8.05.2008

Part of a Nutritonally Balanced Diet?

Chris doesn't like when I diagnose myself or him, for that matter (Just please, for my sake, don't ask Chris the one criteria he doesn't fit for pyromania; and if he does tell you he thinks it is--don't listen to him, that is not the one he's missing!). But I have to admit I am beginning to wonder a little bit about Ian's eating habits. Since we've gotten to Las Vegas, he's had this strange fascination with licking (yes, licking) the metal bars on the stairwell next to our front door (I know. Gross.). The more we tell him not to, the more he does it, I'm sure. Oh, and now that I'm thinking about it, he's been eating paper lately too! Not that I'm really concerned about Ian being diagnosable, but being the therapist that I am, I figured I should at least be able to gratuitously throw out my hard-earned knowledge every once in awhile...So there is this condition known as pica, but thankfully Wikipedia did point out one criteria from the DSM-IV that Ian is missing: "In order for these actions to be considered pica, they must persist for more than one month, at an age where eating such objects is considered developmentally inappropriate." Pretty sure occasionally eating dirt as a 3 year old little boy is more than developmentally appropriate; in fact, I think it probably means he's alive and well.So two Saturday mornings ago, we decided to go on a walk. We walked down to a McDonald's near our condo then over to the Bird Park (as Ian likes to call it). We ate our breakfast, had a nice chat with a friendly elderly women named Barbara (we've met so many nice people here!) and Ian and Chris chased birds and played on the playground and ate sand. Well, just Ian did that last part. What's that saying? Oh yes. Boys will be...boys. Sand, anyone? What a little nut bucket!

3 comments:

Kohler said...

In one of my Master's classes, our professor told us about a kid she treated with PICA - his "food" of choice was cigarette butts. I'd take dirt any day!

Lynette said...

Yeah, pretty sure that's just normal little boy behavior. I on the other hand totally develope pica while pregnant. I crave smells like gas and goof-off or any "chemically" smelling thing. I don't, however, ever ingest any of it, I just smell them! Chris thinks I'm nuts, but for 3/4 of my pregnancy I crave it then the day I deliver...totally gone!

Angie said...

It definitely sounds like he's missing something in his diet. Have you tried getting his iron tested? It might be worth a try.