Opinion of 18 month obsessed with spinning wheels

[Lynday]

Hello, I'm just after some reassurance/ opinions really. My ds is 18 months and seems to be obsessed with wheels or anything that spins. His favourite thing to do in the world, since he was around 12 months, is to turn over his cars and spin the wheels. When we go for a walk he does look around but he mostly watches the wheels spin on his pram. The last time I took him to a baby group he joined in a little but then became intent on flipping over his buggy to spin those wheels. When we go for a walk/ to the shops he can pick out a fan a mile off. His favourite song is wheels on the bus. You can get my drift!

Is it normal to be this obsessed with something? He has been a bit slow with his language, only says one word clearly 'car' and has only recently started to try and communicate with us through babbling. Before that he was quite quiet. His physical development I have no worries of. I feel that he's all there, eye contact, trying to tell us what he wants etc, if you know what I mean. I was just wondering if anyone else has a lo obsessed with spinning wheels? No other baby I know does this as intently as mine?

The schemas are really interesting. Now I can be more forgiving when my 19 month old throws food everywhere and just say he is exploring his trajectory schema.
www.onehundredtoys.com/blogs/news/understanding-schema-play-in-toddlers

@Lynday Hi, My son is the exact same. He loves watching and spinning wheels and is speech delayed, which makes me quite worried. Any update on how your son is doing? Did he ever get over the spinning and how did his language progress? Thanks

My 20 month old ( corrected 18 month old ) son does the same thing. Flips cars and rotates the wheels . First words are car, bus , bike , go , ma ...going through this thread gives me some relief , because when i google all sorts of crazy stuff comes up...milestone wise he is all ok

@IndianMa

My son is the exact same!!

He's 14.5 months old - anything and everything has to be spun! Just the other day we were at a ply group, he was too busy pushing around a sit on motorbike than playing with the other babies! He wasn't all that interested in the wheels though looking back, mainly just the motion like he does with his toot toot cars! Started around 8/9 months... Although he's slowly moving onto buttons/switches!

I have no other concerns with autism, he walks & has around 30 words (thanks to ms Rachel!), gestures, eye contact, responds to name (unless he's half occupied/being ignorant since he's learnt to be defiant) and smiles etc

It's so worrying when you get down a Google search and end up diagnosing them with everything! To me it sounds like a boy thing!

Hey, any mum’s reading this, could you provide an update on how your kids are doing? Thanks

Hi @flowerlover1990. I posted back in 2021 when DS was 1. DS is now 5 and still massively into wheels. He relaxes by holding a car and spinning its wheels, for example. Yesterday he asked me to put my head down at floor level to watch the wheels on a car he was pushing so I could see how fast they were going. I’ve tried to ask him why he likes it so much but he can’t explain. He says it’s just because they are fast. He’s spent a lot of today pushing cars around the house and making engine noises, but it’s not his only interest - he likes dinosaurs, jigsaw puzzles, football, bike riding and many other things.

I was worried about this a few years ago but loads of people reassured me that it was fine and I now completely agree. DS is in reception and hitting all his targets. No signs of neurodivergence and he is happy and healthy.

I absolutely love his fascination with wheels. I think its a unique part of him and I look forward to seeing how it develops as he grows.

Hi @Stringervestthanks so much for coming back to me. I find these old threads mostly so useful but I always want to know how the kids are doing now so your message put me at ease and so lovely to hear how well your son is now doing. Mine is 17 months now and is completely obsessed too. Also loves to lie on the floor and play with his cars wherever he is. I’ve been so worried about it so this definitely put my mind at rest a little bit. I am encouraging his interests though by reading car books and playing with car puzzles when he fancies doing something different, so here’s to many years of car/wheel love!

I’m glad it’s reassured you. When I was a bit worried about this when my DS was the same age as yours, someone else told me their son was 11 and still loved spinning the salad spinner! It’s very common. Someone else started a thread about it before Easter and loads of people replied.