normal memory skills or is DD OCD or something?

[ellairiesmom]

Ok...I am soooo behind on my toddler reading but I thought I remember reading somewhere that at 2.5 or so, when something is 'off' in their world, they will totally obsess about it? And that their memory is incredible?

Or is my DD strange? She seems to remember things, details & will bring them up repeatedly.

Some examples-

In Dec, we went to see if the balance bike we wanted to get her for christmas was short enough for her. She walked up to it, pointed & said "no pedals?". Said it a # of times & when we tried to put her on it, she cried. On Christmas AM, it was sitting under the tree & she ran up to it, grabbed the handles & called it "her bike" but then immediately looked up at us & did the cutest thing with her arms & said "no pedals". Everytime she sees our neighbors trikes or my nieces, she sits on them & points to tell us "it had pedals-ella like pedals".

The other day, a piece of her mac & cheese had a speck of something on it & she refused to eat it. Said it was dirty. Then last night (several nights later when it hadn't come up at all since she was eating it) she came into our bed in the middle of the night & half asleep said "oh no-mac & cheese dirty" and then fell onto my pillow & started snoring.

My Mom got her a little princess outfit with a crown this week & she put it on & then looked at us & said "no slippers". And everytime she has put the outfit on since, she refers to the missing slippers. (obviously from stories we have read & movies she has seen, she knows about princess slippers-not to mention, like any girl knows-shoes make the outfit-LOL)

I took her to see a local high school production of Beauty & the Beast & now when we drive by that high school she remembers it & also tells me how she had candy there & there were wolves. Every single time we drive by, she tells me those things.

You get the idea...I guess I just can't get over her memory and wonder if it's normal at this age? She is so verbal-so much more so than many of the kids we know who are already 3. She shocks us sometimes with what she catches, what she says.

[starlein26]

That sounds pretty normal!

[physmom]

Sounds TOTALLY like DD! She CANNOT enter the living room if the littler box and/or cat's water bowl is on the floor (we leave them there at night and move them in the morning, normally before she wakes up). She'll just stand there pointing and yelling until we move them.

Another thing, she gets really stuck in certain outfits. It's been crazy hard to get her to switch to summer clothes. She's convinced she still needs to wear babylegs and her boots with everything (ooh, and this one sweatshirt that she loves). I have to hide that stuff or she insists I put them on no matter what the temperature is out side.

I'm glad you posted this so I don't feel like I'm the only one with a kid doing this!

[ellairiesmom]

Yes! The litter box/cat's water thing is right along the lines of other examples...it is SOOOO funny. I am positive DH or I read something in one of the books that in a toddler's world, change or something being "off" to them really throws them.

And the outfit stuff too...or when she gets a new pair of shoes-she wants to wear them every single day.

They really are something else.

[LadyCatherine185]

Sounds pretty normal to me! Their memories are amazing! DS is 20 months old and we went about 2 months ago to a restaraunt with my brother's family (he has a son a few months older than mine named Aiden) and there was a motorcycle parked in front of the restaraunt. Fast forward 2 months, I ordered takeout from the same restaraunt, and as we pulled into the parking lot Liam starts shouting "Ainen! Ainen! Bikey! Bikey!" He has had several other times where his memory has totally amazed me... He is also very verbal for his age.

As far as things being "off"-- he gets upset when DH gets out of the shower and isn't wearing his glasses and he will say "Dasses ON! Dasses ON!" until DH puts his glasses back on.

[ASusan]

According to Maria Montessori, it is the Sensitive Period for Order. Totally normal. capitalize on it and have your child help you clean/pick things up.

[newtomotherhood]

When she did the Mac and Cheese thing could she possible been sleep walking! Thats what it sounds like to me!

[limabean]

Sounds normal to me!

[MusicianDad]

Definitely sounds normal. DS is starting to get into that phase, I wear sunglasses about 95% of the time because of light sensitivity and most of the time he won't come near me if they are off. He doesn't like it when DH doesn't have a pony tail either.

