Habits

Since Asher was old enough to stand up in his bed he has had the habit of throwing his pacifier across the room when he wakes up. He doesn't always do it - it seems to come and go in spurts, really. He'll do it every day for two weeks then stop for a while. The thunk of the pacifier hitting the opposite wall is a familiar sound. I can even hear it from downstairs.

Another habit he has is scratching his toosh. I think it's a dry skin thing - the boy has very sensitive skin. That habit recently got so bad that I took to putting him in onesies all the time under his normal clothes (I didn't even know they made onesies that big, but luckily they do). The culmination of that one was the day he got a stinky diaper during naptime and had an itch to itch. All I'm gonna say is ick.

Anway, today he took it all up a notch. During his morning "nap" he started screaming bloody murder. So I go running in there (because it was the "something is wrong" scream not just the usual "I'm mad that you put me in here" scream). He is frantically grabbing his toosh and yelling about his pacifier. So I get down on all four like I always do to look for the pacifier after he's lobbed it across the room. I look in all the usual places, I can't find it. Finally I stand back up to grab the back-up pacifier when I notice he is still grabbing his toosh. So I stop my search to see if he is poopy. Nope. No poop. But there is a lump in his pajamas. That's when I realized that he has put his pacifier down inside his one-piece pajamas! His pacifier is the lump in his pants and he is mad about it. So I chuckle to myself, take it out for him, lay him back down and leave again. Two minutes later he's screaming again. The pacifier is back in his pajamas. Repeat three more times. Finally I give him a stern talking to that goes something like "Asher, stop putting your pacifier in your pajamas!" and leave one last time. He actually went to sleep that time.

But what was up with that? He hated it when the pacifier was in his pajamas - so why was he doing it? Just to get me into the room? What a weird-o. I was waiting to post this to see if he would do it again during his afternoon nap - nope. No repeats yet. What would a psychiatrist say about this? Is it some deep-rooted Mommy issue from his youth? Did I neglect him at some point? Did he not get enough love so he feels like he needs to have his pacifier close to him - VERY close?

Tell you what, I'm in the mood to be entertained. Whoever can give me the best pyscho-something-er-other explanation (the more elaborate and full of bologna, the better) for why he would do this will win a prize. Something made by me. Possibly, something edible.