I am worried. Please excuse the long post. I need to write some background info in order for this to make sense.
About six months ago my little girl (21 months) became interested in her ELC dolls house which came with Little People. As she seemed to like the Little People, we bought a few more packs of them so she has quite a few now (approx 15/16). She played with the house a lot and gradually lost interest in it over the past few months.
But here is the cause of my concern. Recently she has gone back to playing with the figures (people only) and keeps trying to hold them all at the same time. She holds them close to her chest but its impossible to hold so many of them so she inevitably drops one, bends down to pick it up and drops another and this continues over and over. Eventually she'll get frustrated and burst into tears. I've tried giving her a bag to put them into so she can carry them around, I've offered to 'mind' some of them, I've tried to put them all on a chair so they are all together but this annoys her and she says 'no no' and goes back to trying to hold all of them at once.
I noticed it at the weekend and for some reason got alarmed as it doesn't seem like 'normal' behaviour for her. She is a placid little girl, she is easy going, adores dolls and her tea set and role play. I had never before seen her getting so frustrated that she resorted to tears. I asked her childminder on Monday morning and she said that it only started late last week when they were playing a game using the figures. She thought perhaps that she needed some new toys to help distract her so last night her Dad and I went to the toyshop and bought an indoor tent and a few other toys. I noticed when I got home today, that she had put all her teddies and dolls into the play tent and was also trying to hold a number of her teddies to her chest, again all at the same time and dropping one, bending down to pick it up and dropping another one. It wasn't as bad as with the little people figures and she wasn't getting frustrated but I'm still uncomfortable watching it.
I've googled possible reasons as nothing has changed. She gets on well with her childminder. I'm often here during the day so I get to see whats happening, she babbles, she's feeding herself, she 'helps' hang out clothes and 'helps' brush the floor, she is social, she maintains eye contact, she dances and sings and understands most of what is said to her. She is an only child and probably doesn't mix as much with other children as I'd like but I'm guessing this must be the same for all other first and only children of her age if they aren't in a creche.
When I googled, it kept throwing up the word autism and i'm worried sick. Its says its very hard to spot before eighteen months of age. Is this why I'm noticing it now? I've tried discussing it with my DH and he thinks I'm making a fuss over nothing and she simply likes her teddies and Little People figures and I'm worrying over nothing.
I've read that toddlers can get attached to certain objects but the only other time I've seen her getting so frustrated with her toys is when she tries to make her baby doll sit in a Disney car in a certain position (the way she likes to sit in it herself). When the doll falls over repeatedly, she will eventually get annoyed and cry but I'm generally able to distract her and she'll play with something else, kick a ball around etc. Its impossible to distract her from the Little People. It generally happens in the evening when she's getting tired but please tell me what you think? She's my first child and I don't want to rush her off to be 'labelled' if whats she is doing is standard toddler behavour but I'm also worried. Its been going on about five days now.......
Thanks for reading.