I don’t have the time to keep a journal but Casey has done a few things that I want to make sure to document – either because they were, funny, cute, or reveal her personality. If I don’t write them down I will certainly forget.
“Dada, you want to say something for me?”
Casey is picking up words and phrases really fast lately. Sometimes she likes to try to have conversations. When she does, she says “want to say something for me” She says it with confidence so it sounds a little bit like how a gangster or a bully would intimidatingly ask “You got something to say to me?” What she really means is that she wants us to repeat a phrase, most likely so she can try to learn it. Or it means she wants us to keep asking questions that she can answer. “What did you have for lunch today”, “What was your favorite”, “Was it sunny outside today”.
Nightime Breakouts
She sleeps in her room in a twin bed that is placed on the floor. She knows that she can get up and open her bedroom door and does so pretty frequently, at least a few times a week and always within an hour or so of bedtime. Most of the time Krystal and I are downstairs watching TV when she breaks out.
If we hear her get out of bed from our spot downstairs we usually try to mute the TV and stay quiet and listen to what she is doing. Most of the time she will look around for a minute and then say “Mama. Dada. Where are you?” When we don’t respond, she will go back to her room, shut the door, and get back in bed.
Sometimes Krystal and I are already in bed when she breaks out. She will come find us pretending to be asleep. She used to see that we were sleeping and then decide to go back to her room. More recently she started trying to climb into bed with us. She tries to be quiet and cuddly. One time, she tried to nestle in between us and started giving me kisses. Last night, she laid right on top of Krystal and tried to snuggle.
Casey really wants to sleep in our bed with us. I think we would like that too. But we have a pretty good sleep routine and I don’t want to upset it before the new baby arrives.
Perfectionism
Casey is showing some signs of perfectionism. She likes routines but is usually pretty flexible about doing things so this type of OCD is a little surprising.
When we read stories that she has memorized, if I accidentally skip over a word she will correct me and get upset if I don’t re-read the passage correctly.
When we play with cars, she has to line them up in a single line. When I tried to make a second line of cars right behind, she became really upset and started crying.
Krystal was doing a project where she was asking Casey to identify letter or sounds. Casey misidentified one of them and realized it a few letters later and got upset with herself.
I think I was like that when I was younger. Knowing that Casey might have perfectionist tendencies can help me understand what she is feeling. I can identify with the anxiety she may be feeling when something isn’t juuuuust right.