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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Obsessions (Compulsions?)

Carter does some funny stuff, man.  All of my kids are completely unique individuals, and they all are quirky in their own ways, but Carter is the quirkiest in some ways that tickle me to no end.

It’s hysterical to me to recall that a year and a half ago he barely spoke.  He could speak, but was very quiet… you just never knew what waters ran deep in that well, but you knew they were there.

Now?  There are times I beg him to chill out with the constant monologue.  Seriously, I do, because he will go on for hours on end, imagining how his life will be when he’s a grown up.  (Today’s gem: “When I grow up my kids will put seeds in my pockets and chipmunks will climb up my legs to steal them and I will laugh because it will tickle so much!”)  He also is clarifying everything lately.  I mean EVERYthing.  (“What does ‘know’ mean?  What does ‘stop’ mean?  What does ‘you’re driving me crazy with all these questions and I am going to cry’ mean?)

Okay, I made up the last two examples.  I swear he did ask for a definition of know, though!  He is leaving nothing up to ambiguity, and assumes little.

He also loves to classify and sort.  While Bunny could and still does spend hours drawing and otherwise crafting, Carter can sit and make piles and groupings for an astonishingly long period of time.

It all started when he spent an afternoon putting all his duplo blocks into rows by color.  Now, since I know his fascination, I suppose I tend to buy things I know will have an obvious use, but also be fun for him to sort (and sort, and sort).

These ‘gems’ from the craft store are both the bane of my existence (because they’re all over, and Carter will fly into hysterics if a sibling seems likely to ‘steal’ them) and a delight.

I have containers full of ‘like’ things to switch it up: fake gold ‘pirate’ coins from the party store, periwinkle shells collected from the beach, Bakugans (which are alike when balled up), Zoobs, jack balls, you name it…

However, he will also improvise when we’re out and about, using whatever he can to cobble a collection out of.  Today outing to the discovery museum was no exception.

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These magnetic blocks were originally triangles, but Carter joined them together in pairs—all the orange ones.  Thank goodness no one else wanted to use an orange one, because Mr. Man was on a mission here.  Parallelogram… that was today’s new word.  I’m just waiting for him to ask me what parallel means, but thankfully I am becoming used to my role as a dictionary on demand.  There are so many jobs involved in this crazy role as mother… but I wouldn’t trade ‘em for all the lunch breaks and door-pounding free potty trips in the world—not when I get a front row seat to watch each one grow and thrive in their own distinct ways…and grow and learn so much along the way, too.

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