[~cassie]

Sounds normal to me. My neice was the exact same way from 18 mths on. It was a shock the things she could recall. My 2 1/2 yr old shocks me a lot with what he recalls and I think if he was age appropriate for verbal ability then he would surprise me even more. I'm starting to think mine has photographic memory.

[SallyN]

within normal ranges.

My DD1 is 3.5 and everytime she puts on a specific orange shirt she tells me about how she wore it to her friend Ethan's birthday party (almost 1.5 years ago!)

[LCBMAX]

We are still retelling the story of an encounter with a complete stranger 6 months ago, with a cicada last summer, and if those socks are not "alla way tight!" on his hands and forearms, there is hell to pay. MUST wear a "rainbow" shirt every day, lately must wear 2 and 3 pairs of socks on the feet, and sleepy talk includes "Not let dada go to work" and "Fruit leather all goooonnnneee." Either it's normal or our kids are related.

[russsk]

Sounds just like DS. A few months ago my MIL came to visit and we took the circulator bus to the aquarium. Last week dh and ds walked to the area where the aquarium is, and ds pulled dh to the bus stop where we got off the bus, saying "circulator bus" the whole time. Ds also likes to tell me about his day - often it will be about a day from a week or two ago.

[kittykat2481]

Sounds about like DS (28 months). Today he saw a man on a motorcycle who was wearing gloves, and he said "Look Mommy. That man's wearing gloves. Gloves protect your hands." I have no idea where he got this, but since they have been doing some gardening at school lately, I can only assume that his teacher mentioned that (gardening) gloves protect their hands. He only has to hear something once, and it sticks!

[lyra1977]

When I was a teen, we knew a 2yo who had memorized all of the MLB players...if you showed him the baseball card he would recite their name and team. And some of you may have seen the girl on YouTube whose parents taught her all of the countries on the map at age 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43yCiKlbCo

My theory is that 2yo kids have lots of room in their brains because they haven't filled them up at school yet, so you can teach them almost anything. It takes a lot of work on the parent's part, though, so it's an expensive party trick to teach your 2yo the periodic table. And the learning is rote memorization, since they don't have enough life experience to connect all of the facts and make them stick, so it won't be permanent knowledge.

I love all of the cute stories! My DD is only 19 months and not verbal enough to do this very much yet, but recently she's started whispering into my ear, as I'm snuggling her to sleep and DH goes downstairs to feed and walk the dogs "Dada walk doggies, Dada walk doggies..." which is too precious. Apparently the organization of our schedule is very important to her

[ShyDaisi]

Would a toddler recognizing where he is fall into this same category? He can tell me where we are going based on the turns in the road, or a particular landmark. Even if we are arriving there from a different direction from normal, when we get in the general area, Micah can tell me where we are, where we are going, and, of course, whether or not he approves. It is the craziest thing I have ever seen...or heard...

[ellairiesmom]

yes! dd also knows where we are...pulling onto our road, going to grocery store, going to my mom's...she can barely see out the window but recognizes where we are.

soooo funny!!! love hearing all these...

[mizznicole]

They are truly "Absorbent Minds" like M Montessori says. Which kind of scares me, actually!

[lunarlady]

These are all good things. A friend of mine stubbed her toe and said "F#$@! Ow!" Guess what her toddler started saying? Yep. Pretty hard to play that off as "Truck, wow!" all the time...moral of the story? It only takes once for their little brains to absorb things.

[greenbeanmama]

yup. Sounds normal to me. My son is constantly reminding me to put two hands on the wheel (Daddy taught him the phrase "ten and two"...grr!). He talks about blowing bubbles at the library - a special storytime when he was 17 months old (brought it up out of the blue last Christmas). Playdates at our house can be hard: "Mama, they're not putting the toys away where they belong!" Crazy boy, but hey, I love him!