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Hi everyone.

In addition to my incoherant ramblings in the batcave, i just had to tell you about kierans latest stunt, which begs the question "how does everyone else get around the obsession situation?"

 

Apologies if i am repeating myself here, but kierans obsessions are

1) bouncy castles (rather the fan that works them)

2) water (any kind, anywhere, including the drains)

3) Floods (pretty much comes under water, but with the added complication of -floods pretty much cause trouble)

5) The Bouncy castle video (a home video from our daughters 6th and 7th birthday party.....with a bouncy castle)

6) washing machines (he sits in front of it when its on, and constantly asks "is the water in the pipe yet?")

7) Fans, The kind that keep you cool.. he has his own personal collection, which he turns on regularly, we cant take him anywhere with a fan without him making a scene asking if he can touch it.. watch it... have it !!

8)Eyes. As i explained in the batcave, he likes to 'stroke' my eyes, like he strokes the eyes on all his teddy bears,

The list does not end there, but anyway the thing is... Today started well we got the play doh out and all three of them played nicely :gather: .... kieran used a doh knife as a lawnmower (yet another obsession) and proceeded to cut the grass (the doh).

 

All was well until he got bored and went outside to bounce on the grass. and he heard it.. i swear he has hypersensitive hearing.. he heard a bouncy castle fan right over the back of all our gardens, and procceded to scale our fence and i caught him just as he was halfway across our neighbours garden..

 

:unsure: he was devastated that he couldnt go to the 'party' and couldnt understand why he hadnt been invited (did i mention he is 5 ?) needless to say ive had a c**p day of mega meltdowns, but now he looks so angelic, all tooked up in bed, BUT.. last night he had his second episode of sleepwalking !! Scary. so what i am rambling on for is:- i wondered if anyone else has the sleepwalking problem, and what on earth do i do when he is wandering down stairs at 4 am??

and also, has your/or your child's obsession ever led to problems??

 

this has turned into a bit of a novel and i aplologise, but after the day ive had, i either ramble or cry, and i certainly dont want to loose it now,... so im rambling !!

 

Take Care, I hope you are all well.

shaz

x

:wine:

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My son also likes the fans on bouncy castles - you always find him around the back looking at the fan!

 

He likes electrical things in general - he likes taking things apart, and now (at 14) can usually put them back together again and fix things.

 

When he was younger we would give him broken things to take apart, but he was always very good about not plugging things in.

 

So for obsessions - encourage the good (useful) ones, and shape others into more useful ones (eg: water interest into plumbing), and distract/kill the non-useful ones.

Also teach relevant safety aspects from a young age.

 

T also likes ponds, pond pumps, and waterfalls, and he can now make and maintain ponds. Though he has decided he wants to be a plumber!

 

Karen

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PS the problem with my son's obsession is that I can't take him to the dump, cos he comes back with more than we go with, and people are always kindly giving him broken things, which he stores in his room, or takes apart and leaves in pieces all over the floor!

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Hi,

 

Are you sure we don't have the same son here?

 

My son's obsessions are:

 

1. Drains

2. Fans

3. Lamposts

4. Electricity - in general (sockets, plugs, wires, circuit breakers, junction boxes etc)

5. Floods

6. Anything electrical - cd players, laptops, printers, etc

7. Bouncy castles - the fans of course!!

8. Gutters

9. Windmills

10. Emergencies! (See flooding!)

11. Compressors

12. Engines

13. Petrol

14. Lawnmowers & strimmers

 

Can't think of any more but that is more than enough! How do we cope with all these obsessions? Don't know - not sure we do cope! Indulge him if we can - within reason of course.

 

I think I have mastered the art of going hmm and yes at the appropriate moments when he is ranting away about the above things!

 

Obsessed? Of course he isn't obsessed!

 

 

Helen :lol:

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Even at 5 it is good to think of the future - my son can wire up a house, mow my lawn, fix my washing machine, do basic plumbing, use power tools, etc. He hopefully will be able to find a job (we reckon people are so desperate for plumbers, they will put up with his slight oddities!).

 

Some obsessions are less useful eg:knowing all the football statistics for the last ten years, being able to differentiate between different types of pylons.

 

Karen

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i wondered if anyone else has the sleepwalking problem, and what on earth do i do when he is wandering down stairs at 4 am??

Shaz,

 

My 15 year old NT daughter use to sleepwalk every/every other night. She began sleepwalking at approximately 2 1/2 and it didn't lessen until around the age of 12.

 

She would begin to walk around the house at the same time every night - 11pm, in fact you could set your watch by her. She even use to talk a lot of jibberish and cry in her sleep whilst sleepwalking. I would then have to gently guide her back to bed. This sometimes use to happen more than once a night.

