When my (non-Autistic) 4-year-old was a baby, my mom, who was a special needs preschool teacher, made one off-hand comment that a thing my kid did when she was excited was similar to the stimming her students did. I managed to not let it consume me *too* much, but I did think about it every day, every time my kid did her excited thing, even after my mom said she didn’t at all mean to imply that she thought my kid had autism, that it was developmentally no big deal at baby age and would only be an autism sign if older and coupled with other things.
I go down internet rabbit holes too! I just clicked on every video you linked, and now YouTube’s going to recommend more to me too — eek!
Interesting read! Good job!