Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Objects of affection: the stuff Max won't leave home without


Max never had a blankie when he was little, or a stuffed animal he particularly adored, or any of those comfort objects tots cling to. This used to worry me; I wasn't sure what it indicated, but I thought it was troublesome. Back then, I used to see so many things as signs that something wasn't right. Poor Max could have burped and I would have been concerned.

It was the anxiety about the effects of his stroke, and the doctors who'd made me think that so much was going to be "wrong" with him. It took me a long time to look for what was right—and there was much of that. It took me even longer to stop looking for "wrong" and "right" and just accept Max as he was.

These days, Max is making up for lost time in the comfort object department. Most recently, he has been going everywhere with a purple Halloween pail. He "borrowed" it from my friend's kid last year, then pulled it out a few weeks ago. It comes out with us a lot.

The purple pail, though, pales in comparison to Max's other current object of affection: a gigantic purple pasta bowl. We took the kids to one of those paint-your-own-pottery places a few weeks ago, and helped him paint an entire bowl in purple. Things got a little touchy because he only likes royal purple, and the paint went on too light for his taste even though it was going to turn royal purple in the kiln. He was dubious until the day we went to get the finished plate, and it was gloriously purple. It's sat on our table ever since. He doesn't want to eat out of it—nooooo, he just likes to gaze upon its purple glory.

Last Sunday, Max insisted on taking it everywhere. It rode around in the car with us, along with a white cup he had colored purple. When we took a hike, the cup and bowl accompanied us, too. Max wouldn't have it any other way.


I am sure hoping he gets past the purple bowl before winter vacation, when we will probably be flying somewhere.

What objects are your kids attached to these days?


17 comments:

  1. Funny you mention the flying thing because that was my first thought when I reading this post :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. "He was dubious until the day we went to get the finished plate, and it was gloriously purple. It's sat on our table ever since. He doesn't want to eat out of it—nooooo, he just likes to gaze upon its purple glory."

    Love this! It's perfectly illustrative of who Max is. I wouldn't worry too much. You haven't mentioned car washes lately, so I'm assuming that fascination has abated some, right?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brad has to have some small toy - his SpongeBob, a leopard, his tennis ball-sized jingle bell (which he loves to ring), a clear plastic car with coins and stars inside that sounds like a maraca, soft-sided Goofy, an elephant or Bullseye (Toy Story 2) in his hand anytime we go anywhere. Since Brad is non-verbal, he uses it to tap on stuff to get our attention and if he doesn't have something in his hand, he will swipe something just to have it to keep him company. We've had a few minor problems with this, so we make sure he has something when we go out to places... He's always bringing something that he "palmed" home from workshop...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE that he loves his purple things so much! So cute!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sam's has never really attached to "things" so much (although there was the year of the lint babies...yes dryer lint) He does obsess over TV shows. right now its an xmen rerun.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My Son is particularly attached to Lids, the big green ones off his food are his favorite and rarely fail to make him smile he plays with them for hours. He will only watch timmy time or Shaun the sheep on tv and Brahms lullaby ( sung in German) is on repeat on every car journey.
    I often wonder if these obsessions will change as he gets older, he's only 2 and non verbal and not mobile but he is very strong willed and protest loudly till we workout what he wants.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know when I leave the house for work or shopping, or whatever, I always feel like something's missing until I make sure I have my keys, Leatherman tool, flashlight, iPad and cellphone. Maybe Max feels the same way. Granted, I probably don't need to take my Leatherman with me each time I go out, but, I know that sticking to my routin means I'm less likely to forget something important. I often tell people that nobody has a worse case of A.D.D. than ... Oh look! Shiny!

    -Rick

    ReplyDelete
  8. My son was attached to a croc for a while. Yes, the shoe. Just one of them. He carried it everywhere, slept with it. He also left the "R" out when talking about it, so there were many a time he could be found yelling, "I.WANT.TO.HOLD.MY.C_OC!!"

    Good times.

    He also carried a backpack full of hot wheels for over a year. He didn't play with them, just carried them in his bag. Now, it's a tshirt. He wants to wear the same shirt ALL the time. He gets up in the middle of the night to get it out of the dirty clothes and put it back on lol.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Isabella was totally addicted tot he pacifier. It was like crack to her. She'd have one in each of her hands, one in her mouth, and a couple in her lap....it was hilarious. She's now 6 and has been paci free since she was four.

    Joey has a Thomas stuffed toy that he loves.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The neighbor's dog!!!!! They only stole him once, but they continue to "covet."

    They have a few DVDs I would love them to outgrow, and comfort clothes I'd love to turn into dustrags. Oh well--I have no complaints, compared to Amber Lee's adorable little 'croc holder,' I have it easy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. My son has all the fancy toys but he'd rather just carry around clothes pegs, oh and a single corn chip. He can't eat food that's not pureed but he still loves taking a chip everywhere!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mason loves his blankets. Thankfully he loves two different blankets so one stays in his bed and the other is in the car for him. Carter loves his Buzz Lightyear and his baseball bat. He usually insists he take his baseball bat in the car with us even when I explain he can't take it into the grocery store, or preschool or wherever we are going that day. He doesn't care - he just wants it in the car.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your comments made me smile! Perhaps they are slightly less amusing to you, though, as carrying around a purple bowl during a hike is to me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. For us, it is a powder puff from my makeup and a pretend plastic hamburger bun. In the past, it has been a coffee filter basket...or a cowboy boot...or a guitar--not a toy guitar, but a full sized guitar. Fortunately, that one didn't have to leave the house.

    ReplyDelete
  15. One of my favorite subjects! Bethany carries 3 of my husbands tube socks, a couple of colorful shoe laces, a few fleece strips, a blue ribbon and several strands of colorful plastics beads. It use to be a plastic basket of baby wipes torn in strips, that was a hassle because she liked them moist and would seek out any liquid to dampen them.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Omg this was such an exciting Blog to read <3 I am a single mom of a 2 1/2 yr, who also has disabilities. She has been through so much, but still has that loving personality, that everyone who meets her comments on. And that gave me a reason to start a lil company call, "Asiah's Lil Shop" to help pay for her therapies.
    Asiah's Lil Shop was inspired by my daughter Asiah Marie Wilson. Asiah was born at 6 months with many difficulties and only 4 days to live. She was 11.9'' and 1.8 pounds. As small as she was, she was my little fighter that never gave up and that she proved to the doctors every step of the way. With over 11 surgeries and many trips to Children's Hospital, she is still here. She has inspired me to stay strong as a single mother and the courage to start this company. In which is made for her and for her to carry on.
    Products
    Jewelry, soaps, Bath Salts and many more ♥








    http://yardsellr.com/yardsale/Erica-Davis-431472

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think Max is doing experiments on you guys, as in: "Let me see what kind of odd things I can get these grown-ups to carry around for me."
    I mean, look at his face! It looks like he's thinking, "I conned this guy into carry a BOWL on a HIKE. How awesome am I?"

    In all seriousness, Emmett has an ever-changing array of security objects as well (usually robots). I like that bowl, though! It's very pretty.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for sharing!