I get it. I'm the same way. When I was a child, I would get very into things. I remember being determined to learn a Bach invention on piano, so I learned it over one weekend. I remember getting the CD single to "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" and listening to it repeatedly every night for a month. I would get ready for bed, turn off the lights, put CD in, and set it for "repeat one." Then I would put on my headphones and let it play.
I would listen to this song ten, fifteen times in a row, amazed at how every single time I heard this song would be a different experience as I focused on different instruments and aspects of the song every time it repeated. I do still do this. It's not upcoming for me to listen to the same song on repeat during my half-hour commute to work.
This interest and way of diving deep have served me well. Sitting in a library doing research for five or six hours while working on my Master's degree didn't feel like a chore. In my job, I can focus intensely and stick with difficult problems over long periods.
Diana, my wife, is similar. When she's into a book, she'll read the whole book over a couple of days. She has no problem getting deep into an interest like I do and maintaining focus on it over hours, days, or months.
We've seen this in Ollie over the years. The first time I noticed it was when he would work on a Lego set. He often would not take a break until he finished a set, even if it took multiple hours. We saw it other times with drawings he was working on or other projects he set his mind to.
I got Ollie a Rubik's Cube about a year ago. He heard about it on a podcast, and I gave him a gift. He messed around with it here and there but never spent much time on it. I noticed yesterday that he was messing around with it again, so I asked him if he wanted to watch a video to figure out how to solve it. I found this video and showed it to him:
I figured that he would these videos over a week and eventually figure out how to solve the Rubik's Cube. So as the morning went on, Ollie sat at the dining room table, watched the videos, and worked on the cube. Periodically I would sit next to him to see what he was doing, but I quickly realized I had no idea what the videos were talking about and what Ollie was doing with the cube.
At no point did Ollie seem frustrated. Instead, he worked quietly and methodically. He ate a light lunch as he worked on the cube and kept right on. For a couple of moments, I thought he was close, so I sat next to him, but then I realized he had some work to do, so I gave him space to work. Then I heard Ollie say softly with surprised and relief "I did it!"
I looked over, and he was holding a solved Rubik's cube. From start to finish, it had taken him five hours.
I loved the look on his face. He was so proud of himself, and I was so proud of him. More than being proud that he had solved the Rubik's cube, I was proud that he worked for so long with such focus, and I was proud that he figured out how to do something that I couldn't. I love that.
That was yesterday. Today he solved a Rubik's cube in five minutes.
That's my boy!
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