hello, i hope everyone is having a great night and i hope that you will check out the facebook page. a big thank you to our host’s wife for starting and maintaining it. the way i see it, the world needs all the chances for information and education it can get regarding autism; especially with the rising rates of children being diagnosed. which, of course, leads me to tonights blog topic…obsessions!

last month our electric bill was over $200.00! i budget for $150.00 so i was not exactly happy about this bill. now, i realize that for many this bill may seem small; but when you are a one income family due to circumstances beyond your control every penny counts. so, we are diligent around here to turn off the lights! so, when i pulled into the driveway tonight after work imagine my feeling when every window in the house had a light on!

Follow up:

but, who is to blame? sadly, i fear it is my little sir dantes. he wants every light in the house on. why? i don’t know. but, if i turn a light off he must run and turn it back on and any other light he sees off. i must have turned off the light to the hallway and bathroom ten times tonight and he went behind me turning them back on. must be that ocd thing that i have heard so much about.

but this is not the only obsession he seems to have. the doors must be shut and if there is even a tissue thrown in the toilet; it must be flushed. and, he will check. if i take a tissue and wipe something off of the vanity, then take the tissue and toss it in the toilet…he must flush it. he brushes his teeth whenever he can get away with it. not that i have anything against clean teeth, but come on! he does not need to brush his teeth 10 or 15 times a day. he obviously needs to learn about conservation.

sometimes it is cute and amusing; other times it is plain annoying. he must have jumped up from dinner tonight three times to turn back on the hallway light.

is obsession different from fascination?

obsession is defined as: “the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.” (dictionary.com) and fascination is defined as : “the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.” (merriam-webster.com)

well, not according to these two different dictionaries. mmm…so i guess they are basically interchangeable states of being. the underlying idea is, however, that the domination of these thoughts or needs directly affect his actions to the point of interfering with everyday normal activities. that makes it a problem, a handicap of sorts. just another part of autism.

so, since sir dantes has been around we have dealt with many obsessions. there is the lining up of various items, the trains, wheels, his puzzles, the lights, the toilet, and the brushing of teeth only name a few. and they don’t really go away.

tonight when i got home i saw that he had lined up his mr. potato heads on the edge of his desk. he’s not playing with them. he is dressing them and then lining them up. sunday i took him and ms. maxie to a birthday party. at one point he discovered a wooden train and he would not leave it alone. one of the other little boys there said to me, “he really likes those trains.” to which i replied, “yes, he does.” but, he stopped playing to be with those trains. what does a parent do?

i don’t know. we try and try to get him to give these up. but, it doesn’t really work. we try and try to get him to realize that some of these things are not needed. hopefully with age, he will learn and loosen up a little. i can’t help but think of that movie with jack nicholson….oh i wish i could think of it. “as good as it gets”! i googled it. if you haven’t seen this movie i highly recommend it if only to see the length of ocd. because, chances are if you have an autistic child you have a child with ocd.

the hollywood ending shows us a man who finds true love and learns to conquer his obsessions. let us hope that sometimes, maybe one time, that real life can mirror fantasy.