Swappies

Like many autistic people, B-man has obsessions.  He seems to cycle through a few though instead of focusing on one all the time.  One of his recurring ones is Skylanders.  If you not familiar, Skylanders is a video game series created by evil geniuses.  The regular person/technogeek  side of me is in awe - the game requires a portal and figures to be played effectively.  The momma side of me is irritated - every new iteration of this game requires a new portal and new figures.  When the new version of Madden or NBA comes out, you plunk down $70, get the game and get on with life.  When a new version of Skylanders comes out you, you plunk down $40-80 for the new game, portal and figure.  Then you continue to shell out $15 a pop for figures so you can advance in the game.   We're on our 5th version of Skylanders.  I shutter to think what I've paid for this game over the past few years.

One of the versions of Skylanders is call Swap Force.  These figures come divided in half and held together with a magnet.  You can swap out their tops and bottoms to get new powers in the game.  Again, the technogeek marvels at the idea and programming behind this, the momma furiously tries to find the matching top and bottoms in B's room before meltdown.  Anywho...Swap Force has no doubt inspired B's latest creation: Swappies.

This started last week when he brought me a piece of paper and asked me to film his commercial.  He had written it down and wanted me to record him reading it.  This is huge.  He is so creative and wants things written down but he physical act of writing is so hard for him.  But here he was with a commercial he had written all on his own.  Enjoy!



The next day we were out and about as a family.  I needed to go into Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store, which really should just be called Jo-Ann's.  B told me he needed supplies to make his Swappies - clay and magnets.  15 dollar later, he had what he needed.  As I worked on my ill fated project, he started sculpting.  Sculpting from drawing he'd done, I might add!

Next he wanted to paint the Swappies.  I told him he probably needed to wait until the clay dried to paint them.  He agreed and the next morning started painting.

This is where things took a hard left.  The painting did not go so well.  As he started painting, I left get my hair done so I'm not exactly sure what happened but it's my fault, according to B. When I returned home all the Swappies were in the trash.  Apparently, they didn't hold up so well to the painting  and my advice to wait for them to dry before painting was no longer appreciated.  This is the current state of the Swappies.

B was pretty upset at first but he cooled down.  He's trying to figure out what to do next on his Swappies.  I'm just so proud that he tried to create something.  One of his favorite videos on TED-ED is about the design process.  He went through the design process with Swappies.  It didn't turn out how he would have liked but he did admit to having fun trying.  That's all a huge step for him.  Usually if things don't work out they were horrible for the get go.

Progress is a beautiful thing!