Question, how young is too young for one to suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? I'm not asking for myself or anything; I'm asking
for a friend. One that may or may not be about two feet tall and may or may not
weigh a little over 16 pounds. This hypothetical human being (or is it?) could
also have blonde hair and blue eyes. It's primary mode of transportation could
be via four limbs. By the criteria given, it's possible I'm referring to a
small dog or a cat. Ok, you caught me. It's Ellie that I'm asking for. Truth be
told, I'm doubting she's suffering from OCD. It's much more likely that it's
some kind of weird side effect of being a baby. Confused yet? Let me explain
further.
On Saturday, I found something while garage saleing (again
with the saleing?) that I was absolutely certain Ellie would enjoy. Any guesses
what it was? I can wait a minutes (or at least 56 seconds) while you get your
guesses in.
Ok, I won't leave you in anticipation any longer. The item
that I procured for Ellie was a package of 125 plastic balls for the negotiated sum of $2. To calm your
fears, these are balls somewhat like what you would find in a ball pit at a
fast food establishment. There's absolutely no way she could swallow one short
of unhinging her jaw like a python and just cramming it in. Anyway, after
Bethany washed the balls up in the bathtub, we actually dumped all 125 into a
small travel bed of Ellie's for her to play in. Actually that's a small lie.
Before putting them in the travel bed, I purposely turned the bag of balls upside
down and watched each and every ball cascade down the stairwell into the living
room below to Ellie's great amusement. Truth be told, I greatly enjoyed it as
well.
Ellie has absolutely taken to her ball pit since Saturday.
She can crawl in and out of it whenever she wishes so it's not like she's
trapped. One of her favorite things to do is to throw herself down into the pit
while Bethany or I bury her under a small mountain of colorful spheres. Then,
she'll happily emerge from underneath the pile with a broad smile across her face
and both tiny arms raised in elation. Then she'll flop back down for it to
happen over and over again.
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| Wait, so all of these balls are mine? |
While that was a
great game, Ellie's now discovered a brand new game to play in the ball
pit. However, I can't say I enjoy this one nearly as much as she does. Today,
Ellie climbed into the pit just as she always would. Instead of throwing
herself down, she sat upright and looked around at the balls completely
surrounding her. Then, with the smoothest of motions, she reached down and
plucked one blue ball. She rolled it back and forth in her tiny hands before
calmly dropping it outside the box. She followed that up by picking up a yellow
ball and dropping it outside the box.
Ellie would repeat this procedure 122 more times until only
one green ball remained in the box. She then carefully extricated herself from
the box before reaching back in, grabbing the green ball and carefully
depositing it on the floor. She followed that up by looking around the living
room at the mass of balls surrounding her, laughing at the havoc she had
wrought. Then, she crawled out of the living room towards the kitchen, likely
on a mission to see what havoc she could cause next. In case you're wondering,
I did not pick up the 125 balls. Instead, I waited until Bethany got and
outsourced it to her.
I know it's pretty unlikely my baby has OCD. However, the
patience and determination she showed in removing 125 balls from a box in one
sitting cannot be underestimated. I guess if nothing else, Ellie just wanted to
ensure that she had a clean box. After all, aren't boxes meant to be completely
void of anything inside? Oh wait, they're not? Guess I need to communicate that
to my daughter...#DaddyWrite
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| As long as Ellie's not doing this, I probably don't need to be concerned. Right? |
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