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I regularly make cookie dough from scratch. I use Ghirardelli chocolate chips (they’re not that much more expensive) and part whole wheat flour, and add in various other good-for-you additions. They’re delicious, trust me. I refrigerate the dough and it keeps for quite a while. This way, I can make just a few cookies at a time. Usually I wind up making a batch of six – no more, no less, that’s what Em wants – right after Em gets home from school. It’s a tasty little snack and a nice way to unwind.
Over the last couple of months, Em’s been doing something unusual. She lines up her cookies in a row on a table and then, when she picks one up, she uses her other hand to touch the spot where it was with the front of her hand and then the back of her hand, eight times. Front back front back front back front back. Eight times, every time, every cookie. She’s already got a few neurological things going on, I figured this was just a little OCD tic, fairly harmless and not any weirder than things other kids do.
Today she was halfway through her cookies and she did her little front back thing, and paused after the eighth… then did another eight. She did it for the next one too without the pause. So now she’s doing 16 for every cookie.
It’s not hurting anything so I don’t see any reason to stop her, but I have a gut feeling that puberty’s just beginning to barely think of rearing its head and I’m just hoping this doesn’t mean it will be accompanied some new neurological issue for us to enjoy.