 

Whenever we went away on holiday and stayed in a hotel I had to lock the bedroom door and put the key under my pillow so that she didn't get out of the room and walk about. One night I forgot to lock the bedroom door. I woke about 2.30 am and found our bedroom door wide open. My husband stayed with Daniel and I searched the hotel corridors. I found her wandering a hallway on a different floor.

 

Whenever she went on holiday with the school, we had to make school aware of her sleepwalking pattern. My daughter would have to sleep in a double bed with her friend - my daughter would sleep next to the wall and her friend would sleep on the outside of the bed so that if my daughter woke, she'd have to climb over her friend to get out of bed.

 

It took me a few years to get used to her sleepwalking. I couldn't put it down to stress of any kind as she has done this since we moved her out of her cot/bed and into a single bed.

 

I am pleased to say that she doesn't sleepwalk as much - perhaps once a week, if that. One of her friends bought her a metalic wind chime that now hangs on the back of her bedroom door, so now we hear the clinking noise of the chime everytime she walks.

 

I think the scariest part of her sleepwalking is when we've gone to bed and 'something' wakes me up - I'd then find my daughter standing by the side of my bed just looking at me.... arghh!

 

Shaz, I do sympathize with you, taking into account your son's entire obsessions, but I can't offer you any advice in relation to those. In relation to the sleepwalking - buy a cheap metalic wind chime and attach it to the back of your son's bedroom door.

 

Good luck, Helen

Edited by Helen

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Current obsessions are:

 

1) Thomas the Tank Engine

 

2) Towing things with rope

 

3) Bouncy castles

 

4) Water

 

5) Fixing things

 

7) Computers

 

 

Yep. I think we're all starting to get a similar theme here. :clap::wub:

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Arr I see Max-land isn't just Max-land then,

 

His are:

 

Thomas the Tank Engine

Motor bikes (got Daddy to thank for that one)

Plug and electric sockets

Numbers

Adverts

Fixing things

Birds Eye Frozen Food Boxes (i have to empty them all into plastic bags so he can have the boxes).

 

Max is 4

 

Jo

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Let me see Cam's "obsessions" are as follows.............

1. Thomas the Tank and Co.

2. Jelly Tots.

3. Ropes to trawl his toys around.

4.Wheels.

5.Trains.

6.Toothpaste.

7. Walkers smokey pig crisps.

8.Thomas the ###### Tank.

9.The Dark.

10 Wheels.

 

This is the world according to Cam.

Lisa xxxxxxxxxxx

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We avoided a "Thomas the Tank" obssession - partly cos my son was called Thomas, and I didn't want him to be given everything to do with T-the-T, and also because I found it incredibly boring and repetitive to watch, so I always turned it off!

 

Karen

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hiya just thought id add to the list!

tristans obs are;

 

thomas the tank

pwer tools and use of

hammers and saws

bouncy castles

trains

cars

feet!?

carry on movies

scooby ###### doo

trains

parachutes

sword fighting

towing things around

rope

yoghurt

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my son changes his obsessions frequently.

 

trains

only fools and horses

racing games xbox/playstation.

walking round his bedroom talking to himself with his headphones on listening to music while watching tv(yes Really)

playing the same music cd track over and over again

holby city

btcc

world rally

f1

strange bunch of obsessions. lynn

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Hi

 

my sons obessessions are as follows

 

asking what colour you get when you mix different colours

 

watching CBBees

 

watching Shrek & Finding Nemo

 

any water play/blowing bubbles

 

hand held fans/twirly lights

 

play doh

 

crisps/sweets

 

playing with his teddy

 

playing/watching/touching/talking about anything that spins

 

watching fireworks

 

drawing rainbows/fireworks

 

These are just a few that I can think off the top of my head

 

Gita

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Oliver's obsessions/stims are

Anything that spins

Postman Pat (but only the numbers video!)

Maisy Mouse

Hitting people to watch their reactions

Building long objects out of bricks to pass in front/to the side of his line of vision

dummies

(he is 3) nelx

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My AS son was looking through this site the other night and he viewed Auriel's details. He had listed his hobbies as Computers and Cheese. My son asked whether I thought that Auriel would understand that his hobbies were Computers, rubber bands and cotton wool!!

 

I would say that my son's current obssessions other than those listed above are:-

 

Stones

Bronze coins

Any form of video game

Using his feet to perform tasks instead of his hands

 

How do I deal with his obssessions? As someone else says I ignore those that do no harm and try to divert him away from those that could get him into trouble.

