Monday, February 10, 2014

OCD or Routine?

Sidekick has thrived on routine/structure since he was four weeks old.  That's when we really got into a schedule, his bedtime routine started, and he started sleeping eight hours straight.  I've been a proponent of a schedule especially with bedtime since before I even thought about having Sidekick because I knew the importance of it.  I think in doing so, he wants everything to be structured and organized in his life; hence my reference to OCD. 

I don't let him sleep with anything in his crib except a little monkey head with a blanket (That is probably the only thing I worry about in his life, and in reality, he doesn't really need anything in the crib).  I'll let him fall asleep with his blanket, but once he falls asleep, I throw it through the slats of his crib with just a corner inside the crib for him to grab when he wakes up (or when he happens to wake up in the middle of the night which freaks me out if I happen to check the monitor and he has it).  For the past few weeks, he has been obsessed with his three friends:  Enmo (Elmo), Georgia (Curious George) and Fred Bird (St. Louis Cardinals mascot).  His obsession has led to this every single fricken morning!:

 
As soon as I get him dressed in the morning, he has to take his friends to breakfast with him, and they must sit on the table.  As soon as he is done eating breakfast, he points to his friends and says, "ni-night", and so the ritual continues.  He then drags all of his friends back to his room and put them "ni-night" in his crib, and he must cover them with his blanket.  Today, two more friends got added in. 

 
It was cute the first couple of times he did it, but now it MUST happen every single morning before we leave for school or he pitches a fit. I think it's interesting that he started this one day because they had never been put in his crib before, so where did he come up with this? 
 
I have to admit that I sometimes worry about this need, routine, structure, obsession... whatever you want to call it.  His pediatrician told me it's a sign of intelligence because he wants things in his life to be in order. While that sounds great in theory (what Mom doesn't want to hear her child is intelligent), if he starts washing his hands 20 times a day, I'm going to really freak out!   
 
Does anyone else's kids do things like this?  Is this normal?

1 comment:

  1. My younger son used to line up matchbox cars when he was 18-24 months old. I was a little freaked out. I had to force myself not to worry or "read into" this behavior. He grew out of it but still loves cars of any kind. Thinking back, I believe he loved cars then but didn't really know what else to do with them. My first thought when reading about Sidekick's special care for his friends was that he is already showing signs of true empathy and what a great gift that is!

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