Groundhog’s Day

By the time bedtime rolls around for Luke I am 100%  exhausted.

We all know parenting is hard.

However, I am exhausted for another reason on top of just that.

I believe my child has OCD.

No else one believes me.

Everyone thinks I exaggerate it, but since I am with Luke 99% of the time I believe he shows signs of being obsessive compulsive.

I know every child shows some signs of being particular about certain aspects of their routine, but some of the things Luke gets concerned with worries me a little.

I am going to write down some of the very detailed routines we go through each day.

It may get a little long and boring so read at your discretion.

I am not doing this to complain or to have people take pity on me (although,you can if you want), I want to write this down for remembrance sake.

Also, I can do one of two things with it later on:

1. Prove everyone wrong when he really is diagnosed with OCD later in life, I love a good “I told you so”
OR
2. Show Luke all the crazy things he obsessed about when he is older so he can take pity on me then

I am crossing my fingers it is the latter.

As a side note, ever since Ruby was born Luke has been EXTREMELY attached to me and only me. He will not even let Jared changed his diaper let alone put him in bed without a complete freakout. This adds to my exhaustion level.

I thought the attachment was just “a phase”, but is it still considered a phase if it is going on 6 months?

Anyway enough blabbering, onto the routine:

Morning time: When I hear that Luke is awake I go into his room to get him up. He wants me to do everything in a particular order every single day:  turn on his light, turn off the humidifier, pick him up, turn off the sound machine. Then we have to grab his blankets out of the crib and I have to carry him and lay him on dad’s side of the bed.  
One morning I turned off the sound machine before I picked him up and we had a screaming child for about 30 minutes because I refused to start the whole process over again.

Brushing teeth: He stands up on the counter, opens the medicine chest, asks for a vitamin, I tell him we already had one for the day, then he counts the number of shelves until he reaches his toothbrush. He hands me the toothpaste, sits down, turns on cold then the hot water, gets the toothbrush wet, turns off the cold then the hot, points to the character on the toothbrush  and hands it to me to put the toothpaste on.
If I open the cabinet or get his toothbrush ready for him, we have to put it all back (including trying to get all the water off the brush) and start from the very beginning.

Bedtime routine: He has to climb up his dresser, turn on the humidifier, he puts his hand over the air and says cold, points to his piggy bank and asks for money which I always say I don’t have any right now, then he climbs back down. If I touch him or try and help him climb the dresser he gets back down and starts the process over. Then he turns on his sound machine, I pick him up to turn off his light, he points to the picture of Jesus and the temple by the light switch and tells me the same stories (he cried when mommy went to the temple so daddy let him watch buzz), then we do ‘airplane’ into bed. Once in bed we have to spread his blanket out “big” over his pillow, we give hugs and kisses, he lays down on the pillow, I spread another blanket over him, and then he asks when we are going to nani’s house.
This bedtime routine is every SINGLE night, there have only been a few changes made over time. I could do this in my sleep if necessary.
If Jared tries to put him to bed and I come in to give hugs and kisses, we pretty much have to start the whole routine over including turning off all the stuff only to turn it all back on with me in the room.

Mealtime: Each meal has a specific routine including where we sit at each meal. With lunch if I give him chips with his sandwich, he has to get them out of the container. If I put them on his plate we have another meltdown. We have to put the chips back in the container, back in the pantry and close the door to start the whole process over. Fun huh?
He also hates being messy while eating and will stop eating if he gets too messy. He asks for a napkin with every meal. He gets agitated when he spills on his clothes and usually wants to take them off or stop eating. If he has a plate with dividers in it, he has to have something in every spot on the plate.

Play time: When we are playing with certain toys he wants me to sit in a certain spot. When playing basketball, I have to sit against the back wall in the playroom with my legs crossed. I uncrossed them one time and it was not a pretty picture. I also have a certain spot he wants me to sit in when playing with the kitchen.
At the park last week he had a minor meltdown because I wouldn’t sit on the bench he wanted me to. He wanted me to sit on this particular bench because it was were I sat the last time at this park (which was 2 months prior).
When he plays with his tools he always wants me to lock in his tape measure on the number 11. If I don’t or it moves he gets pretty upset.
When we are doing craft time with stickers, he puts the stickers that are the same layered on top of each other. If they are colored stickers the same color has to go on top of each other.

Other mentionables: If we start walking down the stairs and I am on the second or third step and take his hand to help him he won’t come, he wants me to come back up to the first step where he is so we can walk down at the same time together.

If I have been holding him and have to put him down to get something, he wants me to pick him back up in the exact same spot I put him down.

At my mom’s house he wanted to get up on the cupboard so he could fix her fruit stand. A kiwi was on one tier and another kiwi on the next. He had to put them both on the same tier. This happens a lot when I put the bananas in a different spot at our house. He has to move them back to the original spot.

There are a lot more things that happen each day. There is a routine for bathtime, getting in the car, getting out of the car, what we have to do at Target, the grocery store, library, etc. Some things make me laugh and some are just down right frustrating.

I definitely have to be careful what I start or let him do because that will probably turn into a routine that we have to do each time (ie: chips out of the container)

I pick and choose my battles with this as well. Sometimes I let him do the routine he wants and sometimes I have to tell him no (ie: bench at the park, picking up where I put him down…) I have to decide whether or not I want a tantrum or to start the process over again, which both can be exhausting.

Most days my life is like the movie, Groundhog’s Day. I know what is going to happen before it happens because it happened the day before and the day before that as well.

Luke is definitely a unique child. One that I love unconditionally.

I look forward to spending every groundhog’s day with him, I wouldn’t have it any other way (well maybe the chip thing could go away).