Does anyone's child have an "obsession" with someone. Daniel will not play by himself, amuse himself etc. He wants my attention 24/7 which is driving me nuts. If he is watching TV I have to sit next to him (not just in the same room) but where he shows me to sit or else all hell breaks loose. He also does not like to stay home and would much rather drive around in the car all day. I will take him in the car for the morning (driving around and visiting) all morning and when we get home so that I can make lunch he starts with "car - mom, car" and so it will go on for hours until I give in and take him in the car. It seems like week-ends thats all I do!!! Tereza

ROFL, I should have looked at your signature. When you said he says, "Car mama, car" should have been my tip off that this was not the other Daniel we were talking about! LOL

So....

Angela has definite obsessions. Usually about food ("Mom. I have good news. I'm so hungary." ) or about going to someone's house. I do find that most of her obessions come from boredom. I'm her only playmate here, so when she's getting tired of playing alone, she sill start obsessing about things, which turns into harassing me about the obessions. The only way I can get her out of it is to distract her and get her involved in a project with me. She LOVES to help with things, like carry the list in the grocery store and check stuff off the list. ("Peanut butter? Check!")

I will stand by the, "Don't cave to the demands" part though. If you cave you're feeding into the obsessions. My son Tyler has very severe OCD, and has really helped me understand some of it. His are a little different...having to touch things, counting things, not eating things he himself didn't prepare unless he got to watch them being prepared. He reminded me about something with Angela, and that that HER obsessions are with routines. If the routine is to eat oatmeal for breakfast, that better be what we have here or she's not going to eat. If the routine is to come home from school and turn on her PS2, I better not say we're going to the store when she gets home. It doesn't go over well. This is a pretty common thing among people who have DS.

So, it could be that, if at your house the routine is "I watch tv and I sit here, and mom sits there" you're going to have to find a way to break that routine and trade it out for something else that's doable. If the routine is we drive around in the morning, then that's the routine and either you'll need to change it to a different routine, or change it to something that's doable.

Hey Leah - I seem to be causing a bit of confusion here! There are 2 "Daniels Mommy's" on the board - (spelled differently). Lisa the one you are referring to and myself. My son is 6 now. Actually, I was going to direct my question to you (but I thought that a bit forward). I always follow your posts and replies because I get a lot of information from you.... I seem to be following behind your footsteps. Anyway, I have thought about changing my username (because of this confusion). Is there anyway to do that? Tereza

Hey Leah - I seem to be causing a bit of confusion here! There are 2 "Daniels Mommy's" on the board - (spelled differently). Lisa the one you are referring to and myself. My son is 6 now. Actually, I was going to direct my question to you (but I thought that a bit forward). I always follow your posts and replies because I get a lot of information from you.... I seem to be following behind your footsteps. Anyway, I have thought about changing my username (because of this confusion). Is there anyway to do that? Tereza

Ha! Ok...let me go back and edit my post! ROFL

My sons obsession is with Kenny Chesney...It is all he listens to for the most part. All he talks about seeing there is a new cd coming out in a few days..

He even likes to dress like him. The cd player in the car is stocked with him as well as his personal cd player and the stereo in his room.

I guess things could be worse?

I am a little bit obsessed with Kenny Chesney myself!!!!!

You know it is totally me and my husbands fault..we are big country fans too so we got him started.

Funny thing is I was chatting with a staff member from my sons school yesterday and in previous years there has been an obsession when he gets stressed to blame things on or talk to Buzz Lightyear or about him.. We have tried for a couple of years different ways to get him to realize Buzz is not a real person etc. And to find a more age appropriate thing.

So the administrator says to me...he is having no behavior issues and it seems his Buzz Lightyear obsession is replaced with Kenny Chesney.