Strange habit - please help!

[Jezabelle]

My nephew is just 2 and has developed a strange habit. He goes down on all 4s and lifts one leg, then remains in this position for quite a few seconds; almost frozen, with teeth clenched and staring. He does this frequently now, lots of times in a day.

He seems to be exceptionally bright and his speech is excellent for his age. My sister is very worried and I don't have a clue what it could be. Any thoughts?

Does he say anything if you ask him what he's doing? He might have seen something or someone doing something similar.

No. He doesn't seem to have any expaination for what he's doing. He can respond whilst in the middle of his an "episode" and will sit up on his bottom if asked to. I wondered if it was a sort of tick type thing or an OCD related thing. Really baffling but quite odd and disconcerting to watch. Thanks for responding.

he's not pretending to be a dog, is he?

Does your sister have a dog?

Does he have any other tics or funny things he does? If this is the only one, could it be attention seeking? (If he's bright, this seems more likely)

He's being a Pointer. I wonder if he has a rich imaginative life as a dog?

Thanks msploppy. He doesn't have any other tics etc, but I don't think it's attention seeking as he gets self conscious when it's noted. My Dsis doesn't draw attention to it very often, so he doesn't really get attention for it.

I said that he was exceptionally bright in case this was relevent. He can complete puzzles that my (fairly average) 5yo DS would struggle with. I secretely worried about autism (with that special "gift" thing) but haven't mentioned it to Dsis as don't want to worry her even more if this is completely wrong.

Dsis is not an over anxious parent who would worry about nothing. We both have older DCs and have attended lots of toddler groups etc, so know they are all different. I may not have explained it very well but this has been a real concern. The doctor has referred him to peadiatric doc but there's a 3 month wait so I hoped there might be someone who recognised this sort of behaviour and could give me a bit of info.

The comments about pretending to be a dog aren't intended to be flippant, Jezabelle, he does sound as if he's going off into a secret world of his own. Or is that not what it looks like at all?

Thanks Pterosaur. Just thought people were taking the pee a bit and thinking it was silly to be worried. He doesn't have a dog! His body is very tense and still when it happens and at first my Dsis wondered if it were siezures that he was having, but as he can be distracted and during these spells, I thought maybe not. Sometimes I'll see him for just an hour or so and he'll do it a dozen times.

It does sound like DS pretending to be a dog. A dozen times an hour does sound a bit excessive though, does your DSIS have a hv or could she take him to the doctor? I would worry if it was that regular and for that long.

Sorry I see the referral post. I would worry too but there's not much you can do if you are waiting for an appointment.

oh for heaven's sake, as if we'd take the piss out of this situation!
Thank you for pointing that out, Pterosaur.