Edited by Tez

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Hello Auriel,

 

I also think my son was trying to wind me up a bit. But he does collect rubber bands and he does like the feel of cotton wool and uses it to calm himself down.

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if i remember i wanted to collect rubber bands when i was little, but i kept losing them :(

 

my osessions are computers and aliens (from the movies alien aliens alien 3 and alien resurection)

I have nearly all the dvds!

Roar! <-clicky

Edited by Auriel

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:dance: hi,

my sons obsessions are in no particular order:

Football - he has lists of teams times they played goals scored timed the goals to the second - etc etc

Mr. bean is an english thing -

Yu-gi-oh and dragonball z - he only likes these cos they have card collections- he has hundreds of the bloomin things all in order and if u move one of them all hell brakes loose!

playstation 2 - only plays games connected with obsessions though no others

 

he will bore the pants off anyone who visits regaling them with lists of players how many scores they got, how old they are, how much theyre worth etc.

it dosnet help that his voice is very monotone so they get the glazed look pretty early on, lol.

 

the only time these cause trouble is if his sister touches one of his games - big no-no

or he has to take his cards out when we go out, and they get mixed up - he has to stop no matter where and resort them.

he is 11, going on 45! :wub:

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I don't know whether this is true for all young people with AS, but when my son was little he had loads of obsessions, some of which were 'old favourites' and others that were more transitory.

 

Now at 15 he has 2, as he has posted earlier.

 

So there is hope!!

 

Bid :wacko:

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Afternoon all....... :D

My son's really bad obsession is Actionman, he has lots of them and the car's, accessories etc. This christmas he had another 5 plus more Actionman puzzles and books................... :wallbash: never mind as long as he's happy. The problem is he likes to use the Xbox but get's frustrated and throw's it. Since over christmas he his using it more and more but not alot of tantrums. He has been using it about nearly 5 hrs a day really worried but I was told by his nan it may help with his frustration. Santa Claus got him a new bike but was damaged so had to change it the other day. I am going to try him on it later to see if he's ok with it. He his upset a little as the helmet matched the bike but could not get another so got to bribe him to wear it as he said it does not match.

Anyway all have a lovely evening drinking lots of :wine::wine: and having a :band::cheers::drunk::balloon::balloon:

Good luck to everyone and thanks for putting up with me.

Take care

Amanda >:D<<'> >:D<<'> >:D<<'>

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Amanda i don't think we put up with you!! I always find eveybody's posts interesting it helps me to understand the parents i visit better and how their children work and reason too. i have nothing but ultimate respect for all parents on this forum who cope/ manage/muddle through, call it whatever far far better than i ever could. then i have to go into homes and help these parents do better! Oh yeah- mostly i sit in admiration for the things they do then pinch their ideas and take them into the next home i go to! don't do yourself down you do great. My obssesion is that i only likr to have my drinks out of china cups, i won't come downstairs in the morning unless upstairs is tidy, and i have to read before i go to sleep even if its really late or , wheni'd been working nights, after i'd been up al night. and i'm supposed to be nt! Well c'est la vie!

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My son's obsessions change but currently they are-

 

Thunderbirds

space, planets etc

numbers (especially counting down from 5. like thunderbirds)

jigsaw puzzles(separate thunderbirds puzzles to always be done in the same order- you guessed it 5,4,3,2,1 and then lady penelope's car!)

 

 

The numbers obsession was a big problem as his brother's school playground has them painted all over, and it was a nightmare getting past them, both going into and coming out of school. Leaving the house 5 minutes earlier helped :) , as it gave him more time to indulge and therefore the whole process became less traumatic (you see, I was the mum with the screaming kid EVERY day, twice a day :wacko: - all becaues he wanted to look at (and me to say) numbers).

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Hi,

 

Although my son (age 6) hasn't had a formal diagnosis of AS, the more i read on this site, the more i believe he definately is AS.

 

His obsessions are:

 

Thomas the Tank (thankfully growing out of this one a bit)

 

Trains, train tracks, points and buffers! (real or toy trains)

 

Coins (lining them up)

 

Cows! (he knows all varieties and will stare loving at them in a field all day!)

 

Animal planet/snakes

 

Pokemon (he knows all the names and moves and has only been watching it for a few weeks!)

 

It doesn't really bother me as he's happy, but sometimes it drives you crazy when he goes on and on about angus cows or puff adders! Other kids think he's weird and laugh at him, which is upsetting.

 

loulou

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My sons obsessions are pylons ,telegraph poles, wires, insulators and basically asking me over and over again what would happen if he touched the live wire, would it be zzzzzzzp! Some times he likes me to say yes & sometimes no which can be tricky. I have spent far too much time staring blankly at substations ( if this is indeed the right word ) and explaining the 'danger of death' signs which he never tires of. I got him a circuit board game but oddly he isn't that interested it seems to be the thought of the danger that is the thing.

