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Playing with toys -- toddler aged
My daughter doesn't want to play with her toys anymore. She doesn't even want to line up or stack stuff either which she used to love to do. Right now she's all into how things work. Is this normal for 2 year olds to go through this period of not wanting to play toys? Or do I just have all the wrong toys? Maybe the toys I have she's outgrown and she needs more grown up things? Or is this part of the PDD thing?
I used to play with some ring like things and some hollow box things that I would stack. I think I may have had a stuffed peanut I carried around. I don't know if that was in the timeframe or later. I think I also had some kind of stuffed toy snorkel or something??? It was yellow, had some kind of protrusion from the head like. Alright I couldn't stand confusion so I googled it. It was a toy snork. Was that the toy I lost at the airport?? I can't remember. I just remember carrying it. Much later my grandma said something about me losing a stuffed toy at an airport.
I played with a sharpie and scribbled all over some of my toys (and likely other things as well) but that didn’t last… I got yelled at and the marker taken away, never to be found so easily again.
Age 4 and 5 I do remember spending lots of time outside watching ants. I was fascinated by how they'd crawl in and out of their holes carrying things. I can still "feel" the crisp cool CO Springs evening breeze (I think even in the summer, it would cool down considerably in the evening), with the mountains in the horizon to my west and the ants retreating into their nest below.
I'd watch the ants and wait for them to come out. At some point they'd enter and stay inside. I think they were either waiting for me to go away or they were in for the night. I'm still trying to identify an ant species that I collected. I called them red ants "with orange food sacks" "Food sack" being my word for "abdomen". I was on the right track considering that is where the ant stomachs are located.
I think I carried the toys in the sink behavior for a long time. I liked soaking things in water and seeing them wet. Those color changing toy cars and related stuff was another cool thing.
I remember scented things. I'd get my nose painted by those scented markers, lol.
I played with a sharpie and scribbled all over some of my toys (and likely other things as well) but that didn’t last… I got yelled at and the marker taken away, never to be found so easily again.
Age 4 and 5 I do remember spending lots of time outside watching ants. I was fascinated by how they'd crawl in and out of their holes carrying things. I can still "feel" the crisp cool CO Springs evening breeze (I think even in the summer, it would cool down considerably in the evening), with the mountains in the horizon to my west and the ants retreating into their nest below.
I'd watch the ants and wait for them to come out. At some point they'd enter and stay inside. I think they were either waiting for me to go away or they were in for the night. I'm still trying to identify an ant species that I collected. I called them red ants "with orange food sacks" "Food sack" being my word for "abdomen". I was on the right track considering that is where the ant stomachs are located.
I think I carried the toys in the sink behavior for a long time. I liked soaking things in water and seeing them wet. Those color changing toy cars and related stuff was another cool thing.
I remember scented things. I'd get my nose painted by those scented markers, lol.
Dunno if it's a PDD thingt, but it sure is a cool thing! It's showing a new stage in her development.
I saw a home 8mm movie of my brother when he was about 2 or 3 at Christmas. He unwraped some kinda toy and the next scene was a cut to him removing the light bulb from the toy! He was fascinated by light bulbs and electric motors.
In kindergarten, he was fascinated by measurements. He would strach out 100 ft of string to visualize what 100 ft look like, He would fill up the bathtub or garbage barrel with gallons of water. He took some 5 gal cooking oil containers from a groc store and was playing with those. It paid off though. As he was a tween/teen, he could look at a bolt and pull out the right size wrench immediately. He could look at a nut and say "thats 11/32" Jeez, I'm always pulling out every wrench in my box to find the right size and then settling for an adjustable!
Our family thinks he may have had undiagnosed AS. We will never know.
I can remember at 2 or 3 mj would put her stuffed animals and whatever else she had in the kitchen sink. She liked cardboard boxes a lot. I can reemember getting a muppet babies colorforms set with these vinyl semi sticky peel-off muppet characters. A child is suposed to peel off the various items and stick them onto a vinyl background. MJ would take kermit's stuffed frog toy item which was the smallest item in the set and hide (er, I mean lose) it somewhere and harrass her parents to find it for her.
