Well there's good news and bad news. The good news is that Jack decided to branch out this weekend. He found a new interest. The bad news is that as always, he took it to the "Jack" level of interest- aka fixation. I have talked about this in the past:
http://jackandnatesmom.blogspot.com/2012/09/aspergers-and-fixations.html
I am always amazed by just how fixated he can become on a seemingly mundane subject. I mean, this is a kid who shows major ADHD symptoms, I have to ask him a million times to do something, and he has tremendous difficulty focusing in school. And yet, when it comes to an area of interest, I dare any one of you to get his mind off the topic. It all started when I went out for some so called "me time" on Friday night. I went to the mall and bought the boys' easter outfits, went clearance shopping for the boys for next winter and then went book clearance shopping as well. And yes, this does so count as me time because I did these things without being interrupted, so there. I found a book on horses and colts in the clearance section and got it for Jack. It was 3 bucks and he has talked about them in passing before. I thought he might enjoy it. I wasn't wrong, lol. The next morning he was nonstop talking about it, and asked to watch a horse movie. My sister will love this- netflix streaming has The Black Stallion right now. Jack asked to watch it basically continously all weekend. He is hooked.
When he gets like this, as his parents, John and I can feel like his puppets. He is constantly talking to us about the day's subject and it's the same thing over, and over, and over. This is when it really helps to have a partner- so we can exchange looks, pretend to shoot ourselves behind Jack's back, whinny when he walks out of the room, etc. For instance, Jack asked each of us no less than thirty times today what type of horse is in the movie- you know, the one CALLED the Black Stallion. It's like he physically needs to hear us say it. So he will stand there with his little hands on his hips and say over and over, but what is he called- and we try to redirect as we've been taught, "you tell me", or "I think you know", but he will not be deterred. He wants us to say it and he can hold out for a long time. He usually wins. At one point this weekend I caught myself sputtering "stallion! stallion! it's a freaking stallion!". This quieted him for about 5 minutes.
The hardest part of these new spurts of interest is night time. He worked himself into one of his frenzies last night- he was up from about midnight until well, morning. John and I found ourselves mumbling "stallion, stallion, stallion" in our sleep because Jack was standing at one of our sides of the bed demanding we say it. He had all of his supplements yesterday, including his slow release melatonin. I dosed him with short acting melatonin 3 times during the night. It did nothing. I just can't imagine what this must feel like for Jack- I mean yes he is keeping us up for an obscene number of hours- but he is up all that time too and he can't quiet his thoughts enough to fall asleep. I have seen kids do this when they are afraid of something, but just because they think something is cool? It just has to be weird to be that focused on something, that's all.
Today he drifted off on the couch, in the car on the way to run errands, and in the car on the way home from a birthday party. I woke him up relentlessly, I wanted him exhausted at bed time. He was tired enough that he put himself to sleep while I was reading to Nate. Hope it continues all night.
http://jackandnatesmom.blogspot.com/2012/09/aspergers-and-fixations.html
I am always amazed by just how fixated he can become on a seemingly mundane subject. I mean, this is a kid who shows major ADHD symptoms, I have to ask him a million times to do something, and he has tremendous difficulty focusing in school. And yet, when it comes to an area of interest, I dare any one of you to get his mind off the topic. It all started when I went out for some so called "me time" on Friday night. I went to the mall and bought the boys' easter outfits, went clearance shopping for the boys for next winter and then went book clearance shopping as well. And yes, this does so count as me time because I did these things without being interrupted, so there. I found a book on horses and colts in the clearance section and got it for Jack. It was 3 bucks and he has talked about them in passing before. I thought he might enjoy it. I wasn't wrong, lol. The next morning he was nonstop talking about it, and asked to watch a horse movie. My sister will love this- netflix streaming has The Black Stallion right now. Jack asked to watch it basically continously all weekend. He is hooked.
When he gets like this, as his parents, John and I can feel like his puppets. He is constantly talking to us about the day's subject and it's the same thing over, and over, and over. This is when it really helps to have a partner- so we can exchange looks, pretend to shoot ourselves behind Jack's back, whinny when he walks out of the room, etc. For instance, Jack asked each of us no less than thirty times today what type of horse is in the movie- you know, the one CALLED the Black Stallion. It's like he physically needs to hear us say it. So he will stand there with his little hands on his hips and say over and over, but what is he called- and we try to redirect as we've been taught, "you tell me", or "I think you know", but he will not be deterred. He wants us to say it and he can hold out for a long time. He usually wins. At one point this weekend I caught myself sputtering "stallion! stallion! it's a freaking stallion!". This quieted him for about 5 minutes.
The hardest part of these new spurts of interest is night time. He worked himself into one of his frenzies last night- he was up from about midnight until well, morning. John and I found ourselves mumbling "stallion, stallion, stallion" in our sleep because Jack was standing at one of our sides of the bed demanding we say it. He had all of his supplements yesterday, including his slow release melatonin. I dosed him with short acting melatonin 3 times during the night. It did nothing. I just can't imagine what this must feel like for Jack- I mean yes he is keeping us up for an obscene number of hours- but he is up all that time too and he can't quiet his thoughts enough to fall asleep. I have seen kids do this when they are afraid of something, but just because they think something is cool? It just has to be weird to be that focused on something, that's all.
Today he drifted off on the couch, in the car on the way to run errands, and in the car on the way home from a birthday party. I woke him up relentlessly, I wanted him exhausted at bed time. He was tired enough that he put himself to sleep while I was reading to Nate. Hope it continues all night.
OK, so: The real horse that played the Black Stallion:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Ole
He was an Arabian. He had a white sock, and I want to say a blaze, and they both had to be painted over when he acted. I went to see him with Courtney Jacobs and her aunt in Tulsa, and it was amazing.
He would probably also like the film Dreamer, with Dakota Fanning.
I will save that tidbit of information for you to share with him next time we see you. Assuming that you will be around for at least 3 days to explain over and over again. Aunties are good at that. :)
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