Quirks of a three year old

Yesterday a friend posted on facebook about his daughter being OCD and detailed their elaborate bedtime routine, it was funny to me because I can relate in so many ways. I piped up and shared a few of Shye's little quirks but afterwards I was really thinking about it and I realized that Shye may be even more OCD/quirky than I had previously thought. It's funny how you get so used to your own kid and it's not until you are talking to other parents that you realize that no, not every kid will throw a tantrum if they don't get to flush the toilet for you.

There are certain things that Shye likes to do and no one else is allowed do them. I think this stems from Shye wanting to be involved in whatever I'm doing. If I'm washing dishes she will pull up a stool and play in the water with me. If I'm folding laundry she likes to hand me clothes out of the basket. If I'm carrying in groceries she wants to help so I usually give her a light bag. She likes having a job to do. And I guess if she does a certain job long enough she starts to think that it is her job. So somewhere along the way she became the button pusher (remote control, dvd player, power switches, light switches, car door lock), the door closer (this includes car doors, the trunk, and the refrigerator), and our officially designated toilet flusher. Seriously if she hears the toilet flush she will come running and insist on flushing it again, so in the interest of saving water, the planet, and our sanity we just let her do it the first time. Also, it was sort of my fault that she wants to push the button to lock the car, it was my way of training her to not run off as soon as I set her down from getting her out of her carseat. Now she waits patiently as I gather my things from the car because she wants to lock the door and shut it.

Some of her other quirks stem from her need to do things in a consistent pattern. This is great when it comes to routine things like bedtime or cleaning up at night before bed. But in other ways it can be a pain in the butt, like when we lived with my mother in law we always took our shoes off when we got inside so now Shye insists on taking her shoes off whenever we go into someones house. She also got used to taking her shoes off when we went to McDonalds, trampoline places, and other indoor playplaces so she eventually started equating playtime with taking off her shoes which it great...except when she also want to take her shoes off when she goes to Nursery at church or even to an outdoor play area. Geez.

She also likes things done right and the same way every time. Like whenever she is sitting in a seat with a buckle she absolutely must be strapped in. Even if she is just sitting in her stroller for like 30 seconds. She. Must. Be. Buckled. As you can imagine this was a pain in the butt when we were at Disneyland recently. And in the car she must have her blankie, her dolly, and her baby. The funny thing is that she doesn't want those particular items anywhere else, she doesn't carry them around or take them anywhere except the car. And then you know how at Costco they always check your receipt on the way out? Well, at our Costco they give the kids a hand stamp, it seriously makes Shye's day to get a hand stamp. But one time the person at the door didn't have a stamp. Oh the horror. Shye wailed all the way home about that.

Her bedtime routine is pretty simple but I can't ever skip a step. So it's pj's, brush teeth, give daddy kisses, fill up a sippy cup with milk, give daddy a second kiss, turn off the bedroom light, close the door, say prayer which always goes exactly as follows: Dear Fader, bless daddy, gramma, kitty-cats, the baby, Sofia, Mikey, Kim, Jamie, momma, and Shye-shye, and pweas blessings, AMEN!", and then I tuck her in with her sippy cup and give her a goodnight kiss. This routine is pretty easy...except when it isn't. Like the one time we got home really late and Shye was so tired that she kept messing up her prayer. It shouldn't have been a big deal but she wanted to get it right. I tried to help her but she just kept getting frustrated and starting over. Finally after a few minutes I just put her in bed without her having finished her prayer which of course made her cry even harder. Eventually I had to pull her out of bed, calm her down, and go over her prayer with her until she was able to get it right, then she hopped into bed and immediately fell asleep.

Now I want to make it clear that Shye does NOT get everything she wants, I mean, I always make her put toys and candy back when we are at stores (she is surprisingly good about this) and stuff like that. And I'm certainly not afraid to discipline her, she gets plenty of reprimanding and time-outs for bad behavior. But I do sense that she has a somewhat quirky personality and that she is very sensitive about certain things, like her need for things to be orderly and consistent. I guess sometimes I just wonder if it's just my kid that is like this or if most kids have their quirks. And how the heck do other parents deal with kind of stuff?