He seems to love the exitement of thinking about danger although in reality he is a rather cautious child when he hasn't lost it that is.

I find the repetition is what does my head in but definately the more I try to put him off the subject the longer it goes on , so on a good day I think right lets talk right through this whole pylon thing then and then he will maybe be satisfied for a while. Sometimes this works. Other times I cluck like the metal chicken on the clangers .

It does worry me though ,that he continually wants to talk about being electricuted or other mishaps .

I tried 'lets talk about something more cheerful' and he suprised me by agreeing.

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Obsessions are hard i think sometimes because they go on for years. my friends little lad has obsessions with the slinky dogs from toystory that came with the macdonalds happy meal in 2000. trouble is he loves them and chews them to pieces so all her family and friends now scour charity shops and car boot sales for them. great was the rejoicing when i bagged 3 at one boot sale!! for his present last year i bought him 6 dogs from ebay, now he'll love me forever!! there is not a slinky dog left in the whole of the south of england now i think. at work we acknowledge the childs obsession and go along with it but at school try to minimize its intrusiveness into the classroom. hard to do and hard to cope with and manys the time i've nodded along to a long dissertation on the merits of robots/telephones etc etc. but they seen to pass and change with time and for no apparent reason

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Goodmummy you need to speak to a guy called Larry Arnold who is an adult with AS and spends every Christmas taking phots of Pylons. If you join a group called Aspergers UK hosted by Yahoo you will be able to see his pylons. Well at least you can show them to your son. Sounds like he and Larry would get along famously.

 

Carole

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Hi everyone

Hope everybody is fine today.... :D

As i have said before about my son being obsessed with Actionman, well he going through a faze at the moment with something different. He still enjoys his Action toys still though. He's being playing with mega blocks building cars up etc, the problem is that he his still building them at approx 11pm or even later. He looked really tired this morning as he would not sleep just play with them. I have been in touch with our ed psych and she as gave me some techniques on getting to sleep, social stories, and timetables and i am going to try them out today. Also bought a cheap alarm clock to time him on certain playtimes on xbox etc, it was only �1.99 from Argos so need to go out to the expense with anything expensive.

Let you know at the end of the week how i get on with the bedtimes etc.

take care all

Amanda >:D<<'> >:D<<'>

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Hi everyone, I,ve so loved reading all your messages.I confess they made me giggle, where do they come from? My son Jack,s first obsession was vaccum cleaners at the tender age of 6 mnths.He would sit and pat it all day.He then progressed to lawn mowers and now tractors.He is tuned into tractor frequency all the time and can hear or spot one a mile off.His best day out is a visit to the tractor dealer down the road in his massey ferguson overalls.But we have put his obsession to good use and bought a small sit on mower (his first tractor he calls it).Now he is out in all weather cutting the grass happy as larry, we have lovely straight lines and the shortest grass in the county.Of course we know what he wants to be when he grows up and he,s on first name terms with all the farmers in the area.He also loves taking things apart blu tac,and ploughing the carpet into straight lines with his tractor and plough.His bedroom is laid out with tractors all over the floor, he,s taken sand soil gravel and grass seed up there to make it more authentic.But he does,nt really play with it all just arranges it!

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This is great! There definately seems to be a common theme going on here, although it does seem a bit "trainspotter"ish! My son is almost 8 and his current and past obsessions are:

 

Thomas (of course)

fans

water (is in the shower now and will be there until I go fetch him out!)

power tools, hammers and saws

trains points and buffers

towing or tieing everthing

blutac, paper clips and rubber bands (good old postie drops them)

programming his cd player to play one song over and over and over

numbers (very good at it)

lion (his stuffed toy he's had since birth, now very bear)

stones (collects them like friends)

discovery channel (scrapheap challenge)

robot wars

lego (trains, track)

tractors

electrics (circuits)

lining things up

golf

archaeology and digging anything up, also comes under mud

drawing (very good drawer)

 

I think that's it! I pretty much let him get on with it if it doesn't hurt anyone else, although can't let him loose in the garage with powertools! My husband has just had to build a robot wars arena for all his robots to have battles in, was quite good for them both, not sure who got the most fun out of it :dance: I have found distraction is a great way of avoiding an episode, if I can see something coming like a shelf load of robots and he spots it I normally try something like "oh look over there I'm sure I just saw someone!"

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i wondered if anyone else has the sleepwalking problem, and what on earth do i do when he is wandering down stairs at 4 am??

