Toddler OCD

My toddler has developed OCD at bedtime. The usual attitude of “laugh it off” no longer applies, once the clock strikes bedtime.

It all started with her sound machine.

The sound machine was a genius buy (or so I thought). It has lots of cool buttons, lights reflect animals on the ceiling and a loud white noise makes the thin walls of our house less apparent.

Unfortunately, my child is hilariously unique and quirky, and decided that white noise was not for her. She figured out that the machine has different settings, and settled on a particular Mozart piece to lull her into dream land. Now, in theory, this makes her seem like a genius. But in practice, it’s an animatronical, 30 second looped Mozart piece, playing at the highest volume possible.

My husband and I became immune. I don’t even hear it anymore. But whenever we have guests, I have to preface their invite with, “But Portia has this sound machine…” And I encourage them to bring ear plugs.

Anyway, back to the OCD. God forbid someone tries to change her sound, and immediate screams erupt. We also went through a stage where she required three blankets, in a certain order, along with stuffed animals placed EXACTLY SO.

I can feel some of you rolling your eyes. I can feel you judging me for being a “softie” or “spoiling” my kid with these absurd requests. Let me assure you– I am the queen of NO. Kids need boundaries. Parents need them, too. HOWEVER, in this nightly epidemic that we kindly refer to as “WAR”, battles are won and battles are lost. There comes a certain point where you realize it’s not a power struggle so much as a little person trying to lay claim to their own needs. And my kids’ needs happens to include a creepy electronic Mozart playing at a subtle volume of 11.