The Good Stuff

I've written a couple of posts lately about some of the frustrations and trying behaviors that go along with Jack's diagnosis so I thought I'd post about one of the fun things that appears to be directly related to his diagnosis as well. It's important that I remind myself that this isn't a sickness that you cure, but a part of Jack's whole being - it is a huge part of what makes his personality the way it is, why he likes certain things, the way he walks and talks - everything about him. If that's true, then being the super cool, amazingly interesting, and totally fun guy he is, there have to be some good things this produces right?


Well, one of the major ones that is a lot of fun to me is the characters Jack identifies with and becomes even a little bit obsessed by. We like Buzz, Woody, Lightning McQueen, Thomas, Mickey Mouse and the usual suspects just like most three year old boys, but then we have some other characters that are a HUGE part of our life that other three year olds probably don't even know exsist.

When I say they are a part of our life, I mean:

We talk about them every day.

We talk TO them every day.

We find them the MINUTE we get home from anywhere.

We discuss what they do and what they make.

We laugh about them and talk about how they feel and what they think.

We use them as the standard that we measure all other people in our life by.



You get what I'm saying, right? We don't just like these guys and think they're cool. We L-O-V-E these guys and they are in our thoughts almost ALL the time. They are part of our every day life and they become Jack's reward for good behavior - forget candy and toys for this kid. These are the things we live for right now!


And now that I have you on the edge of your seat:) please meet some of our favorite friends:





Yep, it's Mr. Peanut... Ben eats lots of Peanuts for snacks so we USED to keep them in our pantry. We now keep them on the counter most of the time b/c it's usually the first thing Jack gets out when we walk in the door... He doesn't eat the peanuts, but he does talk to Mr. Peanut throughout the day:)




The Pillsbury Dough Boy - Jack finds it so fascinating that this guy can make cookies AND bread. When he first met him, Jack went on and on about how he makes cookies. Well, when he saw his picture on some frozen bread in the grocery store, absolute amazement ensued!! Jack said, "Mama, the pillsbury dough boy can make bread too!! Not just cookies, but bread too!!" If you've heard Jack's volume, you can imagine how much fun this discovery was for ALL the Winn Dixie shoppers! Jack also likes to imitate his giggle which he discovered on YouTube (YouTube has been a wonderful diagnositc tool for us:).


Mr. Clean is one of those obsessions that started out as more of a leeriness and later became a fascination. He also ranks much higher on the scale of coolness that Mr. Peanut or the Dough Boy. I am now the owner of 10 magic erasers and the orange, red, and green Mr. Clean products, but I'm not allowed to actually USE any of them. "Mr. Clean needs that stuff, Mama, so HE can clean up." Jack's holding out for the blue next! I bet I'm the only Mom who says we're going to Wal-mart and has the response of, "We going to go to the cleaning isle!!"


And top dog is easily this guy: The Michelin Man. It all started with a commercial and we are more and more impressed with this guy!! He makes tires if you were curious and stomps his feet. Jack will gladly imitate this for you - you only have to ask. My dad took Jack to a local tire store the other day. The owner is a friend of ours and they came home with a cardboard cutout of the Michelin Man and some brochures with his picture on them and you would have thought Disney Land had come TO OUR HOUSE!!

I know this is all so silly and seems so funny, but the fact that Jack doesn't just like these guys but LOVES them and has such a vested interest in them is just great fun for me!! This is something that makes him different, but this is a difference that I find so appealing and wonderfully weird and just super cool and I wanted to share that part of who he is too. I wanted to share some of the good stuff - some of the stuff that makes me smile:)