Toddler loves enacting

[navyaUK]

Hi All
My toddler loves acting like coping I have a boo boo video, ex where she would pretend she has a boo boo had we have to give her bandage kiss hug. She has few others she is about 2.3 now and does not talk and is a picky eater . She has been in and out of hospital, one long stay when she was one (surgical error + sepsis etc). Extended picu stay where nurses should offer give her videos to watch as she could not be picked up

Not sure if it’s that or she is just naturally into acting and how can I encourage her interest beyond YouTube. Her nursery is not very engaging and she is a bit of loner there. She does not like going there suddenly and I work. Anything I can ask nursery to help her engage ?

appreciate any pointers here

Do you mean you want to stop your child watching you tube? Or you think they are a talented actor?

At this age they start imaginative play, it's very cute and sometimes very wearing - there are days I could happily never hear the word "pretend" again.

Nothing really to do, just play along as much as you can, it's lovely seeing their little minds come alive. Not one for YouTube, real life interaction is what she needs.

Would it be possible to find a better nursery?

Part of me hopes she is a talented actor :)
It’s hard for me to see her struggling at nursery. I can’t seem to get any answers as to why she suddenly does not want to go there. They have a music man coming in every week. Rest of the kids are jumping and dancing and she just stands or goes and play by herself or stand there looking sad ! I wish the nursery can engage her better but given she does not talk and nursery knows we will leave soon , moving in couple of months, not sure if they just ignore her. It breaks my heart when she now just runs in crying ! I thought if there was some way to help nursery do some play acting with her

I’m usually the last to say this as it annoys me but have you thought she may be autistic? Has she been assessed regarding late speech?

Not talking, picky eater, plays by herself, is a loner - all indicators that may need more investigation.

Could be anything have you asked them? (The nursery)

Nursery don't sound great, what are they doing to involve her and bring her out of her shell?

You could tell them she's enjoying imaginative play at home, but I would have thought they're busy and more likely to play along rather than instigate iykwim.

@Lilacapples i have thought about that. She is still 2 and has been through open heart at 5 months , stoma surguery gone wrong 2-3 month in picu + ward recovery. 4 surgery in about 2 week to save life causing lung collapse and other complication. Given she had a tube down her throat for weeks , on her back for almost 1 month all these complications we were told would effect her milestones. She never cried a lot when in picu would engage with nurses and us even dance lying down .. she enjoys soft play area of there are other kids else she gets bored .. loves to cheer lil kids, makes me laugh by pretend laughing if I am quiet or look sad to her so unable to say it’s autism or hospital stay and now a nursery which does not engage her. She only started nursery at 2. I had her home as I was WFH till then. Even now she has her melt downs but easy to distract no extended crying very easy and happy mostly but I feel she would rather stay home and be with us than nursery these days before that she would give her shoes and sit in pram and be ready to go to nursery

Wee soul has been through so much and so have you by the sound of it. She sounds quite delightful. I suggest you try to enjoy her good health, enjoy playing pretend with her and acting out these things (even over and over again). She is learning. My son used to love to sing happy birthday and blow out toy candles and cut a toy cake, I must have done it hundreds of times with him. he hated crèche too btw it just doesn’t suit some children.
edited to add - he was very happy to go to school by the time he was five.

Good grief, she's been through a lot.

I would look at it this way (but no medical proof, it's just me) - all that time in hospital is time she isn't interacting as she would, and takes a lot of her energy to recover etc., so it's kind of like development might slow down a bit. So although she is over 2 now, she is probably more like 18-20 months, and isn't as used to the nursery setting.

My DS used to like pretending too, we used to act out his favourite story books. Peace at Last was one of them and we took turns to be daddy bear trying to find somewhere comfortable to sleep. I can't remember the others. He would often recite the appropriate bits of the story as well. He isn't a gifted actor though. But he is ASD.

She does sound like she should have some assessments to see where she's at in her development stage.
That's such a lot to go through in her tiny life (hope she's better now 💐💖) so she could just need to catch up or she could be autistic as others have suggested.
She might be better with a child minder who can give her a more 1 to 1 environment than a nursery.
Is she still under a medical team from her hospital stays? You could talk to them about your worries or contact your GP who could make a referral.
Pretend play is fantastic. It's all about learning the world you are living in and recreating it.
Definitely encourage it - although maybe not via YouTube so much - just do pretend play at home. Toy kitchens are always a huge hit with that age group or as she pretends to have "boo boos" then maybe a toy medical set (which to her will be part of the world she knows) and she can help look after her dolls or teddies.
🙂

Poor wee thing, you've all been through so much. As someone else said, I've no professional knowledge but it does seem intuitively sensible that some of her development may be a bit delayed thanks to the ordeal she's been through. Do you have any support with that? An assessment might do no harm at all and give you ideas of where and how to encourage her.

I thought Austism can only be referred after 5 for diagnosis. We have her surgical team who did a referral for a general paediatrician but I found it as useless as a GP visit. She seemed clueless and had only 10 mins to cater to DDs complex case even though it was a referral by Evelina. She wants a community paediatrician to come into picture and I am just tired of juggling my work and asking help from NHS. We are changing nursery soon and hopefully they might work better for her as I thunk shr might be also hungry as they have very limited menu of which shr basically eats starch. At home she eats fruits eggs and occasionally gets interested in naan or a pita some form of rice pasta. She is on oat milk and still pretty much drinks that as means of filling her self up after dinner
She was more foodie as a baby but things changed after her second op and again after becoming 2 years old.
will look for childminder in the area as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions and responding to my rambling worries !

I think you can be referred under 5? But at the moment I would just concentrate on getting her settled in to a new nursery. If she is a bit developmentally delayed because of everything going on, then the chances are that she will catch-up in her own time. As long as nursery are aware of everything, they should be able to monitor her and see how she gets on. Maybe revisit a referral when she is 3.

My DS was diagnosed with autism at 3 so you can definitely be referred under 5.
it may not be that of course, and she’s been through a lot in her short life, but there is no harm in starting the ball rolling re investigation. If it’s not autism then she won’t be diagnosed, but you will hopefully have some support regarding her delayed milestones.
FWIW my DS was a very sociable baby, absolutely loved people, was an excellent mimic etc then regressed at around 16 months.

I’ve no idea how it’s done now. My son was referred at 14 months, assessments started at around 19 months, diagnosed at 3 but that was 22 years ago.

She has been through a lot and it’s highly likely that her development may be delayed because of that . 🙂

Does she have any words at all? I would definitely speak to her paediatrician about this, she needs to see a speech and language therapist.

However the imaginative play and acting out YouTube videos etc is a normal and lovely part of development. The YouTube videos have given her a script and she's acting it out and exploring it with you, I have a just turned three year old who is exactly the same. Loves playing at making little pretend cups of tea and soup in her kitchen, then she'll be a doctor for a while and check everyone's hearts with a toy stethoscope.

She has words yes .. would randomly say ‘I know’, happy to you or oh dear etc. She is counting. I taught her to numbers using fingers and she can say upto 5 and bits upto 10. Remembers colors and animal names and sounds. Would respond to something she likes lights etc with Wow and claps. She has been trying to play Johnny Johnny with me and now instead of her saying Yes papa, i say yes baby. She gets a lil frozen but manages her lines with single words like ‘yies’,’mouth’

I was asked to have a chat with my HV by the her pedestrian to see if you can get into speech therapy but since then no one approached. I guess once we move and settle down in our new location I can get more balls rolling ..