Target, Bratz and the Number 11

PDD-Nos Memoirs

Two weeks ago, I went to the mall with the kids and Little One's father. I had just watched a video about an autistic savant that is able to calculate complex math equations in his mind. That's not the astonishing part. The mind blowing part is that he just sees the answers. He feels numbers and each has a shape and texture?!

I had spoken to Little One's Dad about how he maps out every store I shop at. He can find the Crayola aisle in every store I've ever visited. If there is something I have a hard time with, it's actually visualizing maps in my mind. I can easily memorize text and numbers. When I retain information, I see it on a page in my mind. He must similarly map locations in his mind, finding a way to organize twists and turns.

I'm fascinated with his abilities. That's not unusual for me. Growing up I was always intrigued by geniuses. I used to read about children that could paint with one hand, while writing in Latin with the other. So, when I found these videos of Daniel Tammet at the great blog Autistic Savant, I sat down and watched them all. I always knew that his brain was wired differently, I just didn't understand how. These videos helped me a little.

Back to the mall. As we were walking, The Little One stepped in front of us and said Target, Bratz fashion pixies...eleven. Now, I understood the Target and Bratz direction. I had purchased one for him at that location. (Remember, he loves Barbie, My Scene and Bratz. He says they look like The Princess and The Diva). The funny part was the eleven. Recalling what I had seen on the video, I decided to go with The Diva and look for a sign on the aisle. I had to see if there was any type of correlation. Why would he just randomly say ELEVEN?

I went to the Bratz aisle and looked for a sign. No sign. The aisles were not clearly numbered. I walked back and forth looking for a #11 at his eye level. I missed it completely. See while I was looking for a number, The Diva walked back to the beginning of the aisles and counted forward. The Bratz aisle in our Target is found in ROW NUMBER ELEVEN.

We celebrated our findings as we made our way back to him. Just as we thought, he went directly back to the aisle. He looked at the dolls and said "Bratz Fashion Pixies Eleven!"

I love when we find pieces to a puzzle. It's almost like we saw into his mind...