Can we talk quirks?

[jillian]

So can we talk about the quirkiness that our kiddos have? I am just struggling with knowing I"m not alone in some of the oddness in our family and no matter how frustrated I am dd is a beautiful soul no matter what.

 

DD would love to do school under the dining room table every day if I allowed her to.

She is never ever ever still to the point that even if she is sitting she is fidgeting

She likes things to be just so and doesn't want to have school go out of order

[retiredHSmom]

My daughter licked her hands, refused to turn on the shower herself until she was 10, couldn't stand any squeaking sounds at all and was never comfortable with any u drew ear we ever bought her, she spent her whole life adjusting it.

 

Today at 16 she is well adjusted and a very normal behaving young lady.

 

The quirks will pass and others will come along and your daughter will turn out just fine in the end.

[jillian]

Oh she also rubs against things continuously. Whether it's her back or her feet or her hair she always is rubbing something against something else. She will be on the couch just fidgeting and rubbing her feet on the couch back and forth back and forth back and forth. Or she stood up after she finished eating and just rubbed along the back of the chair over and over and over again for a good 20 minutes.

[lamppost]

My 6-yo sleeps on the floor every night despite having a nice bed. I don't get it- I used to insist on her sleeping in bed but she'd move to the floor after I went to sleep anyway. It drives me nuts and her hair gets full of carpet fuzz, but that's just one of her little quirks!

[AimeeM]

My 6-yo sleeps on the floor every night despite having a nice bed. I don't get it- I used to insist on her sleeping in bed but she'd move to the floor after I went to sleep anyway. It drives me nuts and her hair gets full of carpet fuzz, but that's just one of her little quirks!

 

My 4 yo son does the same. In fact, he ended up in the ER with a split chin one night after walking off his bed; his mattress is now on the floor... and he still moves off the mattress to the floor shortly after being put to bed.

And it's a hardwood floor :p

[Wheres Toto]

Quirky is how we usually refer to my son. Let's see....he refuses to wear underwear, wears mismatched socks although these days he at least tries to wear two that are the same size/height, will only wear soft sweatpants, no tags in clothes, eats the exact same food prepared in a very specific way for lunch everyday, that lunch must be served within a certain time frame, school needs to happen in a certain order and start by a certain time or we can't do school, he too went through a phase of licking his hands, as a toddler he used to put his head on people's feet (random people in public places, it was weird), he barely sleeps, questions (argues about) everything, great memory for things he sees - can remember a password after seeing in once, likes to invite random people over our house (making me regret ever teaching him our address), turns everything into a friend or pet - toys, stuffed animals, bugs, a piece of plastic, a cup, a crayon - and makes up elaborate stories and scenarios involving them. He never sits still, he's leaning, bouncing, tapping, fidgeting, clicking, banging, tapping. He loves Pokemon and has memorized every single Pokemon (all 500+) and can tell you what region they are from, their strengths, weaknesses and evolutions. He will talk and not catch on when someone has no interest in listening. No matter how many times you tell him "not now" he will just keep talking.

[jillian]

Goodness Dorothy I know what you mean about the address/over sharing thing. DD will tell everyone under the sun any and all information (we haven't let her learn our address or the code to enter the house yet because she will share it). We have tried everything under the sun to get her to understand that not all people are kind and nice to kids but she doesn't seem to absorb it. DD can make a game out of any and all inanimate objects, she has a wonderful imagination but sometimes it's just odd. She notices absolutely everything going on around her too.

[SKL]

My dd proudly proclaims that she is weird, and I don't disagree. :) She can't stand to not make a mess while eating. Including smearing her food onto the table. And she avoids using utensils. Why?? She is six! She is self-conscious and acts most foolish / babyish when "people" are looking at her. She doesn't seem to notice when her nose needs attention (tissue etc.). Sometimes she will wear one badly clashing item just to push my buttons. All of this puts her in an awkward position socially. Today at the "Mother's Day Tea" I was cringing for her because she was acting so inappropriately for her grade. I hope that isn't how she acts all the time at school.

[k8c]

I love reading that I am not the only parent wringing their hands in public! My DD will be five at the end of the month, and she is excessively rough with other kids, whether it is hugging that turns into tackling, playing tag that turns into pushing, or just constantly touching other people and bothering them. After talking to a friend, we are thinking she might have a sensory issue, especially since we talk about being gentle with other kids every time we are around them, and no rewards or consequences seem to curb the behavior. She just doesn't seem to realize that she is as rough as she is, and it is sad. We just had another playgroup mom break up with us because her kids are "starting to act like DD." Also, she NEVER stops moving, even strapped into the car, her feet or something else is bouncing or touching or moving about. We had to get her an exercise ball to sit on during homeschool because her constant bopping about in the regular chair drove me nuts. At least she can bounce a little on the ball and it keeps her sitting. Try teaching handwriting to a kid whose bottom keeps going all over the place. Though, my favorite response to why she couldn't stay seated during school one day was "math just gets me SO EXCITED!" It's hard to argue with that.

[Dmmetler]

DD is bouncy. Very, very bouncy. Which is one reason why tumbling and cheer are good sports for her. She doesn't sit. She perches. She hovers. And did I mention the bouncing? Actually, thinking about it, about the only place she SITS is in the car...maybe I need a 5 point harness at the dinner table!

