My son is 25 months old tomorrow. He is potty trained during the day. Speaks in full sentences. Is interactive and boisterous around his parents. He is experimenting with (very early) reading and writing - like he doesn’t do much in the way of real letters, d and g and lots of squiggles, and he says letter sounds and arranges magnetic letters on the fridge and tries to read what he writes but he can really only read a 3 letter word on a good day if you point to each individual letter one at a time. He can enumerate at least 6 objects and is getting better at counting using his own finger. He engages in pretend play - e.g. taking two toys and making them have a conversation, playing appropriately with toy cars and trains, feeding toys etc. Much of that makes me feel like he’s doing fine. Nothing to worry about right?
My concerns:
For a long time despite everything else developing he still reverses “I” and “you”.
Although he has a lot of speech a lot of it seems patched together from things he’s heard rather than completely unique utterances. For instance when he is scared he says “be careful” or “are you scared?” When he wants something he says “Would you like a...” He will use quotes from books in an odd (to me) way e.g we’re in a den made of a black duvet cover and it’s dark and he whispers “it’s dark” fine and then quotes a book we have “and in his dream it was dark and horrible and scary” or whatever. But he does also say things that seem more unique (and maybe it’s normal for early language being relatively limited to be patched together from things heard?)
He’s very avoidant toward his (6 month old) brother. He’ll take a favourite toy off him but otherwise he try’s his best to keep his distance. Never has the slightest inclination to cuddle him or even hit him. Now his brother is starting to crawl he runs off saying “stay away from brother”. The other day he locked himself in the playpen and stared suspiciously at his brother from within.
If other children are in one half of the playground he wants to go to the other half. When other children are around he sucks his thumb staring at them. However he has just started saying hi unprompted and inconsistently. He said it to some boys going past on a bike and to two children running past him at soft play.
He doesn’t take an interest in his grandparents on skype. Completely blanks them. If he’s deeply engaged in an activity he’ll blank people in real life too but you can draw his attention otherwise.
He seems a lot more boisterous and out of control than the other children when I take him to library toddler/baby sessions. Most other kids seem to stay with their parents but he is and always has been super independent. He will roam very far without concern. At a park the other day he crossed a huge field alone unconcerned and one time when we weren’t going to the playground I let him walk over to it thinking he’d be scared and come back to me, instead he played there (I could see him he was about a football field away in a quiet cul de sac where we live) and then decided he needed the toilet and independent tried to make his way home (at which point I obviously bolted to get him!!!)
How much of this is normal age appropriate stuff? Does any of it sound genuinely concerning?