# Obsessive behavior in toddlers?



## kindacrunchy (Jun 25, 2004)

My son is 21 months old and has been OBSESSED with the vacuum cleaner for months. He has a toy vacuum and will play with it for hours. He has named real vacuums "Dan". He gets excited whenever he sees vacuums at the store and wants to look at them and play. He wants me to vacuum the house almost everyday. He knows which houses on my street have vacuums in the garage because he has seen them on our walks. He found where my friend keeps her vacuum and he played in that closet almost all afternoon, continually waving and saying"Hi Dan".
I'm a little concerned. He seems relatively normal otherwise.
Anybody else have/had a similar situation?


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## monkeysmommy (Apr 3, 2003)

I think it is pretty normal for toddlers to obsess over things. Most toddlers I know either love vacuum cleaners or hate them. Mine is in the latter camp.

My dd is almost 30 months and different obsessions have come and gone at different times. Her current love is cacti. Any succulent, really, aloes, agaves, etc. She talks about "cactuses" non-stop day in and day out. Whenever we go on walks we have to stop by all the different houses that have cacti outside so she can say hi to all of them. When we are walking to the car, (we don't have a driveway and we live in SF so sometimes we have to walk quite a ways) sometimes she begs to go out of our way so we can go by and see the cacti. I took her to the botanic garden in Golden Gate Park which has a huge succulent garden section and you would have thought she had died and gone to heaven. When we are at home she likes to pretend she is a cactus. I have to touch her and say, "Ouch!" She loves to look at photos on the internet of different kinds of cacti, and I must say, they are fascinating! I had no idea there were so many different varieties and that the flowers were so beautiful! When I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween, she of course said, a cactus. So if anyone has any ideas on how to make a cactus costume, I would love to hear them!

I remember a thread a while back about toddler obsessions that was pretty long so I don't think there's anything to worry about!


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## DansMom (Sep 22, 2004)

Daniel is 22 months and obsessed with "diggers" (a construction truck with flexible arm to scoop up dirt) and, to a lesser degree, front end loaders. I found a really nice digger for eight bucks and we brought it home---now I'm regretting it! All day he totes it around and plays with it---all day. When it is time to brush teeth, he has to bring it to the bathroom and be holding it with one hand---will not let go. It was hard to get him to eat lunch or dinner yesterday because he didn't want to stop playing with the digger. The digger had to be in sight and contact wherever we went, indoors/outdoors. I do think this fascination/obsession is normal at this age. At least I hope so!


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## kindacrunchy (Jun 25, 2004)

OK, you two are making me feel a little better








Monkeysmommy, at least cacti are a little more interesting than vacuums


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## Rainbowbird (Jul 26, 2004)

I about died laughing reading the other posts. Kids are too much sometimes! I think obsessions are normal at this age, too, as long as the child is also interacting with humans and not just inanimate objects. If he or she seems normal otherwise, probably not a problem!

My son is 19 mos. old and is starting to be obsessed with horses. We live near a large horse farm and he loves to drive by or visit to see them. Anytime we drive past ANY field or place with a gate that looks like it COULD be a horse pasture, he yells "HORSE!" loudly. However he is not that interested in toy horses! He does like horse books, though.

He also loves flags and can spot them from a mile away. He saw a flag on an address label in a catalogue that was about 1/4 inch high! I imagine as he gets older these obsessions will take on a different expression.


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## sleepies (Nov 30, 2001)

mine loved vaccum cleaners from 12 months-18 months!
we would have to look at them in stores and everythign!

PLEASE view this link, it shows my son HUGGING the vaccum.

http://www.geocities.com/sleepies/vaccum.jpg

ps. there is a vaccum on "the telletubbies" that they call "NUNU" and my son REALLY loved NUNU


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## mom2jack (Apr 19, 2003)

:LOL Cute picture. My son also loved vacuums, I have several pictures of him vacuuming. This morning he was pretending he was going to work in a green truck he has. He got so mad because he couldn't figure out how to get his vacuum in.

Right now he is more obsessed with cows and horses than vacuums. He has a bunch of stuffed toys - about 7 - that we have to take everywhere







Everyone thinks it's so cute they keep buying him more!


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