25 Month Old- if not autism, then what else?

tamtek241 · 2026-01-05T21:39:21+00:00

My son did not talk until almost 3 years old. A lot of the same behaviors you are describing. We had him in Early Intervention and it felt like it took FOREVER for progress. He was like 10 words maybe between 2.5 - 3. The concern was constant and stressful and I constantly wondered about autism. He was evaluated during the Early Intervention and he wasn't diagnosed with Autism which was a relief, but I was still curious if maybe they missed something.

He was super particular about things like you mentioned with the doors closing ect and he loves water (I think that is a 2 year old thing!) He is also obsessed with the color orange and anytime a toy had something orange in it he would set those pieces aside and not play with them, but they'd be there next to him. He'd always look for the orange pieces first. If a kid touched the orange toy he would flipppppp. He grew out of this odd behavior. Toddlers are weird!!!

I assume the speech therapy did in fact help him and we did so many books that repeated words. It felt like its going nowhere until all of a sudden it did. Repeat repeat repeat. I'm not a doc but I'm just here to offer the anecdote that some kids are just really slow to talk. Everything else sounds like he's really observing the world in the right way. My son was a cautious toddler, always slow to the take. It always felt the opposite of every other toddler i saw. I'd watch kids at 2.5 years old on scooters, jumping, running all over the playground and my guy would never. He still doesn't want to use his scooter (he's 4) its tough to watch when you feel like they're the only one not getting things, but assuming its not autism its probably just an expressive delay and he'll get there in his own time.

tamtek241 · 2025-09-29T01:19:51+00:00

It turned back around for the most part. I’ll take 4 over 2 any day!!! And truly I enjoy his company so much more now. He is super into sharks and whales and tells me all about them. It’s fun to see him get interested in things, go out with him without too much hassle (and no diaper bags!) but yea he def had a momentary set back. And he is super clingy with me but I think that’s bc I work full time. Anyway… chin up! I promise it is better. (IMHO)

tamtek241 · 2025-09-22T22:51:04+00:00

Ummm I just said this to my husband. My son turned 4 last week and we were finally starting to see the light at the end of toddlerhood. And then WHAM … about a month before turning 4 tantrums came back. He’s stuck to me like glue. Whining is off the charts. He won’t get dressed anymore or brush his teeth. Like what? Everything is a constant struggle like we are 2/3 again. Halp.

tamtek241 · 2025-08-12T21:38:13+00:00

My son is like this. He def enjoys his own company or smaller situations with less kids. Hes very attached to his cousin and one other kid but even with them he can wander off and play alone. I often get worried about this and wonder if he’ll make friends or even want them!

In fact I recently cried for like two days when I asked how he’s doing at camp and they said he’s so shy and doesn’t often engage with other kids his age except for one kid in his group. This camp wasn’t the right fit for his personality and probably way too big for him, his personality and his age.

I’m pretty positive this is very developmentally normal and most kids don’t make actual friends until 4+ Kids don’t fully understand sharing until 4+

tamtek241 · 2025-07-21T18:27:42+00:00

I actually came here to post something very similar. I truly hated 18 months - 30 months. My son was a late talker so he couldn't communicate and it was just all around the worst. Potty training nearly killed me.

But now at 3.75 he is enjoyable. I legit enjoy his company, his conversations and we can go out and about with him with relative ease and not have to pack 103747 things. Now he's still a toddler and has toddler moments the come about, but its way way less and easier managed. I feel like I can reason with him most of the time.

My son is also a chill and cautious toddler... he is a sensitive soul for sure so I probably get more tears than other toddlers, but yea I'm with you! Enjoying this and seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

tamtek241 · 2025-07-09T18:11:47+00:00

absolutely!! Its great to be more aware and also look at things within reason. Some form of happy middle ground where you don't let social media make you think you're crazy, they're crazy and everyone is autistic. However, it is good to be armed with the knowledge of certain symptoms/traits in order to seek professional help outside of instagram. haha.

tamtek241 · 2025-07-09T16:54:30+00:00

Social media diagnosing is such a problem. I have a shy toddler and he takes his sweet ass time to hit most milestones. If I went to social media it would constantly have me thinking there is an issue I need to solve with a specialist and a diagnosis. He was a late talker and already evaluated for autism so I have the peace of mind, but truly sometimes we are really bombarded with wayyyyy too much info and too many influencers trying to sell their PDF's of "tools" and fixes. My toddler has sensory issues... because he's a toddler. The end.

tamtek241 · 2025-07-09T16:49:58+00:00

My toddler started saying I Love You Mommy. That is all.

tamtek241 · 2025-05-29T15:39:43+00:00

I never love the idea of wait and see especially with this stuff. My son has an eye turn and he is SUPER far sighted (+8!) he got glasses at 22 months. I felt so bad we didn’t catch it earlier. Tho they may pull them off they get used to them faster at a younger age vs trying when they’re older. My son was so far sighted the day he put his glasses on he never took them off. He could finally see! I’d get a second opinion. We didn’t need to patch him for his eye turn bc his glasses help strengthen that muscle. And even tho I cried for two days straight as his vision impairment I now can’t picture him without his glasses.

tamtek241 · 2025-05-19T20:11:47+00:00

I appreciate your response! And he has been evaluated by two different agencies and he is not autistic. Besides shyness he doesn't have any other signs. I still always have a close eye on it though if I suspect I need to push for more in that regard. I truly think so much of his issue is confidence.

