Oh, Tate.

Jake & I took Tate with us this evening to run some errands. What started out as a grocery shopping trip ended up as a completely different thing. Tate is still in a toddler bed. He's small but seriously...it's time. Kaleb, who is in the same room as Tate, is in a bed that is pretty much smashed to bits. Since Kaleb's bed is also where his clothes live, it's a double problem. So, we ended up going to a few different places trying to find a fairly economical way to get both boys beds + a storage solution for all of their clothes/stuff. It's also a little complicated to figure out a way for an almost 13 year old to feel like he has his own space while sharing a room with his 5 year old brother.
Tate has decided that he must sleep on a top bunk. But then he didn't really like climbing the ladder. "So, maybe you should sleep on the bottom then?" Nope. He has numerous reasons. I really hope this top bunk thing works out. Tate said a few things this evening that made me sigh and think to myself  "Oh, Tate. I hope you can learn skills to allow you to remain functional in society."
Aside from all of the reasons he came up with for needing to be on the top bunk even though he doesn't like the ladder -
He was very disturbed by one of the ladders which had uneven rungs. "Why didn't they just make the steps be the same all the way?" "Where will my foot go when there should be another step but it's missing?"
He was quite annoyed by the fact that Jake parked the truck unevenly within the parking spot. "Dad, you are not straight. Do you see that line? You're supposed to be in the line that far."
Best of all - He's in a stall next to me in the bathroom & says "Am I supposed to flush this toilet?" For a second, I admit to being perplexed. I looked around to see if it was an automatic flushing kind of thing. No. "Yes, Tate, you should flush the toilet." As I'm thinking - what the heck? Why wouldn't you flush it? "BUT, IT'S REALLY REALLY DIRTY." Ah, it becomes clear. Let me just point out that it was a very nice bathroom as public restrooms go & I didn't think EWWWW when I went in (which is saying something). It's OK, Tate. We will wash your hands. Yes, flush. We flushed, we washed (and washed).
I'm glad that at this point we can talk him through his little annoyances and that they aren't (usually) stopping him from moving through his day. I'm also glad that all of the people in his life so far are patient with his lil quirks & also just sigh and say "Oh, Tate..." and help him move past whatever is making his little brain spin like a top.