HELP- before her daddy goes nuts

[peita]

Where do I start?
1. When Amelia decides she doesn't want to talk she gives her hand the floor and her hand then tell us that "Amelia says NO"
I presume she does this so it's not her being naughty but her HAND.

2.Amelia bounds around the house on all fours instead of walking. She is amazing how she does it but it is driving us insane. She even does it in the shops

Ant ideas on how to stop this?

[Charlie Girl]

I personally wouldn't worry too much about either behavior at this point. She is still very young.

Its precious that she has her hand do the rebelling! Not only is it cute but it shows that she does understand that its not a good thing to do.

As for the all fours thing, my son went through a couple of stages where he did that but then he stopped. I don't know what to say about that. As long as she is walking when she wants to, she may just think its fun or feel more confident that way.

[misty]

How old is Amelia, Peita? When my sister & I were little kids she used to ask her belly button when she was contemplating doing anything. Then her Belly button made the decision not her. (she'd be mortified if she knew I was sharing this bit of info..LOL). Anyway, the behavior tapered off when she was about 6 and she grew up with no major developmental problems, so it seems this type of thing is a pretty much normal behavior. Some kids have invisible friends, some have body parts.

As for the all fours thing, I'm thinking can you reward the walking & ignore the crawling? If you are calling from another room & she walks in, praise her , if she crawls in, just walk away. She should see that walking is more beneficial & start making nmore of a habit of it. I dont know. I'll need to think more about it, but it worked with my daughters baby talk phase. It cant hurt to try.

[peita]

I wouldn't mind if she did it just every now and then but it is her preferred mode of transport!! She's getting in trouble for it at preschool cos she's getting in the way of the UPRIGHT children.
She's four by the way.

She does it because she's either a dinosaur, a dog, a lion..... you get the idea.

I was in fits when I read about asking the belly button!!
I actually always blamed things on the BAD NIKKI according to my mum

[jj]

Peita, My niece (ADHD) was a horse for a long time. She would whinney, shake her head like a horse and that was how she communicated to us. I think it lasted about 4 months but not every minute of every day. She'd just start anytime and continue for hours. My sister would tell her to stop a million times and finally if my sis got REALLY mad she would stop but it wasn't easy and she was 9 when she was doing that!

I think your daughter will grow out of it.

[jj]

By the way, I have a step G-niece that was a kitty. She would crawl on all fours and come rub against me and purr or scratch. She was about 4 when she was doing this. It was a stage that lasted a few weeks. She is not ADHD and the only difference is it didn't last as long as my niece and when her mom told her to stop she did maybe after the 10th time of telling her.

[Charlie Girl]

When my son did it, he was usually a puppy or a kitten. It depended on which animal he had seen most recently.

I'm glad you brought this up Peita. This is bringing back so many precious memories! A few years from now, you will look back and remember how cute she was and laugh about how frustrated you were at the time. I hope you can get a video of her doing this. You will love to look at it in the future.

[misty]

Hey! My daughter did that too! She was a horse on & off around that same age. I never connected that with what you were saying about your daughter crawling. The funny thing is, it never bothered me. We all thought it was silly & cute. I remember even introducing her to people & she'd say "No , my name isn't Shannon. Its Star...I'm a horse". I don't think I ever once yelled at her to quit. I just chalked it up as a "phase". You know, that type of creativity is a sign of intelligence!

[annem]

Hi Peita !! Another one who agrees ... at the age of 4 don't sweat this ... if she was 10 and still doing this then it could be a different ball-game ... At 4 its still "role play, role play and MORE role play" ... I personally say right now if she wants to be a cat, horse, zebra or giraffe let her .. !!

At that age I had a very definite "imaginary friend" ... I even used to (apparently!) get my mother to lay a place at the table for "her" and insist my mother "teach her to tie her shoelaces" ... OMG !! My poooooor mother!! ... oh and btw I am not adhd!!