Do all toddlers suffer from some form of obsessive-compulsive disorder? We were discussing this at a birthday party today, where all of our children were displaying their unique desire for order, whether it be to avoid dirty hands at all costs or to organize all daddy's nails.
Everett has OCD in a big way. He has to have things set out just the way he wants them. He could scatter rocks all over the floor in a fit of exuberance, but when he works a puzzle, he first takes out all the pieces and lies them in a neat line, one after another, and works through the line one by one. I bought him a deck of cards at a resale shop ("52 great books") and he lined them up all around the edge of our coffee table.
He's like this with so many of his toys and belongings, even though his bedroom is typically a disaster area. Every single last bit of play food is in the oven, cooking endlessly ("it's not READY yet!" he'll wail if one of his friends tries to take the food out before its time). His trains can be found with all of the engines lined up next to one another, each one with its own coaches (and God forbid you lose a coal car, he'll be asking for it forever). His shoes are neater than mama and daddy's shoes, and he puts his own away.
Even when he makes messes, they are orderly messes. And if he drops a thousand little pieces of something, whether it's fish crackers or tiny bits of "coal" for his trains, he'll sob unless he's allowed to pick every last one up. I'm simultaneously delighted and maddened by his toddler OCD...but in the end, nothing charms me more than to wake up to a dozen little cars lined up next to each other along the edge of the mattress. "It's wake-up time," he'll whisper to me. Indeed.
