Disclaimer: I know what the condition OCD is. What I am describing in this article is not real obsessive compulsive disorder, not the debilitating sickness it can be. Still, both Bubsi and Papa display certain traits that fall close to the OCD spectrum, and we jokingly refer to these as “a little bit OCD” whenever they make an appearance. Hence the title. No offense intended.

Papa is a little bit OCD

I didn’t really notice before having Bubsi. I mean it probably was there, but I never truly saw that Papa is a little bit OCD with regards to some things in his life. Most likely because it didn’t really affect me in any way, whereas now it does: Bubsi is picking up some of the OCD-ness. So how does it manifest?

Generally, Papa is a very neat person,while I am a bit messy. Not overly messy, i.e. there is no food rotting underneath our bed and one can still cook safely in our house. Certainly I do not care if Lego pieces are strewn around for a few days and the dusting might as well never happen. Isn’t vacuum cleaning once a week sufficient?

Papa’s neat side is a great addition as it helps our place stay clean while I can avoid the dreaded cleaning process. It just did not occur to me how far this need for neatness goes. A few recent examples include: him standing next to me with a vacuum cleaner in hand to instantly vacuum the sand my shoes are losing while putting them on. Him telling Bubsi it is disgusting to jump in puddles. Or him wiping the walls Bubsi has just painted (when she still has thr pen in hand and will just repeat).

Rubbing off on Bubsi

Unfortunately this OCD-ness is beginning to impact Bubsi’s life. Of course I believe this is unfortunate and Papa thinks it is great. To justify what I mean let me say that toddlers need to discover the world around them. That creates messes of course. Bubsi has started to be afraid of making messes though. This makes her more careful. Mixed with her already rather timid personality it gets a bit too extreme for my liking.

If Bubsi drops a little bit of food from her spoon it has to be wiped immediately or she will tantrum. She will not touch perfextly normal things like sand/mud cause it gets you “dirty”. It took me a full week of rain to convince her puddles are not the evil of the world. Which toddler doesn’t want to puddle jump? You see where I am heading I am sure.

I just hope that little incidents of messiness on Papa’s behalf will show Bubsi that exploring and making mistakes in the process is encouraged. Like when Papa of all people dropped red wine and it splashed all over the wall on Sunday… Never to be cleaned again. I tell you it drives him nuts to see it there, every day 😉

Papa’ self-inflicted nemesis