Quirks of a Particular Three Year-Old

Everyone has their personal quirks, things that make them unique. Some people may be quirkier than others. I cannot think of any group of people quirkier than the three-year old variety. Let's dissect the personality of one particular toddler. 

Speech

Ollie was using two to three words phrases up until Christmas. Ollie woke up one morning, decided he would talk in complete sentences and hasn't stopped. 

He can pronounce his /r/ and /s/ sounds. He does pronounce /l/ as /w/ in the middle of words such as his name or "hello."

Mac 'n' cheese is "monkey cheese," dandelion is "Daniel Lions, some more milk is "s'more smilk," more is mo mo.

He is very much into repeating phrases he hears. For example this morning, he spilled his cereal and he said "it's okay, it was an accident." 

Games

Ollie has a very long attention span and loves using his hands. His really likes to sort. For example, my mom got him this box filled with dinosaurs, a play mat, and a book about dinosaurs. Ollie's favorite way to play with it is to take everything out of the box: and then put everything back in the box, then put the box in the package the box came from, and then put the whole thing back in the gift bag. Repeat. 

We also got him this Thomas the Train track. There's a crane that puts a barrel on Thomas. Thomas goes up a hill and the barrel goes down the slide. His job is the crane, whoever is playing with Ollie's job is to move Thomas around the track and dump the barrel. Repeat. 

He has started pretend play and you'll hear him taking care of his babies, or he will make food in his kitchen, or will look for monkeys and lions around the neighborhood. 

Social 

Ollie is naturally on the shy side. He was doing really well before the pandemic struck. We were going to the library, bible study, and gymnastics. He had a lot of opportunities to play with other kids and was really coming out of his shell. I am worried that with us being quarantined for so many months his social skill regressed a little. We haven't been around that many kids, but I imagine a lot of people are in that boat right now. 

If you do end up playing with Ollie, and he keeps repeating a phrase, just repeat it back to him. He wants to make sure you heard him. If he says hi to something, don't voice that object. Just say hi to it. 

Emotional

I have really been trying to point out the names of the emotions Ollie is feeling. One thing he is so good at is taking a deep breath when he is upset. He will get upset and we will remind him to take a deep breath and then when he is calm enough he tells us what is wrong. Most of the time it's something we can fix but sometimes it's something he just has to live with (such as having to eat Brussels sprouts). But that's also a good teachable moment. 

He is even good at taking a deep breath by himself. If he is whining and I tell him to use his words he will take a deep breath (or two) and will tell us what is wrong. 

I am in no way saying we are perfect at this, but honestly who is. 

This ended up being a bit more academic than I intended, but honestly I made this more for me. I am quite proud of this little boy and am so excited to see who he becomes.