Lions, and Tigers, and Elephants, OH MY!

I'm guessing most of you couldn't tell me the difference between an African Elephant and an Asian Elephant. That is unless you have met my son. He's always had an obsession with animals, but for the past few years it has been all about elephants at our house. Not one single day goes by that we don't talk about elephants. Actually I'm not even sure we go a waking hour without talking about elephants. I have no idea how his obsession started. Maybe that day I did a particularly good elephant sound while playing. Or maybe we were reading a book and something caught his attention. Who knows. For us it seems that elephants have been a part of Jacob and our lives forever.

Maybe Jacob unknowingly chose elephants because they are so similar to himself. It is only fitting while Jacob has an over sensitivity to loud noises, that elephants can hear things that you and I can't hear. Their hearing ability is the best amongst all land animals.

And we have all heard the saying "A memory like an elephant", well that is certainly Jacob. A perfect example of this is a few months ago while Jacob and I were hanging out watching tv while laying on my bed, Jacob said to me, "Mommy, do you remember when you had that ceiling fan above your bed?" To which I said, "Jacob, you remember that?" And he replied, "yes, I used to love to lay in the big, big bed and watch it go round and round." hmmm....Yes he did like to watch it go round and round. The thing is we had a fire in our home when Jacob was 9 months old, and replaced that ceiling fan afterwards. So Jacob was having a memory from when he was an infant! I'm sure it did seem like a big, big bed in his memory!

Not only do elephants have an incredible memory, they are also regarded as one of the world's smartest animals with well developed problem solving abilities. I've mentioned before how bright Jacob is. Sure, everyone thinks their child is smart. But there are times where I have to pick up the phone and call my sister or mom because I am truly floored by something Jacob has told me. Take last year for instance. Jacob had just started kindergarten. He had formed a new found love for drawing and was going thru paper at a rate of about 50 sheets a day. I was tired of my printer paper always being out, so I started rationing it out to him with 5 sheets at a time. Thinking I am going to "teach" my son something I tell him "well, we could cut each of these papers in half and then we would have 10 papers!" To which he replied without hesitation, "Or we could divide them into 18 pieces and have 90 pieces!" "yes, yes, you are absolutely correct," I say as I am trying to do the mental math in my head with little results. This is when I love Aspergers. :)

And one last final comparison between Jacob and elephants would be their size. Elephants are the largest land animal. (Jacob tells me this fact daily) Not that my son is huge by any means, but he is quite tall for a 6 year old. He is one of the youngest in his class and towers over most of his peers. Most people would guess him to be around 10, which makes it even harder when he is having an Asperger's moment while out in public.

When your child has an obsession, it unconsciously becomes your obsession as well. It doesn't matter what I am doing, if I see an elephant, I instantly think of Jacob. A commercial with an elephant, and I am scrambling for the remote to hopefully DVR it to show Jacob later. A book with an elephant is quickly purchased and put away for the next major holiday or birthday. Never would I dream of buying a package of animal crackers without thoroughly inspecting them to make sure they contained an elephant. And then while packing his lunch for school I am careful to make sure there are more elephants in his ziploc baggie than any other animal.

Oh, for a while we tried fighting it. We limited the amount of time he could focus on elephants or other animals. We refused to play animal games. We tried forcing other interests on him. But lately my husband and I have just been embracing it. I've tried viewing it as a passion which has a positive connotation, versus an obsession. I've learned that Jacob's personality is so very connected with his passion. If I reject his passion for elephants, is he perceiving that as a rejection of him?

For now it is elephants at our house. Day in and day out. So if you come to visit, be prepared for a lengthy lesson. If I know Jacob, I'm sure there will be a quiz.