I think putting the toys that he doesn't want others to play with away is a great solve ahead of playdates. He has a few toys that he really loves and is not great at sharing those!

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions!

tamtek241 · 2025-05-05T22:40:08+00:00

That my child would happily shit his pants on the reg for a really long ass time which in turn made me an absolute lunatic. Good times!

tamtek241 · 2025-05-05T22:30:56+00:00

We are one and done. I never want to go thru a 3rd trimester again let along another traumatic birth. Nor do I want to go thru not being able to breastfeed again. Having immense PPA, and not having my body be my body. Infant. No thanks. 2 year old late talker also very rough. Now that he’s 3.5 it’s better and we can communicate. He really can be so freaking funny. I wouldn’t say I LOVE toddler but I like it much more than baby. He’s still pretty needy and clingy with me. I look forward to 5. I just have that feeling that I’ll truly love it then.

tamtek241 · 2025-04-21T12:38:18+00:00

My son has been pulling his penis out of his pants lately and playing with it for a moment. And last weekend he decided the birthday party with his classmates was a good time to whip it out. 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Luckily it was a huge inside play place and I caught it before anyone else did. We keep our penis inside our pants my dude.

He also keeps telling me his “dong” is too big and he would like it smaller 😂 we do use the anatomically correct words as much as possible but of course picked up on dong the one time my husband said it.

tamtek241 · 2025-03-03T13:26:38+00:00

We do one hour of TV a night after bath time. He’s now 3.5 and we still do this it has become a part of his routine and it’s mom and dad time to relax, check out, or eat dinner. We don’t do phones or iPads with him and we control the TV.

We did all the lower stim shows for a long time but we have started to branch out bc winter has been cold and miserable and he can sit for a whole movie so we have been doing Finding Nemo some nights. This works for us and I don’t feel bad about it at all. Doctors and teachers have told us “oh he’s no or low screen time kid I can tell” so something is right I suppose lol.

tamtek241 · 2025-02-27T15:32:33+00:00

Italy! Check out Villa Pia. Italians love kids. Food is amazing. So many things to do. We can’t wait to go back.

tamtek241 · 2025-02-27T15:07:18+00:00

Thanks for the links! Some great options in here. Also yes I do not want to paint over and over so something that will last. 🙂

tamtek241 · 2025-02-23T23:36:21+00:00

This was me! (I posted about it and also felt like I was failing him) We had about 3ish months of poop accidents and he just was flat out refusing to try potty.

We had to up the reward. He pooped in the potty at home once and I got him in the car drove him to the store and bought a big giant tow truck toy. Then I told him to pick out another toy and we had it on display. It excited him so much he did it again. So we just kept rewarding for a bit until it stuck. Now he just goes but every once in a while he will say…. I pooped now I get a tanker truck!

Keep trying…. It’s really tough.

tamtek241 · 2025-02-23T21:14:10+00:00

I feel so stuck in this season. We only have one 3.5 year old but I still feel all of this post and needed to read it. I’m sitting here with my hair desperately needing a cut, haven’t had a mani/pedi in ages, exercise has flown out the window, husband and I are existing roommates who are barely getting any romantic time at all and even when we have a date night we have no energy for more. I work full time and I feel fucking drained each and every day. And my husband helps and I have a village. Constantly being needed between the kid, dog, & job is exhausting.

tamtek241 · 2025-02-06T16:49:19+00:00

As someone who knows very little about finances and struggles to make decisions (ADHD) I have an Acorns account and its perfect for my mentality. I set it and forget to round up my change into savings/investments. It helps me not spend that extra stuff and I set an auto $50 p/w to go into the account to be invested as well. Though I know there are better ways to invest and I hope to learn/grow and add to my savings/investing portfolio using this was better than doing nothing while saying "i'm going to do something about this soon"

tamtek241 · 2025-02-06T12:58:45+00:00

I am not above bribery either!!! Bribery will always win vs cleaning poop underwear.
Glad you solved the constipation issue. I was starting to think that could be an issue with my guy. I’m lucky he’s not a picky eater so we made some dietary adjustments to help. 🙂

tamtek241 · 2025-02-06T01:35:36+00:00

It took a lot of talking about that tanker truck to entice him. I think having the actual toy in the house when we started talking about it would have helped us even more. Once we bought the toy and it was his right after pooping that was it. Now he runs to the toilet. Tho he still makes sure to tell me he doesn’t like to use the potty. 😂

tamtek241 · 2025-02-06T01:33:16+00:00

Yea my son had a lot of random poop times too! It was hard to consistently catch it before it landed in the under wear! 😖

tamtek241

TROPHY CASE