11 years ago
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Video Game Generation
So, Grace got a little v-smile video game for Christmas and she loves it, but Elliot is completely OBSESSED with it. I honestly don't even know how he learned to play it. I went upstairs one day and he was playing it, and he was actually playing it, moving the joystick, making Dora jump, climb latters, everything she is supposed to do. I am baffled at how he learned to do this. Are kids these days just born with some innate ability to play video games?!? I mean, he is barely 3 years old!! It actually made me a little sad for some reason. My knee jerk reaction was to make him stop playing and I took it away. Well, that did not go over well. So now I have decided to let him play the video game for an hour a day. That seems to be working out pretty well. But sometimes I think that is even too much. I kindof worry a little because Elliot has a tendency to get lost in his own head, he plays by himself a lot, he collects things and arranges them in specific ways and he doesn't like to be interrupted. I really try to interact with him when he is playing. I go back and forth over whether it is a problem or just his personality. I talked to his doctor about it and she doesn't think that I need to be concerned, it is just a boy thing, that is just how his brain works. I guess that is just a part of being a parent, worrying over every little thing. It is so hard to know if you are doing the right thing, or permanently screwing up your children!! He has the video game thing down, now we just need to get him potty trained!!
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7 comments:
Ohhhhhhhh Becky.....I started Colby in underwear this morning. AHH! We've already had 3 #1 accidents and 1 #2...and it's barely nap time. I ordered this potty watch I read about. He can wear it and it can go off every 30, 60, or 90 minutes to let him know it's time to go sit on the potty. Who knows if it will help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I can't believe Elliot can play a video game!! I wish we lived closer. I am being repetitive? I feel like I say that in every comment.
.Don't stress about the potty thing. It will happen for him when he is actually interested. Especially if he just stopped his pacifier. For Valerie, I tried when she was over 2 and it was not pretty. Lots of nasty messes to clean up and after 2 days, I gave up. Then 4 months later I just casually mentioned "hey Valerie, if you don't pee in the potty, you can't go on the big boat" (we were going on a cruise) and literally, since that day, she was potty trained.
Same way with the little boy I kept this summer... "hey Timmy, do you need to poop?" "no? ok... let's go outside to play." Then when he DID go, it was a BIG DEAL with pictures, a call to his mom and everything until he did not want to make a big deal out of it any more.
As for the behavior, no need to stress about that either. My nephew has Asberger's which is actually autism, but he is doing fine for the most part. He is actually off the charts IQ-wise, he is just very socially anxious. He seems normal to me, but there are some interesting quarks that I personally think make him completely awesome.
If Elliot's physician is not concerned, after your concerns have been voiced, chances are that Elliot is just his own little person.
Don't they make a V-smile game for potty training? Mia likes hers too except I think she forgets she has it for a couple weeks at a time. Jack likes the Cars game but he doesn't know how to play. Just think, we played Nintendo way more than an hour a day and we ended up okay, mostly. Get him a timer that rings after an hour and then he'll know his game time is up.
As for his behavior, I think there's nothing to worry about right now. He may have certain tendencies but that doesn't mean he's not normal. I think in time he'll grow out of a lot of it. Asbergers is autism without the communication component, which means his interactions are, for the most part, normal. You remember the story about that high school kid who had "autism" who made like 6 3 point shots in a few minutes of the basketball game? That kid didn't have autism, he had asbergers. I personally don't think you could say he has it. It might just be his personality. Besides, if he learns how to play guitar the way he pretends to, he'll be the coolest kid around.
Colin
I'm actually pretty familiar with the autism spectrum, I worked with adults with developmental disabilities for about a year. I'm not real familiar with it in kids. I don't think he is autistic in any way. I researched it a little a few months ago and he doesn't have any of the warning signs. He doesn't really get anxious in social situations, he just plays by himself, like he doesn't really notice anyone else. He plays with Grace really well. A few moms in my ward do a once a week preschool we take turns teaching and Elliot has gotten a little better about playing with the other kids. I think he just has a really introspective personality, he is a thinker. It will be interesting to watch him as he gets older.
No- I am talking about my nephew Kaleb- he has Asperger's. Not Elliot. Kaleb has for certain Asperger's but he talks more than most kids who have it. He is just interesting at expressing himself in situations outside of our family. We noticed when he was he started speaking finally in short sentances instead of just pointing, crying, or using one word then have a melt down. At 4 he had certain tendancies and would self-isolate. He still does that, actually, but he shuts down speech-wise the moment he was in a stressing situation.
My point was Elliot is probably just an analyzer (which is super-sweet!) but even if there are "problems" it is ok. Kaleb has every bit of my heart, he is the sweetest kid.
Becky, Elliott reminds me of my friends little boy, Charlie. When we became friends in Blacksburg it took maybe a month of us getting together almost every day for him to start really interacting regularly with Mia. His mom worried too andlike your doctor, their doctor assured them that he was normal. It is hard and I worry from the day I find out I am pregnant if the baby will be "normal" and then when I find out they are I worry that something bad will happen to them and it will cause a disability physically or mentally. It is just a big circle of worry that seems to never stop. I asked Mia the other day if she liked the name Ellie for a girl and she said that she already had a cousin we called Elli. Little observer.
That is so sweet that Mia remembered that!!
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