I Don't Want to Say Hi

For the past couple months Oscar refuses to say Hi to anyone. Even on our way to someone's house he knows and really likes, he'll clearly state before we enter, "Mommy, I don't want to say Hi." And he won't. But he loves to say Goodbye, give hugs, high fives, etc.

Then the "hi" moratorium morphed into "I don't like that person." And it ran the gamut, he didn't like anybody, he would tell me. It reached its apex, or nadir, a week ago when he said he didn't like Mommy, or Daddy, Grandma or Grandpa. Followed by a refusal to allow any kissing period by anyone at anytime.

I began to think it was about asserting himself. He was drawing his boundaries, and I could not make them budge. I don't force him to say Hi. I suggest it would be nice since these people are our friends, we like them, etc. But I let him make his own calls in this department on the theory that it's his body therefore his decision. At least for now. I encourage him to tell people what he wants or doesn't want, and generally speaking he's pretty good at communicating his needs. But lately I find myself questioning whether he has any idea what he wants.

Seems there is a lot of confusion about what he likes and doesn't like. For example he says "Mommy, I love mixer trucks." When I repeat it and start to follow up on his love of mixer trucks to see where this line of conversation might take us (maybe we'll discuss various colors of mixer trucks, or that he "someday maybe" wants to drive a mixer truck), he changes it to "No, no, I don't like them! I don't like mixer trucks!" yelling it repeatedly and will sometimes even start to cry. For a whole week, this happened about every single thing, whether he wanted a cup of milk, whether he wanted to go to the playground, you name it. It got exhausting, and I said to Chris at one point, "I think my only option left is to stop talking to him. It just works him up if I engage on any topic." We couldn't have a conversation about anything, so I let his statements lie, neither accepting or denying them. Eventually he would come to a conclusion about whether or not he wanted a cup of milk.

I'm beginning to think he's got a plain old ornery streak. And I have no idea where that came from. Not my side of the family...uh uh, no way....

What's that Name?

Usually four or five times a day Oscar will ask me "What's that name?" in regards to some new thing in his world. I tell him what it is, "Oh, that's a license plate" or "It's called a vegetable peeler." But sometimes knowing the actual word isn't enough and he will keep asking "What's that name?" as if it had a name, like people have names. Once in a while I just break down and say its name is Freddy, or something. But I almost always ask him, "What do you think its name is?" but he never gives a name. Then finally the other day, he had a response. He told me the item in question's name was, I swear, "Toots and Pink."