we always asked right away before we went home. Someone else was always on top of things for her. Now she’s having to do it herself.

I’m told by friends with older children, that this was about the age that their children forgot their things places. With Kaylen, I really think it’s just a matter of her not paying attention to things – it’s right there on her hook all day long – how could she miss it when she goes to retrieve her backpack that’s on the same hook? Jock told me when he visited school last week one day, that Kaylen was always eager to be the first in line. She’s probably just in such a hurry to get in line that she doesn’t pay attention.

So this week, I’ve been pointing out times that she is and isn’t paying attention – mainly when we’re giving instructions, or other times when I notice that she’s being really observant, etc. I really hope we’re getting the message across to her. I don’t know what we’ll do when it gets cold enough for a hat, mittens, snow pants and boots. We always had trouble with those, even at daycare where she was always being reminded. It could be a long winter. But she can't go without when it's bitterly cold, and I can’t afford to purchase four pair of each. I might have to resort to gluing them onto her! Hmmmm…

What other tricks/ideas do you seasoned moms have up your sleeves?