I never did add mine:
My daughter (now 12) was talking at 6 months. I think sentences by 12 months -- maybe a bit earlier - it's all a blur. She always had perfect enunciation and sang children's songs by the time she was 18 months old. Cruised at 7 months, took a first step at 9 months, but didn't actually walk until 13 months. She was a very efficient crawler.
She didn't read until kindergarten -- I think because she was stubborn and didn't want anyone to teach her until she was around other kids that were reading. As soon as she learned, she sped up and surpassed the others very quickly.
My son (17 months) is still figuring out the age he wants to do things at. I've heard him say about 4 sentences -- his first one was 7 or 8 months old -- but only when he really needs something. He's probably said a good 20-30 words. Maybe more. But almost all of them (including "daddy" and "mommy") he's only said a handful of times and then never repeats them.
We've been playing with blocks to see if he would stack them. He keeps knocking them down -- won't stack anything. The other day, out of nowhere, he started stacking and kept going - probably got to 6 before they fell down on their own.
We can't get him to repeat it (or anything else for that matter). It's almost like he knows we're trying to "test" him to see what he can do. Usually we're patient and don't push or anything, but every now and then it would be nice to know what he understands and is capable of. I guess we'll know when he's ready to show us.
He likes to turn on the TV in the livingroom when he's out there. Earlier, the noggin matching game was up and he patted the TV screen where the right card was. Because of this crazy development patterns, we have no idea if that was intentional or not. Anybody have any ideas? Is it "normal" for a gifted 17 month old to play a matching game correctly? It doesn't seem out of bounds for him based on what I have seen, but I've seen so little from him. My husband thinks it's a coincidence.
Oh - and he keeps near pefect time to a beat and has been doing so for months - this seems impossible to me for his age. Not sure what to make of this.
