Friday, February 24, 2012

Purple Dress

Lily's obsession du jour (where du jour is french for "of the last month or so" not "of the day") is 'purple dress'.  Purple dress is a purple pajama top with a pink owl on it.  Every night about the time Lily gets home from daycare she begins saying, "I want purple dress," or "I want purple."  


"What does an owl say, Lily?" we prompt.  
"Hoo hoo," she replies.


When we play in her room she grabs it from her dresser and holds it like a blanket, shoving it into my arms when I'm not paying attention, surprising me into grabbing hold of it.  Once it's in my hands she says, "I want to put purple dress on."


Purple gets washed and dried during the day so that she can wear it every night.  


They see me rollin', they hatin'.  Chillin' in "purple dress".
Lily isn't prone to meltdowns, but there's very little she's passionate about, so we often cave to those few things that she takes a shine to.  So purple is laundered pretty religiously and I have no doubt will prematurely decay to lacy transparency in a few months, though probably some of its luster will have faded by then.


Okay, so what does it matter that Lily is obsessed with purple?  A couple things. . . 


1)  She's taking an interest in the clothes she wears.  The other day we put a pretty blue striped hooded long sleeve t-shirt on her before realizing that it was "heart awareness" day and changing her into a little red "Sweetheart" shirt with white long sleeve shirt underneath.  After changing her, she kept telling us she wanted "blue stripe shirt on".  I like that.  I like that she thinks some things she wears are prettier or cooler or whatever than some of her other clothes.  


Last night Leslie tied a long ornate pink silk scarf around her neck and she just stared at it and observed how it draped from her neck, picking up the knot and examining it before letting it fall back against her, twirling around the room and watching it flow.  When it would loosen and fall from around her neck, she'd ask for pink "back on" until one of us would redo the knot once more.


2)  Very little is motivating to Lily.  We really latch onto those things that we find Lily likes or is passionate about.  The iPad, for example, can be used to motivate her.  Certain TV programs. . . and now 'purple'.  When it's time for bed we say, "Let's go put on purple dress, Lily" in place of "time for bed, Lily." 


Her reaction to the prospect of putting on her favorite jammy shirt is to lead us happily to the stairs, bouncing as she walks, saying "OK!"  Her reaction to the prospect of bedtime is invariably either, "I don't want to go to bed" or "I not tired."  And she gets that when purple gets put on it's time for bed. . . but putting on purple is somehow awesome even if it means she's going to bed, whereas telling her she's going to bed without making mention of purple elicits a protest.
SO FLUFFY!!!!


The obsessions can sometimes be a bit of a pain in the ass, for sure.  Having to continually make sure purple is always washed and ready isn't always particularly convenient for us, but her obsessions are very motivating for her, and she can be enticed to behave almost angelically when her obsession du jour is the carrot dangling from the motivational stick. 

35 comments:

  1. Not to mention the fact that she looks CUTE in purple!

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  2. When you find something you kiddo loves, you milk it for all it's worth. Because seeing that smile (as in your last pic) makes everything OK.

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  3. Can you buy a backup purple dress? In case purple dress gets threadbare? If it makes her that happy, it might be good to have one on reserve, just so she's not sad when it inevitably falls apart (I had a "purple" when I was a kid, and was heartbroken when it got washed to bits.)

    That grin! Man, I can't imagine much I wouldn't do to see that on a kid's face. ADORABLE.

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  4. We have a couple of owls on our street. From now on I'll imagine them as purple when I hear them hoot.

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  5. Aaaawwwwww that's so cute! But I'm with Amy - I would try and find a back up Purple Dress, just in case.

    Lily reminds me so much of my god daugther (also on the spectrum) - she goes through her phases too.

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  6. Name the store and I am sure we wiill all be out looking for backup purple owls for your Lily. I wonder if a variety would have any appeal even. That fluffy photo of her made me smile almost as big as she is! :)

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  7. I support obsessions with clothing. Especially purple clothing.

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  8. There's nothing wrong with having a security blanket. If it helps her sleep than use it. For a while Jacob needed 10 stuffed animals to go to sleep. It could also be that your little girl is going to be into fashion as a teen, so get your wallet ready.

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    1. Lily went through that stage too. She would try to hold as many as she could at once. Or give them to us to hold on her behalf.

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  9. Lily is a very smart girl. Owls are very "in" right now. I have never cared for owls but I see them everywhere now - hats, cookie jars, towels, shirts, S&P shakers. It takes extreme self-control not to start a collection.

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  10. ahh... the carrots make the world go around :)

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  11. If it works RUN with it! She is adorable.

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  12. angelic indeed!! Oh that picture of her laughing is infectious! What a cutie. Great she has so much motivation. I still to this day make sure that when Tommy finds something he really likes, i buy 2 of them.. you just never know when you'll need a backup lol

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    1. We're the same way. . . but purple was a christmas present and she just started latching onto it in February. . .

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  13. The language you are talking about seems very color driven which is much like my Tootles. When he asks for things, he often asks by color. One of my blobby buddies suggested he might have synesthesia which can be a really awesome way to learn. It often goes with autism. You might want to Google it.

    Glad she has her purple! She is adorable in every photo I've seen, obviously no exception here! I guess Children's Place changed their inventory already, eh?! You could always take her out to pick a new "purple" once you know it's on the way out. I've found with Tootles, even if I have an extra, it's not the style but that one in particular so that even if I have a backup it's not the same.

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    1. blobby buddies? Are you suggesting this buddy has a weight problem?

      She does label everything by color for sure. My car (which is silver) she calls "Orange car". I THINK this has to do with the tach and speedometer and instruments being orange, but I don't know. I can't get her to call it "silver car"

      When we watch Victorious one of her scripts is "What color is Cat's hair? Cat has red hair. What color is Trina's hair? Trina has brown hair." and so on.

      She calls blonde hair green. . . but mostly her colors are pretty accurate.

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  14. Well I think she looks just lovely in Purple and if it makes her happy you're such awesome parents to just go with it. Look at that face! I think you need to get her a purple pony!

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    1. She doesn't really like purple ponies (or ponies in general). . . but she DOES like her winter coat, which is also purple. When I try to put lighter jackets on her in warmer weather she says, "I want purple coat on".

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  15. I hear you on finding a motivator and running with it! LM is a lot like Lily in that respect -- her true motivators are few and far between.

    And anything that makes bedtime easier? That's not purple, my friend. THAT is GOLDEN!

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  16. Gotta love the motivators! Tate calls things by color, too. The "blue" car, the "red stripes" shirt, the "blue stripes" shirt, etc.
    His pj's du jour are Angry Birds shorts. We have 2 pair, and he wears those as often as he can....like Lily, these shorts motivate him!

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  17. Lily is so cute!! I love purple too, no wonder I'm so fond of her. And Kelley's right... Owls are real big right now!

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    1. owls on shirts and feathers in hair. . . although I think the hair feathers have died off finally.

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  18. Finding their metaphorical currency is so the in thing right now. You know what was "in" when I was a kid?

    Beatings. Fortunately, my parents were never in style.

    She's adorable. And I'm not just saying that. I wouldn't do that. Especially because I hate the color purple.

    But not the movie. I never saw that.

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    1. I never saw that movie either! I DID see "The Color of Money", and, I hope it's not spoiling anything to let you in on the surprise ending. It's green. The color of money is green. Lily doesn't give a shit about green though.

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