Shopping with an Aspie

[janradder]

Today I took Arie to Target to pick out a new pair of boots for the winter. I grabbed a pair that thought he'd like just to check for size. Though they fit, Arie said he didn't like them so I told him to pick a pair he did like and we'd find the right size.

While Éiden ran up and down the boot aisle like a maniac, Arie looked silently from boot to boot.

"Do you see any you like, Arie?" I asked.

No answer.

"Arie -- you need to use words. I don't know what's going on in your head."

No answer.

Arie continued pacing from boot to boot, scanning the shelves.

"Ohh! Those!"

I looked at the ones he pointed to. They were the same style boots he'd tried on, only six sizes too big which I told him.

"Oh," he said, not really believing me. "Ohh! How about those!"

Again, it was the same style boot he'd initially tried on but this time three sizes too big.

We waited for twenty minutes as Éiden continued to run until I made him sit down on the floor and Arie continued to pick out boots that were either the same style boot he said he didn't want, only in a bigger size, or boots that were a different style but only came in sizes big enough for toddlers.

Finally, after much deliberation and a half hour later, Arie chose the boots he'd first tried on.

Comments

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

I totally call that a victory.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

If victory means pounding your head against a brick wall until you've made a dent, call me victorious!

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

Totally. He has boots now, right? and they're the right size, right? And at no point did anyone scream? Okay, you were screaming inside. But still!

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

(Stories like this are why, when people tell me I'd make such a good parent, I just laugh and show them pictures of my dogs.)

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Yes, but in all honesty, puppies are, like, fifty times worse than babies in terms of taking care of them. But then, the babies grow into destructive and maddening toddlers and the destrucive puppies grown into (usually) calm, polite dogs.

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

See!

(And yes and no. Puppies certainly have more weight and chewing capacity to throw into their destruction. But with proper crate-training and obedience classes, I'd say the worst adolescent dogs are about 1/3 of a Terrible Two Toddler. In terms of overall time, effort, and insanity.)

[janradder.livejournal.com]

But the difference is that it takes two years for the baby to reach toddlerhood while the puppy is in it right out of the gate.

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

Aw, no! Except for few nights of crying during the crate-training and two week of heavy-duty indoor peeing, they're mostly just cute and cuddly for the first month or two.

And then one day when they're five months old you wake up and they've eaten your favorite pair of work shoes and are working their way through your leather couch. But that stops at about nine or ten months, and voila! Straight into the 20 hours of sleep per day adulthood phase.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

That was most definitely not our dog. It took him about five or six years before he finally started to settle down into his adulthood.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

You're right on all accounts.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Ha ha! I didn't have to be there! Ha ha!

[janradder.livejournal.com]

But it was so much fun!