Furthering the Obsession

The other day, we were playing with Lego-style building blocks, and I decided to further Buddy's interest in weedwackers (which he had talked about all day) by making something akin to a weedwacker for him to play with (until it fell apart, repeatedly).



He enjoyed it. A lot. (Note that I've never claimed to be artistic. I was actually quite proud of myself that it turned out looking like something in the neighborhood of a weedwacker. (And yes, our other son is playing with an empty box. Digging items out of the recycling bag is his idea of a good time.))

But then, my paltry attempt at a weed-wacking device was surpassed by something far, far better(there's probably a spiritual analogy in there somewhere, but I'm not going for it at the moment).

Buddy's aunt and uncle had ordered a play John Deere weedwacker for him (after reading the previous post on weedwackers) and it arrived later that afternoon.

He was beyond thrilled. And he couldn't wait to show his daddy when he got home from work.



He's been weedwacking my plants ever since.

(The play weedwacker actually makes a noise if you pull the string and push the button, but he doesn't like the noise it makes, so he continues to make his own weedwacker sounds as he mows down the houseplants.)

Buddy sends his most profuse thanks to his aunt and uncle!

Weedwackers

One of the characteristics of those with Williams syndrome is a tendency to perseverate on a topic. So I'm not sure if Buddy's current obsession with weedwackers is a byproduct of WS or if it's just him being a little boy with an avid interest in a certain item.
Whichever it is, weedwackers have become the thing he thinks about morning, noon, and night. For example, can you spot the weedwacker in the picture below?

He did. Immediately. As we were reading A is for Adam the other day, we came to this picture, and he said, "Look, a weedwacker." And we couldn't read any further because he needed to analyze the "weedwacker" Adam was holding. I didn't really have the heart to explain to him that what Adam used was not really the equivalent of the Husqvarna his daddy uses.

And, can you see the "weedwacker" in this picture?

He did. Actually, he vacillates between calling it a weedwacker and a vacuum. But weedwacker usually wins.

Weedwackers have also started showing up in the songs we sing. The other day, as Cubby and I were singing Old Macdonald had a ___, Buddy chimed in with weedwacker . . . with a zzzzzz here [he does a pretty good imitation of a weedwacker sound] and a zzzzzzz there. 

And weedwackers are also on the bus -- The weedwackers on the bus go zzzz, zzz, zzz.

I believe they were also in the Mother's Day song Husband tried to get him to sing on Sunday, Happy weedwacker to you, happy weedwacker to you, happy weedwacker, dear weedwacker, happy weedwacker to you.

As we were playing with Mat Man from Handwriting Without Tears, instead of making Mat Man, he wanted to make a weedwacker with the pieces.

And today, when I was listing the things I needed to get from the store, "Milk . . . bread . . .", he added, "Weedwacker."


The irony in all of this is that when he sees an actual weedwacker being used, he covers his ears and freaks out a bit. I guess it's more of a love-hate relationship.

So, what say you -- perseveration or just a boy being a boy?