FootiePJ said:
My condition has only started getting worse within the past year; I think one reason is because I haven't been able to do things within my range of interest. In 2014, both of my parents still worked, so when I was at home during summer days or school breaks, I would watch PBS Kids all day, play with my magnetic tiles, read with my stuffed animals, put 100+ piece puzzles together etc. When my mom retired, I could no longer do any of that, because it annoys her when I would do such things, and she would go so far as to tell me how inappropriate it is for a grown man to do those things and I should be embarrassed for still playing with toys and watching children's programs.
Ever since COVID 19 began, I have been wearing this long-all that I had an actual mom from eBay make for me several years ago and these T strap shoes I got on eBay (vintage Start Rite T strap shoes from the early 1990s / late 1980s) more often to my county park. I actually used the outfit as a costume for Halloween 2019 when I was attempting to be the 8 year old Autistic son of my friend (who was 5 years old at the time) because he was wearing long-alls and strap shoes at the time. So I was being a lookalike of him for Halloween. But then COVID 19 pandemic happened which made me stay at home most of the time because I live in a state has one of the strictest COVID 19 restrictions. It got so bad that I had a stomach ulcer in April 2020 for 4 weeks that was bad. Almost started bleeding. When I got better, my local county parks were opened. Early May 2020. I was going to do whatever it took to make me be more cheerful. I took some proton pump inhibitor (Prilosec) for a week. From that point on, since May 2020, I've been literally wearing that longall and T strap shoes to my county park every week when I could take a 1 1/2 hour long walk, with no end. I'm actually trying to get a children's shoe company in Spain to make me a tan / cowhide colored (which I call "burnt orange" in color) T strap leather shoe in my size. I am willing to pay whatever it takes. There will be definitely a minimum amount of pairs involved (25 pairs probably) so it may get costly. I have an idea for another longall too - a primary plaid gingham longall.... - to be made. What does my mom think? Well....she understands and actually agrees that I am indeed emotionally and socially like a 4 1/2 to 5 year old, but she also says that that doesn't mean that I have to dress like a 4 year old.
I don't think even dressing like a 4 year old is the real problem. I have two nephews who are 5 and 9 years old, and they don't wear long-alls and T strap shoes. There's clearly a hip modern children's clothing way of dressing and a more traditional old fashioned way like a child from the 1980s like overalls or long-alls or T strap shoes or saddle shoes. Where I live, mostly I see little kids wearing the modern look. Not dressy by a long shot. Most little boys (99% of them, unless they are the rare little boy who is a transplant / or relocated from the Deep South) in my area wear T shirts or polo shirts if lucky, trackpants, sweatpants, cargo pants, and sneakers or Crocs. I hardly ever see even little girls (let alone little boys) wearing t strap shoes here, it's rather unusual out here. Everyone (children and adults) are so casual here in the way of dress on the West Coast. It's probably become even more so with the COVID 19 situation. Some radio disc jockeys are wearing pajamas to work in their radio station offices now. Weathermen / meteorologists are broadcasting from their home bedroom in a lot of cases, on TV. A lot of times, little boys in the Deep South wear long-alls (basically dressy overalls) and T strap shoes to church -- sometimes they were saddle shoes too. But now with COVID a lot of children (and adults) aren't going to church now, with social distancing and all that. I have to say, even before COVID 19, during Halloween in October 2019, at the Preschooler Storytime we had, if you included me as a child of some kind, I was definitely the most well dressed child in there (we typically had about 35 to 40 preschoolers in our Storytime) and I'm pretty sure at the entire library. The longall route of dressing kids is very, very rare in my area and I'm pretty sure that 99% of parents of even young children have no idea what those things even are. It's almost unheard of out here. Most companies that make children's jon jons and smocked long-alls are in the Deep South in terms of where their offices are, even if they are made in El Salvador or Vietnam. A few are made in the Philippines. Some still are made in the USA, but not that many.
My mom isn't really keen on the idea of me wearing long-alls or T strap buckle shoes anywhere else but the county park. I want to wear it at my local community college when it finally does reopen sometime this year. I hope that I have a new gingham longall and these burnt orange T strap shoes from Spain once this COVID 19 disaster gets better. Maybe I'll ride one of those kiddie scooters too. I can't drive a car much and never drove by myself or over 25 minutes because I have a really bad attention span. I do have a driver's license but it's not good for much. When I mean riding on kiddie scooters, I mean those nonmotorized scooters little kids use. I've seen college students at my community college with them too in the past. I've also seen photos of little boys riding those with long-alls and T strap shoes.
My parents are Asian American, so it's hard to bargain or win anything from them. A lot of Asian parents believe their child should obey every rule they give, like they are always right about everything. My mom is also not fond of people who don't act their age. For me, it's impossible to act my age, because I am developmentally disabled. In some aspects, contrary to that, she doesn't always have a problem with me watching children's cartoons. A few years ago, my mom was fondly remembering how I used to like Barney (the purple dinosaur) when I was chronologically 17-20 years old. That's not a common age where parents have fond memories of their child liking Barney. Loved Teletubbies in 1998 to 2008. I was in university when Teletubbies came out. I also watched Arthur and Wimzie's House back then. Eventually I got into Maurice Sendak's Little Bear cartoons on Nick Kids, Pink Panther cartoons, Care Bears, and other cartoons. I absolutely loved Wimzie's House and actually am friends with the voice actress who did Wimzie's voice on Wimzie's House and she also did Arthur's mom Jane Read's voice on Arthur, the cartoon about an aardvark who has a little sister named D.W.
In a way, you seem quite similar to me.
Take care!!
- longallsboy
