Johnny

I have a boy in my afternoon kindergarten class I'll call Johnny. Johnny is different from your average 5 year old boy. He loves Tinkerbell, I'd go as far as obsessed. I think sometimes he sees her fluttering around the room as he is looking up at the ceiling. Sometimes he laughs out loud at something going on in his head and it usually involves Tink. Johnny has Tinkerbell folders and sometimes wears girls Tinkerbell underwear. One day he came off of the bus and said to me, "be quiet, Tinkerbell is sleeping in my backpack". Next thing I know he's shaking it all about saying "she's awake and wants to get out!" At time he flaps around the room like he's a fairy. There are also behavior issues with him.

Johnny is somewhere on the autism spectrum but no testing is being done. He doesn't have any friends, doesn't play with other students, as a matter of fact he scares a few of them. Besides Tinkerbell the other object of his affection is a little girl in the class, lets call her Sally. He wants to sit with her, be near her and gets upset sometimes if he can't. She's pretty good about it and we explain to Johnny that he can't always sit with her. Here's a conversation with him today. He had just told another student that "he doesn't smell beautiful like Sally does".

Me: What does Sally smell like?

Johnny: She smells like butterfly kisses.

Me: What do butterfly kisses smell like?

Johnny: They smell like fairies.

Me: Well what do fairies smell like?

Johnny: Mrs. B., they smell like perfume!

Johnny does have his issues and I know for a fact that his home life is awful. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason he seems to live in Pixie Hollow (where Tinkerbell lives with her fairy friends). Since school began I've spent most of my afternoons wrangling him. I've become attached to him and feel protective of him even though some days he makes me crazy. Many times I have to take a nap when I get home from school as he wears me out emotionally.

I have quite an extensive Tinkerbell art collection.