People with Williams Syndrome are often drawn to subjects, almost obsessively. Sometimes the subjects are inanimate, often mechanical – fans, planes, radios. Other times they are very animate, people (of course), animals and young/babies are often a particular source of fascination.
Linda loves animals and has books and books and books about them. She’s usually much less interested in meeting animals in the flesh as she’s vary wary of being attacked by them.
On holiday this week she’s become an intrepid spotter of the small lizards that sun themselves on the steps and terraces around our holiday Gite. She watches and comments upon their every move, talking to them softly… (as if French lizards understand English!!). Day by day she becomes more brave about encounters with this new and unquantified species.
In the last day or two she’s become brave enough to actually approach a lizard (and yes, the outcome of the lizards scuttling away at great speed was very predictable).
Today she achieved a sort of victory as she inched her way patiently toward the sun-basking beast….
“You’ll be alright mate.” she said sotto voce as she made her final approach and then stood, victorious within a foot of the wild animal.
Job done. Lizard whisperer born.
Yay for Linda!…she’s much braver than I am; those little lizard things might as well be 10 ft long…I am just as creeped out by little bitty ones as a 10 footer! yikes…!
Trent’s obsession is washing machines…he is so obsessed with washing machines that his parents go to great lengths to avoid going into stores that might sell washing machines, or going to friends houses whose washing machines are not behind a closed door, etc etc. He cries, kicks and screams when you have to disengage him from said washing machine…its not pretty! Before washing machines, his obsession was window blinds. What’s next, I wonder….?
Beth here, Priscilla. We almost have the same aversion to shops that may sell sun glasses. Linda has gone beyond the kicking and screaming, that goodness, but can sulk and be very surly. she has a habit of what we call describe as “chuntering” – muttering under her breath, in such a way that we can’t actually hear what she’s saying, but left in no doubt that she is unhappy about the situation!