Phases

Christian is going through a phase.

That's no surprise. He gets those. We call them special interests. As a child on the Autism spectrum, special interests are not anything new. Granted, most kids have special interests, but kids with Aspergers treat these topics of fascination as an obsession. I've talked about Christian's interests before, but he's recently moved on.

His keen focus on all things Mario Bros melded into outer space and space exploration. He was saving up his money to buy a telescope.

Then it changed.

One day he told me that space was out and music was in. Actually, it started when he told me that he didn't want a telescope anymore - instead he wanted a drum set. Instead of being obsessed with space, he's into music. Which is funny because he inherited my inability to keep a steady beat an my tone deaf singing skills.

I'm sure this is my fault. He watched Coldplay's Grammy performance with me and then we spent the next half hour watching Coldplay videos on youtube. His favorite was Paradise (mine is Fix You).

His new special interest is a little more complex than just enjoying music. I have a suspicion that his new preoccupation is being like me.

His favorite band is Coldplay because my favorite band is Coldplay.
His favorite TV show is MythBusters because my favorite TV show is MythBusters.
His favorite candy bar is Butterfinger because my favorite candy bar is Butterfinger.

And he asks. He wants to know my favorite food (however, he can't like my favorite food because he has texture issues). He wants to know my favorite color, my favorite movie, and my favorite sport. He asks about my favorite animal and my favorite t-shirt.

He imitates me much like he would mimic a character from TV.

I know this is just a phase. He'll either grow out of it or move on to a new special interest. But if I'm honest, I'd say that I wish this phase could last forever.