Thursday 17 July 2008

Colinisms and Calebites

Colin: Look! Just like Daddy's car!
(He is pointing at a blue SUV. We have a little silver four-door).
Mommy: Remember Colin, our car is silver.
Colin: No, it's just like our car.
Mommy: I don't think so. (Wondering if he's colour blind).
Colin: No, look! (He runs up and points at the "H" on the trunk.)
(Yup - he's right. It's a Honda SUV, and we have a Honda Civic. He then proceeded to find cars just like his grandparents and his aunts. The kid has an eye for detail, that's for sure!)

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Caleb:
- Loves to roll. He even managed to roll himself onto his stomach while swaddled up really tight. Incredible strength!
- Is nearly crawling. He manages though, between rolling and pulling and kicking. He really gets around.
- Is nearly walking. Has been pulling himself up for the last month or so, and has been walking holding onto our hands for the past few weeks. He may very well skip crawling altogether.
- Holds his own against Colin. There's no typical "laid-back" second born here.

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Colin's compulsions:
- Walking the exact same path. For example, we have to walk on the left half of a sidewalk. He has to walk on each letter of his alphabet mat. Go up to the front door by the side of the step, no the front. Has a complete meltdown if you don't follow this. Won't continue on until you correct your path.
- Will not step on cracks in the sidewalk. He will even tiptoe on tiled sidewalks (the ones with little interlocking bricks). Isn't he a little young for this?
- His two sippy cups he keeps between his bed frame and mattress. They must be exactly one-third of the way between the top and the end of the bed. The blue must be on the right. Both spouts must face the bed. If he wants a drink, he has to pick it up, first the blue, then the green. If you pick it up for him, he will put it back in, shift them both until they are in the proper position, then pick it up again to drink.
- If you serve a food in a certain container, it must always be served in that container. For example, grapes go in a square tupperware, raisins in a round one, and cheerios in the yellow one. He will not eat it if it's not served as he first remembered it.
- I have no psychiatric degree, but it makes me wonder if it's a) just a good memory b)just two-year old antics or c) mild OCD!

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Caleb slept through the night the other day! 8pm to 6am! Hasn't happened again, but he is getting better.

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Both children believe that 6am is the ideal wake-up time. Me and my love for a shower disagree. It's getting hard to find a spare moment to jump in the shower, and sometimes a few days go by before I get the chance...Somehow waking up before they do isn't an option I want to consider (5:30am is too early while I'm not sleeping through the night!)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As someone with OCD, the rituals sound familiar, BUT, I've also heard of MANY toddlers who do not have OCD who do the same thing :). I'd say keep an eye on it, but it could easily just be his way of controlling his own environment, as 2 year olds like to do :).
I'm scared of when Shea learns to roll in his swaddle (he is closer rolling back to front swaddled than unswaddled, oddly enough), because that will mean no more swaddle, and no more sleep for me :).
And the car story is cute :). He is right at hood ornament level, so it makes perfect sense that's how he would see the car :).
-Heather.

Anonymous said...

I should also note that yesterday was my first shower in many days, and that was because Shea threw up all over me, including my hair, so I put it to the top of the priority list. I LOOOOOVE showers, but finding the time is hard. I always balked at parents who said they couldn't find time to shower, but I get it now :). It's the one thing you can't do an still supervise your child at the same time (not easily, anyway, not without soaking the bathroom floor!!), and since Shea is always in arms while sleeping, except at night, and I'm not about to hop in the shower at midnight, it's pretty much limited to whenever someone can take him from me for 15 minutes, and I don't have anything else to do :). Consequently, however, the shower is that much more enjoyable when I do squeeze one in (and was my guilty pleasure while on bedrest. I used to save it for the time of day when I needed a pick-me-up :)).
-Heather.

Anonymous said...

I shouldn't have read this entry while holding him. It gave him ideas. He was up at 5:50 this morning :). In fairness, he went to bed at 7:45, which is at least 2 hours early (he fell asleep, and I wanted to eat dinner, so I put him to bed), so that may be my own fault :).
-Heather.