On Lining Up Toys

As a school psychologist "red flags" always went up whenever a parent mentioned that their child didn't play with toys appropriately and instead lined them up. Of course, if you were talking to me then bells, whistles, sirens, and fog horns were already going off. So lining up toys may or may not have been our biggest problem, but nonetheless, it was usually a piece of the puzzle.

So I never really gave much thought to the fact that Andrew NEVER lined up his toys. Always played with them appropriately, even if some of that appropriate play included bopping Ben upside the head with a ball.

But then I read blogs and talked to friends and realized that all these children were......lining up toys! And these were "normal" kids.

I wasn't concerned about Andrew until I realized that some lining up is a normal part of child-play. Then I got worried becaue he wasn't lining up anything! Sheesh.....it sure is hard to be a mama sometimes.

So one day I showed him. Look, Andrew. Let's put these cars in a line.

And he got it. One after the other. Like a train. A long line of cars.

And when he really made his mama proud?

When I walked into his room during rest time to find this:

He lined up those blocks all by himself, ya'll.

Isn't he just the most normal genius, ever?