Rowen has never been a "toy" kid. Birthdays and Christmases have always been pretty easy, though I tend to make them more complicated than they should be. The big hit for his birthday was a heated blanket (that he cranks up to high every night and then begs and pleads to wear shorts during a Polar Vortex) and among the many wonderful Christmas gifts he received he seems to be enjoying his mattress topper. Yes, he is not a "toy" kid.
So imagine my surprise when today at the grocery store, Rowen ventured down the torture- er, I mean, toy aisle and desperately wanted a batman figurine. The last figurine I remember him getting was around age 3 when a friend of his was into Power Rangers. He HAD to have one so off we went on a Power Ranger hunt. I will never forget when I looked in the backseat to see Rowen in his little car seat holding the little figurine in front of him with absolutely no clue what to do with it. I never saw that Power Ranger in his hands again.
So today when Rowen was so stoked about a Batman figurine, I admit to being a little curious. After negotiating a deal that I would pay half if he could figure out what "half" was (which he did- smart kid!), he went home happily with the Dark Knight.
He would set him up somewhere, and just get excited to have him. No flying. No saving the world. No Batman talk. Just propped up somewhere with a smiling Rowen looking on. Good enough for me.
Not long after though, I heard Rowen upset in his room. I went up to see what was wrong and he was getting angry with his Batman figurine for not standing up by itself and for the cape being all wrong.
"You see his cape?" Rowen screamed through tears, slamming Batman up and down in an ill-fated effort to get him to stand up on his own. "This one side touches the bottom and the other side is up a little. And he WON'T STAND UP!"
Face red and crying, I tried calming him by fashioning a custom Batman stand out of play dough, but it just wasn't good enough.
"My brain is so stupid!" he cried. "My brain always thinks things this way and it won't stop! I guess I just like people more than toys."
"Well, that's what's special about you. You see things other people don't," I said.
Nice thought, though I could tell he wasn't fully buying. I would take what I could get though to get him back on track and calmed down. I added a hair rub into the mix to seal the deal.
Batman needed to vacate the premises. His cape is all wrong.
I do love that Rowen has a special way of thinking, but I also know it can be stressful for him. It's always hard to hear how he feels like something is wrong with him or his favorite, "my brain is stupid."
It's a stressful thing for us too, dealing with the high negative energy and hoping he doesn't really grow up thinking he's stupid. I hope instead he embraces his differences and figures out how to deal with them, and also how to love them. If only we had a little help from the Dark Knight himself. If only they would make an OCD-version of Batman...
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