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on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
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My husband and I are wondering if we're raising a monk.
Not in the religious, robe-wearing, vow-of-silence sense. But in the sense of the neurotic, obsessive compulsive TV character who sometimes can't function if things aren't in order.
I must say, some days with our 2-year-old we're a tad worried.
At first we thought we were raising a little highway patrolman, with his law and order ways, always telling people 'NO' if they did something they don't typically do or put something in the wrong place. Or just did something he didn't think they should have.
"NO" when his brother sits in a chair other than his usual one.
"NO" when you put the blue blanket on him first instead of the green one. Green always goes first, you’d think I’d know that by now.
And "No" when the dog tries to play with a toy he hasn't played with in awhile. That's not the toy he's supposed to play with.
I’ve loved all of it, watching him try to put order in a chaotic house. The little guy’s pretty good at it.
But that law and order behavior now has a little obsessive twist.
Try to put shorts back on him after a messy diaper. I dare ya.
The kid will go insane yelling, "Yuckie. Yuckie. Yuckie." (Remember the last time he mortified me with that word? I still get flashbacks every time he says it.) But back to diaper time. I mean he physically won't allow the shorts (or pants) back on his body.
Doesn't matter if you talk him through it, tell him they are clean and even show him the inside of his shorts. Not going to work with our little guy.
Pull out a fresh pair and he literally breathes a sigh of relief and shakes his head up and down like, "OK. Those are OK." Let's just say we do a lot of laundry.
That's not all. Certain shoes have to be worn with certain outfits. No joke.
Cotton shorts must have tennis shoes. Jean shorts or jeans get sandals. This is a just-over two-year-old we're talking about.
And when it comes to food, he likes things whole, not cut or pulled apart. I broke a tortilla in half for him yesterday and you would have thought I just tortured his Elmo doll right in front of him.
My husband’s been a little worried that the quirks will get quirkier and our toddler more adamant. (psssss… Husband knows a thing or two about obsessive compulsive … ) So I turned to the Internet and by golly hundreds of parents are worried about this same thing. Just Google “Toddler OCD.”
There’s one kid who couldn’t be touched while climbing into bed - if he was he had to climb back out and start all over again. Another kid has to use the same spoon for every meal, and other kids have to have long, elaborate bedtime rituals, including lining up dolls, counting fingers and toes, and singing certain amount of songs in a certain order. Sometimes these routines, they said, can take up to an hour.
I guess every kid has a little something that makes him or her different. If mine is all about clean shorts and blue blanket before green, hey, why not?
I won’t even get started on my own quirks (ever met anyone who eats a sandwich in a circle?)
We've got a particular little guy as well. But then again, I can be a bit obsessive, and so can DH, and we came out okay, so I'm just assuming all will fall into place eventually. :DThat's so funny because my guy (was 2 in July) is just like yours! I've recently begun to wonder as well if it's just an age or personality trait. I asked our PAT teacher when she was here last week & she said it's a little of both. This behaviour is very normal for a 2yr old. My guy tells us what crayon to colour with, what page, where on the page & when to stop! He's so obsessive that I think it's what got him toilet trained so early.. he hates messes & would freak when about to pee. Anyway, I think it's normal but keep an eye on it & the funny stories coming :)I've blocked out that stage. My 2 are still into controlling the type of clothes, but we're past most of this. Phew! My sister's son would insist on changing clothes if he got a spot on them--sometimes 3 times a day or more. This went through part of elementary school, but he's outgrown most of that. It's a fun ride, isn't it?Maybe there is something wrong with my dd (turned two in August). She is the messiest person I have ever seen. She actually got mad at me yesterdat for wanting to change her shorts after she peed right through them. But when it comes to food she wants it whole (or she yells, "you broke it, you broke it). And her coloring has to be done while standing in one exact spot. Man, kids sure are weird!We call my youngest "Monk." He's got little quirks like that. For while, he kept starting his sentences over if someone came into the room and started talking while he was talking. With three kids and who knows who else in the house all the time, you get interrupted a lot.I started out sorting Legos by color then by shape and size. I wouldn't build anything but a house, and each layer could only be one color and the pattern of layers had to be the same. I think I was about 2 or 3 then. I started taking meds for it a couple of years ago, but can't right now because of the incubating bambino. I'm back to where I was before the meds, if not worse. My food can't touch. I have to eat all of one thing before I eat the next. I have to use 3 paper towels when I dry my hands and 3 or multiples of 3 squares of toilet paper. Luckily, my 12 year old hasnt' shown any signs of OCD yet. He does like to point out when I'm beign obsessive though.It seems most of you agree this type of behavior is par for the course with toddlers. This does not bode well for those of us with multiples!I think most people have a little OCD in them. When I was younger I had issues with things being even. If I blinked one eye I had to blink the other. If I rolled one wrist, the other had to be rolled as well. I notice that even today things have to be a certain way or I feel I can't function. Some of that may be just wanting to be organized. Also, we all get into a certain routine and hate to stray from that. I have noticed that my 2 year old DS has shown some signs and brought it up to my PAT as well. She said to just keep an eye on it. He gets very upset when toys are not put back in the rooms they were originally in. (hmmm...is that a bad thing?) He sat for 45 minutes with the stacking cups until he had them in the perfect order. If they didn't fit he would take them apart and start over. I would say to not worry about it but I also have a 15 yo DS who was diagnosed with OCD. He mostly obsesses over roller coasters. He also has to turn the water on and off a certain amount of times and when he shuts the door he pulls on the handle a certain amount of times. When he looks over his shoulder he has to to it several times until it feels right. Those are just a few of the thing he does or has done. When he was little he had to have a piece of cheese folded in half then half again before he would eat it. He always wanted nine pickles in a bowl. We thought it was cute then but didn't realize it was actually something that would cause his so much trouble later. I'm not saying that just because a child has little "quirks" they will automatically be diagnosed with OCD. I think a lot of it is normal toddler behavior. It seems like children go from one silly thing to the next. My favorite saying is "This too shall pass."This reminds me so much of ds. He still gets a little mad when people don't play with toys the way he thinks they should and he's almost 6, but has loosened up so much lately.I think kids this age just like things in order. My dd just turned 3 but she been the most organized person i've ever met for as long I as can remember. She dumps out her box of shoes and organizes them in pairs then by color, next she moves on to moms and dads. Her hands cant not be dirty and fit will occur if she has a runny nose. I never she it for more than it really is. I'm sure your kid is fine
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