Other toys of note: Rainbow Brite, My little pony (scented -- she liked the scents), Scented markers, Care Bears, a special "buzzbee" bee stuffed toy that made a sound when inverted and re-verted. Mostly she liked to sit on and around anthills and put bugs on her arm and study them.
I saw a home 8mm movie of my brother when he was about 2 or 3 at Christmas. He unwraped some kinda toy and the next scene was a cut to him removing the light bulb from the toy! He was fascinated by light bulbs and electric motors.
In kindergarten, he was fascinated by measurements. He would strach out 100 ft of string to visualize what 100 ft look like, He would fill up the bathtub or garbage barrel with gallons of water. He took some 5 gal cooking oil containers from a groc store and was playing with those. It paid off though. As he was a tween/teen, he could look at a bolt and pull out the right size wrench immediately. He could look at a nut and say "thats 11/32" Jeez, I'm always pulling out every wrench in my box to find the right size and then settling for an adjustable!
Our family thinks he may have had undiagnosed AS. We will never know.
I can remember at 2 or 3 mj would put her stuffed animals and whatever else she had in the kitchen sink. She liked cardboard boxes a lot. I can reemember getting a muppet babies colorforms set with these vinyl semi sticky peel-off muppet characters. A child is suposed to peel off the various items and stick them onto a vinyl background. MJ would take kermit's stuffed frog toy item which was the smallest item in the set and hide (er, I mean lose) it somewhere and harrass her parents to find it for her.
Other toys of note: Rainbow Brite, My little pony (scented -- she liked the scents), Scented markers, Care Bears, a special "buzzbee" bee stuffed toy that made a sound when inverted and re-verted. Mostly she liked to sit on and around anthills and put bugs on her arm and study them.
I have taken some of her toys apart that had broken (i got them at yard sales so they were older) to fix them. She was fascinated watching one of the toys work in various stages of repair. It had these two circle things that spun around and balls would go around them. Well, the rubberbands had come off so I took the thing apart, opened it up, and put the rubberbands back on and oiled one of the gears up to make it run better. Once I had the toy back together she didn't want to play with it anymore. Well, I guess I find the toy boring, so maybe she's just outgrowing it? I do like taking toys apart myself, and since we get a bunch from yard sales (some don't work perfectly that just need a little fixing), I am not so worried about opening them up since I get most of them for $1. One day we examined an umbrella for about 45 minutes. Now she's bored with the umbrella. The last couple days we've been learning the CD player. I wish I had a list of stuff to show her. This coming week, I plan to go over cooking stuff in the kitchen, mixing up water and flour and maybe making some cookies or just goop.
Do you remember what you used to play with when you were 2 or 3? My mom said my brother and I never really played with our toys at that age, we mostly just pushed and shoved each other around and played in her kitchen cabinets. My brother was only 15 months older than I was. Another thing she said was we liked food coloring and would play in the kitchen sink with food coloring.
I guess maybe the toy thing isn't a PDD/autism thing. I guess it's just a she's 2 years old thing and really smart about wanting to know how the world works.
Do you remember what you used to play with when you were 2 or 3? My mom said my brother and I never really played with our toys at that age, we mostly just pushed and shoved each other around and played in her kitchen cabinets. My brother was only 15 months older than I was. Another thing she said was we liked food coloring and would play in the kitchen sink with food coloring.
I guess maybe the toy thing isn't a PDD/autism thing. I guess it's just a she's 2 years old thing and really smart about wanting to know how the world works.
It probably is normal for children to change interests with their toys. I'd have some toys I would play with and then stop. I may come back later on and want to play with them again. You can keep some of her favorites in case she becomes interested again.
An interest in how things work does not sound like a bad interest. Maybe finding things to do along those lines would keep her stimulated and learn things in the process. I wouldn't care if such an interest is "normal" or not for her age. In this case it sounds like a good interest.
I remember taking some of my toys apart to see the parts. If she's taking apart toys make sure to watch her carefully so she doesn't accidently choke on the parts.
An interest in how things work does not sound like a bad interest. Maybe finding things to do along those lines would keep her stimulated and learn things in the process. I wouldn't care if such an interest is "normal" or not for her age. In this case it sounds like a good interest.
I remember taking some of my toys apart to see the parts. If she's taking apart toys make sure to watch her carefully so she doesn't accidently choke on the parts.
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