It all started on that unknown, but fateful day, back in 1996 in which Pamela broke The Honey Tree as recorded in her auto-biography. Later that year, the beloved MGVT 1 and 2 broke, a tragedy in the annals of Glaser history. A quibbler might note that The Honey Tree was released in VHS form on October 1, 1997. I might point out that some people have too much time on their hands and I believe her dating system at that time was based upon where we lived, meaning anything that happened in Pennsylvania occurred anywhere from the summer of 1996 to the Spring of 2000. Her calendar skills kicked in anywhere from the summer of 2001 to the summer of 2003 because we lived in Alaska.
Pamela wove into her auto-biography entries about every video tape or VCR she broke. For example, in September of 2002, she recalled, "A video cleaner is stucked in a VCR. Its acting up. I cut a VCR. The VCR broke." She even set aside a special page for tracking important video events: picking her favorite videos, breaking them, or buying them on eBay. Her biggest eBay haul was eighteen videos in one auction as a present for Christmas 2003, while her most important one was winning a new copy of the coveted MGVT 1 and 2 in February 2004.But, I digress. Pamela discovered You-Tube this year. She started researching broken video tapes to which I refuse to provide links for obvious reasons. She found a couple of annoying ones in which mindless teens break video tapes over their head and some even chew the tape. Echolalia from these video clips can appear at anytime as you can see in this clip!
Fortunately, Pamela is too smart to try this at home. Unfortunately, she found a safe way to imitate this silliness that is non-toxic and non-scarring. I know I should be thankful for this! She makes paper videos and presses hard with a pen to semi-perforate them to make them easier to rip. To the right are sample paper videos. Here is an example of Pamela in all her glory.
You might smile and say "Awwww . . . how cute!" Check out pictures of my desk drawers which I clean out daily. These pesky paper videos multiply like tribbles. They must go through some weird life cycle change because sometimes they appear as tiny wads of paper. Occasionally, I even come across them soaking wet, probably from a very recent metamorphic transformation. I refuse to hear any of your speculation about alternatives because life cycle changes sound more hygenic!I really should not complain. After all, this broken videotape craze has replaced the Hooper-Bloob Highway monologues. Occasionally, broken videotapes slip into conversations quite appropriately, and I go with it!
I think you are doing the right thing by showing her how you feel during her monologue with your face. During these times at our house, I do that too and I also try to take the current obsession and give her a new perspective of it. If she would say, "break the video tape" you might say, "breaking the video is so silly, you know what? we did not have video tapes when I was a kid I had to watch movies at the theater or tv?, or something like that and try to change the focus and make it an experience sharing opportunity. I try and try and try to change the appraisal of those situations as much as possible. It's kinda like playing devils advocate all the time, but over time it has helped with her perspective and somewhat with the perseverative talk. As for you complaining, heck, we all need to sometimes! no matter how much you love them,it can get ANNOYING!lol!
ReplyDeleteYup it's always a trade off, on the one hand / on the other hand! I just end up twiddling my thumbs in confusion.
ReplyDeleteCheers
This is my calling card or link"Whittereronautism"until blogger comments get themselves sorted out.
You are right...there are worse things LOL! And I learned a new word...tribble. I thought I was looking in a mirror when you just stopped talkng and frowned. It is amazing how that WORKS! Silence is golden
ReplyDeleteI said, "Aww, that's cute" and then read "You might say...."! ROFL Isn't it funny how this stuff is cute and sweet when it's someone else's child? I don't recall myself smiling and saying "How sweet" when I step over the easy readers, spread out in the shape of a rainbow in rainbow color. You do handle it very well! I will have to remember that next time!
ReplyDeletePoohder,
ReplyDeletePamela is more responsive to frowns than I originally expected. But, even frowns do not succeed in stopping a verbal stim in full steam.
Queen Mum,
I am so glad to have expanded your vocabulary into the Trekkie world. I am sure they include it on the SATs!
Jen,
I can't believe I forgot rainbow colors!!! I was going to mention rainbow colors but got on a roll.
Videotapes are one of Samuel's obsessions right now as well. He breaks them every now and then, usually because he drops them when getting them down from the high shelves we try to hide them on! Samuel gets really upset when he breaks one. Our in-home helper recently took the reels out of a broken videotape case and put it in the case of a blank tape! It saved a meltdown, but oh what a lot of work!
ReplyDeleteSamuel has discovered You-Tube as well. He likes watching the Studio identifications at the beginning/ends of shows (PBS, Paramount, Warner Brothers, etc). It's amazing the twisted up (and sometimes obscene) versions that people come up with, we face blocking Samuel's access to it.
Tammy, I hear ya about your face NOT causing her to stop the verbal stimin full stream, but I am willing to bet over time they will! But until then we just keep on, keeping on!!
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