Learning Frustration

I am just a little frustrated with Luke right now. He does not know his letters at all and doesn't know his numbers all that well. I try to be a good mom and teach him the basics, but I thought that by know, he would have those down! We bought him a letters puzzle and a numbers puzzle when he was like 18 months, he watches Leap frog letter/number shows fairly often, and I've sung the abc songs and counted EVERYTHING a million times. We have practiced learning these things a lot and I just am not sure what to do in order for him to care about them. He counts everything out of order (1,7,4,9,10!) and sings the ABCs out of order/ mumbles through most of the song.

Today I tried to play a game where you race across the room to find the correct letter. We cut out each letter and put them in order on a mat. Then I was on the couch and would ask him to run and get the . For example, I'd say "Go and find the "a"! "A" makes the Aah sound, like apple, ant. "A!" and he'd run over and bring back some other letter. He really didn't know! I thought for sure he would be able to do it! We did it on a smaller scale a few weeks back where I'd pull out 3 letters and he'd have to find the correct letter from those 3 and he was able to do it then. But I think that I would give him clues, like "this letter is purple!" if he hesitated. Then he knew right away. (He is an expert on colors)

I do think that with the numbers, he might be bored with just counting, but I am not sure because he has never really shown me that he has mastered the skill. He is kind of of 50/50 on answering number questions correctly.

Before I leave you thinking that my son is way behind on everything, I will do a little bragging to bring him back up! I feel this is necessary because I am feeling down and I don't think he is dumb; he is just interested in other things.

Luke is a fabulous artist and works with his hands really well. He colors pretty close to in the lines, he draws people, shapes (can name the shapes too) and other creative pictures. He loves to paint and knows a lot about colors, can name all the basic colors and even knows a little about mixing colors. He has learned how to cut things out and is pretty good at that. He likes to cut and paste and does it without making a huge mess. He is also good with play dough and other crafts. He is good at organizing things and separating things. He is very good at imaginative play. He loves building houses out of anything (blocks, boxes, toys, chairs, pillows, blankets, etc) and pretending there's a fox/wolf/bear/lion/river outside and we have to get inside.

I know his little brain is working and he is learning every day. I am proud of Luke in every way possible and I don't want it to seem that I am not. He is awesome.

But I would like some advice on how to motivate him to learn his letters and numbers. I could also use advice on how to potty train him at night, while your giving advice. We've been struggling with that for a long time as well!

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have for me!!