 

 

I am so glad I found this forum. So many things that I experienced with my now 13yr old a/s daughter are here. I thought that much of what we consider 'daily life' was unique to us as a family. Our daughter also sleep walks & talks. It used to be a common thing for me to wake in the middle of the night only to find her just staring at me at the side of my bed ! She also started around 2yrs. Our house was like a fortress at night, as on many occasion I would find her 'missing'. Only this morning I got up to find the back door wide open. She also holds long jibberish conversations with items of furniture. Given that food is her major obsession, I found that putting a sandwich & a drink in her room when I went to bed, encouraged her not to leave her room so often.

Must read more.

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My 5 year old son has the following obsessions:

 

1) playing with water (but screams if I turn the tap or hose on!)

2) playstations, DVD and videoplayers - anything with buttons he can push. He doesn't actually sit and watch a video or DVD but just likes fast-forwarding and rewinding!

3) Wires and plugs - he is good with plug sockets but likes to "plug in" to drawers, settees - anywhere he can put a plug!

4) Computers and cash tills - causes a problem when shopping as he tries to get at things behind the counters!

5)TV programmes change constantly - scooby doo at the moment!

6) Anything that spins! Toy cars are usually turned upside down so he can just spin the wheels. All my CD's in their cases - most are scratched now!

7) acting out play-station games - resulting in him jumping on every metal plate in the path on the way to school (collecting crystals!!!)

8) collecting stones (again crystals!!)

9) numbers - counting every door number on the way to and from school - progressed to "No.8, we can go in, we want to mummy, we can. No. 10, we can go in, we want to mummy, we can. No.12 .........over and over till we reach no.60!!!! At which point we were nearly home, I burst out laughing and he turned round and said "what's wrong mummy?" I had to say "nothing" and let him carry on.

 

10) food (or more like lack of it!) - I guess that's a common one!

 

I'm sure there are others- I find the only way to deal with the dangerous, destructive or irritating ones are to move things out of his way, or try to distract him.

 

His obsessions can be helpful - getting him to count the door numbers helps to distract him from the fact that he is going to school. It only works until the run of houses ends!

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my son has not yet had a diagnoses but his obsessions are

1/ Red power rangers , everything must be red, and megazords, and he is amazing at construction.

 

2/ trains he now collects train tickets and the numbers on the sides of the carrages, and he has particular trains which he thinks are beutifull. my son is turning 7 on tuesday, oh he also loves matching pyjamas or he wont wear them.

:)

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Hi

 

My sons latest obsession is driving me up the wall!

 

Its car insurance adverts! He is for ever telling me how to get a better deal! Talking like Joanna Lumley, thinks all white vans are from e.sure . com and keeps saying " calm down! calm down! it was only a commercial!"

 

He also likes

Star wars +++++++++ and the lego PS game, up at 4.30 playing it

 

Yu-gi-oh

 

and more star wars

 

oh and infinity!

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Pity me, I had to go and see Star Wars for the second time on Thursday as I have two children obsessed by it. :hypno: I actually fell asleep for about half an hour, and at one point texted my husband saying "get me outta here!" When my daughter found out later I had done this she was sternly disapproving as it's not allowed. :rolleyes: .

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Hi all.

 

After reading all your kids obsessions, i think i got off quite lightly!. My k's obsessions are: :D

 

Toy's and small objects of the moment that he carries in his pockets (everywhere!!), has in the bath ( if poss) and sleeps with!.

He offen goes to bed with loads of toys and books in his bed, how he ever gets any sleep i will never know!!. :wacko:

 

Computers

Ps2 / gameboy etc

Sonic the headhog

Bart simpson.

 

Thats about all i can think of at the mo!.

 

Sel.

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I got off pretty lightly too

 

there have been many over the years but usually just 3 or 4 at a time. Com is 13 now

 

current ones:

 

magic the gathering (sort of D&D card game) - since he was 8

 

dragons, anything dragon related including clothes - since he was 3

 

maths - from birth or at least as soon as he could talk

 

computers - various interests, again from birth, currently sprite editing and animation

 

 

a word of warning on the plumbing fixation - a friend's son started to call the plumber out on a daily basis and then proceeded to develop a related obsession, bowel problems, which he talks about at length to anyone he meets :whistle:

 

Zemanski

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hi all

 

In addition to all that has been said, kierans latest is Bath plugs !!. I havent seen any body else say this one, but his obsession with the bath plug began about 4 months ago, he has 5 of then now, we have to tie them to bits of string (has to be a certain length) but the things keep flying everywhere and it is now a standing joke with all our neighbours when they find a bath plug in the garden they know just where to bring them. !!

Bless

Take care

Shaz

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