Why did I wait so long?

Nathan has been on his ADHD meds now for almost a week and I am amazed at the transformation it has made in him. He took his pill Sunday morning and then about an hour later I suggested starting his homework. For once he did not resist, argue or complain about doing it.
We started with his spelling words. I asked if he wanted to write them on a piece of paper as I said them or if he wanted to do it on the white board/easel we have. He chose the white board. We did the entire list twice and the ones he spelled incorrectly, at least another time or two. All without any fidgeting or complaining. The good news is that he got an 87% on his test and he got a compliment from his teacher about how much better his hand writing was.
I had forgotten all about doing an "All About Me" book that he needs to fill out until I unearthed the envelope earlier that week. I told him that we had to do two pages and we had to make a rough draft first. He did not complain about having to write the same thing twice and he did slow down and try to write neatly. When we were done with the two pages, I started putting them back in the envelope. He said that he wanted to do more of the papers! He never volunteers to do more work than he has to.
Then I asked him if he wanted to read or practice his popcorn words flash cards. He decided to do the flashcards. Again, no whining, complaining, fidgeting or procrastination. It was super easy to get his homework done...in fact it was almost too easy.

Later that day, when I was looking at the Sunday paper, I pulled out the Toys 'R Us catalog for the boys to look at. Nathan grabbed his Christmas list and probably copied half the book onto his Christmas list. I was amazed that he was writing his list by himself. Normally he would have asked me to write it for him or he would have just circled the item in the catalog.
Bruce thinks that I just want Nathan's cooperation to be from the medicine as he doesn’t see how it could affect him already. I explained it to him as it was explained to me. The medicine he is taking is like an aspirin. It starts to work right away and will only last a certain amount of time before it wears off. It is not like a Lipitor where it takes time to get your cholesterol level lowered. I e-mailed his teacher and asked if she would let me know after a week or two if she is noticing a difference in his schoolwork and actions at school.