The Not So Super Bowl

I'm guessing Madonna wouldn't like being portrayed as a tattered old Winnie the Pooh Bear, but that's exactly what I was doing at 9:30 last night, reinacting the Super Bowl Half Time show for Jacob. We had been at our neighbor's house earlier and Jacob watched the half time with us. He loves music, so I didn't give much thought to it. But it bothered him. I knew the second it was over and he was asking my neighbor questions that we would be discussing this in detail later.

Not two minutes after I had tucked Jacob snuggly into bed, he walked into my bedroom. Something was bothering him he said. He couldn't figure out where that girl had gone. Was she underground? And the fire around her. Was she hurt? I tried explaining and he just looked at me with no understanding. So that's how I ended up with his pooh bear dancing on top of the bucket that holds his blocks acting out Madanna's final number to "Just Like a Prayer". And at the end pooh bear went into the bucket while the block fireworks went off behind. It was a good attempt, but he still couldn't clear his mind.

That's one of the difficult things with Asperger's and Jacob. He overanalyzes and obsesses about things to no end. Little things that other people wouldn't notice will bother Jacob for days or weeks, and will leave my husband and I exhausted trying to help him work thru it.

A perfect example is earlier this year Jacob's class had won a special movie day. Well, Jacob is not a big movie guy. Even before watching, he gets nervous that it might be scary or loud. Typically movies just don't keep his attention. So while all the other little first graders were so very excited for movie day, for us it was hours of tears and anxiety. He wanted to watch "Alvin and the Chipmunks". He knew that movie. It was safe for him. I called his teacher, but it was a no go. The Alvin movie was full and Jacob would have to watch one of the other movies. Again, this is where I have a hard time with the "rules" at school. Maybe if his teacher had to spend 4 hours the night before reassuring him that "How to Train your Dragon" would be ok, or if she had to listen to him cry himself to sleep, she would realize that rules were meant to be broken. He made it thru part of "How to Train your Dragon" on movie day, and then he was able to go to his own room to draw and do as he liked. Personally I think letting him watch "Alvin and the Chipmunks" would have been easier on everyone.

Back to the Super Bowl and Madonna. Not only were the images of the half time show in Jacob's head bothering him, but he was demanding that my husband delete it off the DVR. He knew it was there, and he couldn't sleep until he thought it was gone. As if that would help erase the disturbing image of Madonna in his head. The fireworks will bother him for a long time. Fireworks terrify him. How ironic that his birthday falls around the 4th of July. Even the thought of fireworks can send him into a panic. And certainly seeing them even at such a distance that you can't hear the boom, will send him over the edge.

I remember one fateful night when we talked Jacob into going to a minor league baseball game. He loves baseball, but never is willing to go for fear of fireworks. We assured him we would leave well before the fireworks were to begin. We kept our promise and headed to our car way before the 9th inning. At the time we thought maybe he could just watch from the car without the noise. So we sat and waited. All of a sudden we hear a loud boom and it was then that we realized the fireworks were being let off from the edge of the parking lot! We had not protected Jacob as promised, but took him right into the line of fire. My husband started up the car and gunned it toward the exit. But the only exit headed right for the fireworks. At this point Jacob was in major meltdown freak out mode. We pull out to the street only to have the light turn red and we were stuck right in front of the fireworks. It was a beautiful display. That is as beautiful as it can be with two kids crying from the backseat.