Obsessions

My A is currently obsessed with trucks, cars, anything that rolls. Balls, too. But he doesn't play with them as other kids might; rather, he lays down and focuses on the wheels rolling back and forth....back and forth....he can do this for hours on end. He also loves rolling things down the stairs, but that borders on normal boy behavior. I can remember both of my younger brothers turning our staircase into a racetrack on more than one occasion.

Doors are another fascination for him, and he has a compulsion to close any open door he finds. This means the pantry door, bathroom door, entertainment center doors, doors at church, doors in stores, doors on toys....you get the idea. If there isn't an open door around, A will pick one and open and close it over and over and over. While he may derive some sort of pleasure out of this activity, it drives the rest of us nuts. Including his baby sister. She's 10 months old now, and gets this hilarious expression of exasperation when A starts to mess with a door.

Music. Ah, music. My son has loved music even before he was born. He used to jump around inside me when we were at church, or listening to the radio in the car, or on the TV....he still loves music. His daddy is a musician, and we have a piano, violin, multiple guitars throughout the house. A has always been very careful with them, never bangs or pulls on the strings. He even tries to dance. A is usually a rather clumsy child, but when he dances, there is an ethereal grace to it. Very interesting to watch.

A also shows signs of being artistic. When he was still in his high chair, and he was finished eating his meal, he would take the remnants and arrange them on his tray. He'd stop, look at it for a minute, then gently prod one piece over a little bit. Stop and look again, until it was "just right". Then he was finished and wanted to get down. His creations were different each time, and he never just lined up everything. It was consistently arranged in the pleasing rule of thirds (a basic art principle taught in classes). He also loves to color, although he has some difficulties with the fine motor skills of holding the crayon. Finger painting is a huge winner, whether on his plate, on paper, or in the bath tub with some liquid soap colors.