OCD or normal? What habits does your child have?

[madamefreckle]

My son (3 1/2) has had a habitual cough for the past 3 months since his sister came along....it drives me mad! He does it especially when watching TV or when having a story read to him.

He has also started sticking his fingers in his mouth all at once and pulling them out covered in saliva (yuk) - because his fingers are 'dry' . I'm not sure if I should be ignoring this or not but I don't feel it's particularly hygienic. I have told him that his fingers are supposed to be dry as he is not a fish but so far it has had little effect!

They sound like perfectly normal child's habits to me. Don't worry about them.

DS1 (3.9) does a fake 'cough' which really grates me. If I ignore it he eventually stops. It's an attention grabber.
He also is paranoid about getting his shoes wet on the grass and asks me to dry them for him - I used to with a tissue, but now I just say the air will dry them.
Next month it will be something different.
When he was about 2 he used to line up his cars in one long straight line, not play with them, just line them up. I wondered about OCD but he seems fine.
DS2 (1.5) is obsessive about putting the lids back on things, taking all the shoes into the hall and putting his fingers in the dog's nose (eeeeew).

I wouldn't worry, your DSs fingers are likely to be cleaner than my DS2's after he's stuck them up the dog (just hope he doesn't get the wrong end...)

Sounds normal to me too. I think all kids have funny little things they like to do, or must be right. My ds insists all his teddy's are wrapped up in a muslin in a certain way before he will go to sleep at night....v.annoying but hopefully just a phase.

Sounds normal to me too.

My DS makes a weird 'tut' noise when he's talking, really hard to describe, but it goes like this " right, tut, let's get these toys in a line tut that's it, you all go there and tut...." (he's very anal too )

When DD was 3 she used to have to walk down the front path in a certain way or have to go back and start again. She'd also know exactly where she'd put everything and if it was moved, she would know, and move it back.
I did actually contact my HV about her, because she was very obsessive, but apparently in her case it was a control thing? She did grow out of it, and now I wish she still knew where everything went!

This is very reassuring reading! I do think 3 year olds are particularly odd! (lovely...but odd)