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: Butterflyfish

So what's normal?

Every kid has his own quirks. And every parent accommodates those quirks to the extent that she is willing or able. And every parent comes to a place of acceptance thinking this is totally normal non-quirky behavior and never gives it another thought . . . until she is in a position where she has to explain it to someone else.

Before Clownfish outgrows his quirky ways, I thought I'd enumerate the ones I am aware of, though there are probably dozens more that I just don't notice.

Food:

He hates peanut butter. Really, a nonallergic five year old who hates peanut butter.

He likes most meat protein -- fish, chicken, pork, red meat -- but likes it prepared as simply as possible, with minimal spices, no sauces, no breading.

These aren't hard-and-fast rules, obviously. For example, he will eat breading on fried chicken fingers. And he loves A1 Steak Sauce, but it has to be separate from the meat so he can dip it.

He eats plain pasta. No sauce. No butter. Plain.

He hates potatoes in every form but potato chip. No fries, no mash, no boil, no bake, no au gratin.

He prefers boiled broccoli to raw and calls it "trees."

He loves green vegetables in general (and corn) but its hard to get him to eat other colors.

He likes food separated -- protein, starch, vegetable. If sauce is involved in the meal (we do try) everything else has to be on a separate plate. Soups and stews and chicken cacciatore and baked dishes like ziti or lasagna and the like do not go over well for this reason.

He takes apart sandwiches and eats the individual components.

Sleep:

After prayers, he began this habit of laying out the rules we had to follow while he was asleep. This list became increasingly long and complicated, followed by extensive yelling of "Goodnight!" "I love you!" "See you in the morning!" through the bedroom door after we'd left and if we didn't yell back he'd cry. Yeah, we had our sleep manipulation behavior fights.

So, I put my foot down and limited it to "Five Things." So I say five things, and he says five things, and then I hug and kiss him and walk out. The yelling stopped, which is good, but it's the five things which I find hilarious.

Mine, usually: Good night good night, God bless you, I love you, Sweet dreams, I'll see you in the morning.
His, usually:
[snoring noises],
(Good night goodnight God bless you I love you) Yes this all counts as one ... he says it fast and I am not a monster.
Sweet dreams,
Follow all the rules,
I'll [random verb -- tackle, tickle, see, smell, hear, raspberry] you in the morning.

________

I'll probably do other categories eventually.

Still thinking. I wrote and posted that spontaneously, but I have made no decisions. Like CM said, its nice to know it's here. We'll see.

Full post as published by Butterflyfish on January 14, 2010 (boomark / email).