Kara and I both agree that a post needs to be written on this most important--and often used--word in Bentley's vocabulary. However, neither of us really wanted to write the post. We don't feel that we can do the topic justice.
For more than a year now Bentley has complained whenever his hands get dirty. If he's eating crackers that have some kind of coating on them, he has to have his hands cleaned frequently. Because his breakfast waffle is drenched in butter, he has to use a fork to eat it. On his first birthday he wouldn't eat his birthday cupcake with cool whip on it--too messy.
Lately, however, he has expanded his definition of dirty to include wet hands. Yup, whenever his hands are washed, he starts protesting that they are dirty because he doesn't like the feel of damp hands--even after you dry them, they feel "dirty" to him. We try to explain to him that they aren't dirty, just damp, but he doesn't care.
He's one finicky little boy. Did I mention that he hates the tags in shirt? He conned his Grandpa Tim into cutting one out a couple of weeks ago. I've done it, too, when I just can't take another round of "Tag!" "Tag!" "Tag!"
No, I don't think Bentley has tactile dysfunction. He's just a little more sensitive to these irritants than the average child and he lets us know it. Ten or twelve times a day. (The question is do we ignore his demands in an effort to toughen him up or do we give aid and thereby encourage his neurosis?!)
Jackson shows signs of following in Bentley's footsteps. Genevieve, on the other hand, likes dirt and she enjoys getting messy.
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Our Finn-boy shows signs of Bentleyness. If he is wearing anything with more of a collar on it than a onesie, he will play with it, wrench his neck in annoyance and tug at it all.day.long. This includes pajamas with the button cover that holds the zipper down, t-shirts (with the 1/4" collar), hoods on sweatshirts, etc.
Brook's mom said that Brook couldn't handle the seam of socks, so she'd have to put them on inside out, so the seam was on the outside. I've noticed that, unless Finn has his shoes on, he will take his socks off in discust and rub his toes until he has rid himself of the seam feeling.
I looked it up once and, supposedly people with this sort of tactile dysfunction have a higher level of intelligence.
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