 

She has a high need for order, and only recently got to the point that she could handle, say, macaroni and cheese with hot dogs IN it instead of on the side. She's actually quite neat compared to most kids her age-but does have an "out of sight, out of mind" mindset-so I'll find scraps of paper and trash under the headboard of her bed (she has a bookshelf headboard, so there's a LOT of under) and other various hiding places. She doesn't like sticky and messy at all.

 

She's terrified of dogs, and only slightly less terrified of small children.

[Joshin]

DS8 has his own fashion sense. Socks cannot match under any circumstances. He only wears shorts or one of three space-themed pajama bottoms as pants, and he only wears t-shirts that reflect his passions (NASA, astronomy club, science-themed). If his favorite t-shirts are dirty he turns a shirt he doesn't care for inside out and wears that. I quit dressing my children once they are old enough to put on clothes themselves, so I'm used to creative outfit choices so his fashion sense doesn't bother me at all, even when he decides to wear mismatched socks with sandals. He despises haircuts so we have a deal that he gets one every six months. His hair grows super fast so he usually has wild, long hair. If I comb it he messes it up promptly. Fortunately, his hair is thick and doesn't tend to tangle.

 

He prefers to lay or sit on the floor to do school work. If I force him to sit at a desk or table, such as for group work, he prefers to sit on top the table. He also starts his morning and finishes his day by running 10 to 15 laps around our dining room table, followed by 10 push-ups. He has done this since we was a toddler. He says it helps him wake up and helps him sleep. Considering the kid only sleeps about six hours a night, anything to help is fine.

 

Most of the time his quirkiness doesn't stand out, other than his fashion choices. In public he comes across as a friendly but slightly reserved child that likes to hyperfocus on things. But, he has memorized all the Gemini, Mercury and Apollo missions and the astronauts on each. He has also memorized the shuttle missions and astronauts up to the Hubble repair mission. He likes to recite them in a robotic voice when he is bored, such as standing in line at the grocery store. That draws odd looks sometimes, but he has also met some interesting people that way.

 

I was a quirky kid that grew up to be a quirky adult, and I married a quirky man. DS12 works very hard not to be quirky, but I think that is his way of rebelling -- be the most normal person in the family.

[prairiewindmomma]

We have a lot of sensory issues going on here too.

[Dory]

My oldest son can't handle any tags on his clothes and if he has to focus on something really hard he starts rubbing his hair down on the sides of his head while he thinks. He can't handle any food touching or any mixed textures (like nuts in salad or onions on potatoes). He would try so hard to be nice about it and thank me and try to eat it without complaining, but it was heart breaking to see him constantly gagging and trying not to let any tears leak out his eyes. I finally bought him a divided plate and dish him up before I add extras to some dishes (or carefully remove the offending things before I give it to him).

My youngest ds can't play with his toys look down on them. If we set up the train he has to lay on the floor to see it from that level. He does the same thing with all his other toys. We finally got wall tracks for his hot wheels to get him up off the floor. He also doesn't sit for anything. The ps kinder that he was going to had troubles with story corner because he would frog hop in one place or spin in circles on his but because he just couldn't handle sitting still. I require buts touching seats at the dinner table, but he rocks back and forth through the whole meal.

[SorrelZG]

My daughter licked her hands, refused to turn on the shower herself until she was 10, couldn't stand any squeaking sounds at all and was never comfortable with any u drew ear we ever bought her, she spent her whole life adjusting it.

 

Today at 16 she is well adjusted and a very normal behaving young lady.

 

The quirks will pass and others will come along and your daughter will turn out just fine in the end.

 

 

Thank you for giving hope. :) lol

[bakpak]

And then there's your spouse's quirks. But that's a new thread ;)

[mom2lydia]

My daughter is 7 and hates loud noises, unexpected events(noise, sound, activity, anything unexpected). She can't stand the line on her socks. I have to turn the socks inside out and line them up just so still. She hates to wear anything that is above the knee. She can't have her ears show when you do her hair. She hates wind and breezes. Clothes can't be itchy or scratchy anywhere even if it never touches her. Until she was about 6 we had to spray her clothes everyday while she was aweraing htem with "no itch spray"(water and a touch of conditioner but mostly water and it had to be in a certain spray bottle). Once she decides to do something there is no stopping her period. She will stick to it and keep trying until it's done no matter what. Right now it's multiplication and she is even adding multiplication to basic games and doing drills in the car and there isn't a person out there going to tell her she isn't old enough to learn it. On the other side if she doesn't want to learn it it will be just as difficult to get her to do it or if it isn't her way of doing it it will take a long time to get her to do it correctly.

[Runningmom80]

DS hates loud noises as well. He also freaks out whenever anyone quotes a movie or pretends to be a fictional character. He doesn't like when people sing either.

[MissKNG]

Small girl: terrified of bugs - you'd think someone is torturing her and it takes a while to calm her down if one gets on her.

She is a neat freak. She can't leave a bottle tipped over or something not in place.

Over the top emotions.

 

Big girl: Not a fan of loud sounds either.

Doesn't sleep much, I thought she was getting at least 9 hours a night but now I think it's much less.

Always asking how and why of things...I can't keep up.

 

Both: Both have the psychomotor OE - non stop energy from the second they get up (very early) to the moment they go to bed. Always fidgeting and flopping around. We have to do a "mandatory sit down and watch TV" time when I just can't take it anymore!! And I thought being outside would wear them out....nope, not at all.