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hi! my newest plushies are in fact the webkinz jr pals i got, leapfrog and catnap. but i also got this little tikiri ladybug rubber rattle toy yesterday!

So Im rather newly diagnosed with autism and I struggle with finding actually definition of terms that fully make sense to me.

For the lngest tike I thought, that special interests are also about knowing EVERYTHING (or as close as possible) about the thing too.

But I get that it doesnt have to, for example for you with plushies. You probably dont know every singoe brand in the world and when and how they came into existance etc...

And because of that its hard for me to really understand my special interests!

(There are also other words where I get what they mean but I cant figure out how to apply them to myseld)

hi! this is a very good and interesting topic to me.

i don't know everything about plushies, that's definitely true! for me my special interests don't have to do mostly with knowledge about a topic. i simply rely on them to engage with and process the world around me.

so it doesn't matter to me how much i know about plushies when i call them my special interest, since they (and collecting as a general concept) have been since i was too young to talk or read or anything! what matters to my definition for myself is that i need to constantly have access to be able to engage in anything, be it basic self care, learning to knit and sew and any other skills or topics, and being out of the house. they're really just the center to my universe.

the best way i can explain it is that if you could look inside the core of my heart, i would completely overlap with my love for plushies/my collections. there isn't a separate part of my identity that has no relation to my special interests, they are overlayed on top of my everything. the window through which i view and understand the world around me has plushies on the windowsill.

this is absolutely a fair question and one ive been grappling with for the same reason, both as i have had health scares that lead to plushies getting damaged or suddenly gaining unexpected injuries, since they are very dear to me and also could not be replaced in my heart or physically!

for me buying a second one just never makes sense in my head-i feel they have their own spirits, and a the new one would have its own being as well.

as for the fear-i think the best thing i have is that:

a. i know how to sew and have learned more about mending plushies, to the point where i know if they do fall apart i am able to put them together!

ooh! i'm a lover of birds and the classic bashfuls also, and had a very nostalgic non-jellycat toucan i got at the zoo as a child, as well as the belby toucan jelly who i named bulb :)

i think your toucan looks like a mango, or maybe popsicle? and the puffin i would personally choose a name like scruffy (because i like silly sounding words and textures) but also naming the toucan popsicle and the puffin icicle could be silly and cute! either way thats so exciting!